David Dale Gallery & Studios are pleased to present Studio Wares, an exhibition of new work by The Grantchester Pottery and their first solo presentation in Scotland.

Established in early 2011, The Grantchester Pottery is a decorative arts company set up by artists Phil Root & Giles Round. Drawing historical precedent from Roger Fry’s Omega Workshops as well as other artists’ decorative arts studios like the Rebel Arts Centre, Hammer Prints & Atelier Martine, The Grantchester Pottery seeks to produce a series of utilitarian ceramics together with other decorative household items such as printed & woven textiles, wallpaper, painted furniture and hand painted murals. The Grantchester Pottery aims to substitute, wherever possible the directly expressive quality of the artist’s handling for the deadness of mechanical reproduction.

Working somewhere within the confines of exhibition, trade showroom, studio and workshop, Studio Wares concentrates on presenting functional products for the artist. Drawing inspiration from the studios directly above the gallery, the collection examines the art school and studio block as a point of departure, source material & as theoretical commissioner. The forms produced in turn become a series of blanks that form part of the portfolio to be used in further works.

By appropriating historical examples, such as the art school’s antiques room, the exhibition becomes a constructed environment in which the works exist to enable artistic production – albeit to prescribed forms. This tautology serves to delineate the gallery from the studios within the building, offering up what is exhibited to be used as a learning tool.

For Studio Wares The Grantchester Pottery has worked with Michael Fullerton, Anne Low, Maria Loboda, Edwin Pickstone, Sophie von Hellerman and Sam Windett over various aspects of the exhibition; which comprises of monochromatic ceramics, printed textiles, room dividers, wall murals and found objects as mise en scène. Consumed under the auspices of The Grantchester Pottery, marked only with the GP emblem, all works remain unattributed.

Recent exhibitions & presentations include House of Voltaire, Studio Voltaire at Jonathan Viner Gallery, London, 2012; Art & Craft: Objects in a field of signifying practices, a public in conversation with Glenn Adamson & Kit Hammonds, Royal College of Art, London, 2012; Décor, ROWING, London, 2012; Publish & Be Damned, ICA, London, 2012; Slipped, Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge, 2011.

The Grantchester Pottery will present their third solo exhibition ARTIST DECORATORS in the Fox Reading room, ICA, London, June 2013 & have work in the recently published book A Rate of Exchange, Unrealised Projects, 2013.

Saturday 25 May | 4pm

The Grantchester Pottery founders, Phil Root and Giles Round, in conversation with Nicholas Oddy and Katy West.

Click play below to stream a full audio recording of the event.