As a part of Farnham Craft Month, the Crafts Study Centre, Farnham and the Allen Gallery, Alton are showcasing a work by the Welsh ceramic artist Walter Keeler that features in both of their collections. The Crafts Study Centre holds important collections of modern and contemporary British Craft, whereas the Allen Gallery provides a broader narrative of the development of ceramics from the Romans to the present day. They are complementary and high-quality collections of British ceramics either side of the Surrey/Hampshire border that we want to draw our audiences’ attention to. To read the Allen Gallery’s spotlight, follow the link here.

Walter Keeler (b. 1942) is an important studio potter of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century most known for his salt glazed pottery. He enrolled on the ceramics course at the Harrow School of Art in 1958, and from 1964-1978 taught there, becoming known for his hands-on approach to ceramics which included co-operative outdoor kiln building with students. In recent decades his distinctive, yet resolutely functional pots, always with the makers’ mark of concentric circles, have been a mainstay of British studio pottery. Referencing humble metal forms – from watering cans to conical water pitchers – Keeler’s colourful, jaunty pots entertain, whether atop a museum plinth or within the melee of a kitchen table.

For more information on Walter Keeler, take a look at the following videos.

Walter Keeler The Ceramics Gallery at Aberystwyth Art Gallery, 7 October - 12 December 2023. LINK HERE.

Walter Keeler: Treasures of the Everyday (2019). Documentary film produced by Goldmark Gallery about UK potter Walter Keeler: LINK HERE.

 Jug-making masterclass with Walter Keeler (2018). Film produced by Ceramic Review: LINK HERE.

The Crafts Study Centre and the Allen Gallery have events taking place during October Craft Month in Farnham. Please see the physical brochure or online for more details.