Ceramics at the V&A

The V&A opened the first part of the refurbished ceramics gallery on September 18th 2009. The gallery is on the six floor on the Cromwell Road side of the museum and will eventually house some 3,000 ceramic objects. The collection is accessible by a tiny lift on the left hand side as you go into the Grand Entrance.

Once out of the lift you will find galleries that are devoted to factory built ceramics..

..stuido pottery…

..contemporary pottery…

As well as ceramic objects from antiquity onwards.

For more on the V&A’s ceramics collection, the work that has gone into the completion of phase 1 and for an overview of the history and the future of this gallery visit the museum’s website.

To celebrate the opening a weekend of events were laid on. A kiln was set up in the courtyard which normally looks like this.

But after draining the paddling pool and setting up some health and safety barriers (to prevent crazed visitors from rushing headlong into the flames) it looked more like this.

The wood fired kiln was built specifically to fire two large pieces. It was effectively built around the pieces it was firing. Here’s a close up of what it looks like mid-fire.

As you can see from the lady on the left with the trowel, the bespoke nature of the kiln meant it needed alot of love and attention to ensure the structure remained intact and functional.

A weekend of hour long demonstrations was arranged by London Potters. Well attended and very interesting.