Grayson Perry’s Pottery

In a V. Note from November 2016, I shared “Democracy Has Bad Taste”, and an audio interview on BBC with Grayson Perry. I’ve had pottery on the brain lately (I’m excited for our ceramics studio to open) so today I’m looping back to share some of Perry’s pottery.

“What do artist’s do? They notice stuff” Grayson Perry, Brilliant Ideas, 2015

Grayson Perry was born in Britain in 1960. Perry makes ceramic pots, hand-stitched quilts, and outrageous dress designs, creating a cosmopolitan folk-art. Perry is known equally for his contemporary ceramic vases, and for his alter ego as the very brightly quaffed Claire. Perry believes that between cross dressing and the medium of pottery as contemporary art, contemporary pottery is more difficult for people to come to terms with.

“It’s about time a transvestite potter won the Turner Prize” Grayson Perry at the Turner Prize Awards, 2003

Pottery tends to be seen as a lower art form than painting, defaulting to decorative craft. Perry leverages this tension constantly within his work, pushing against more easily acceptable forms of contemporary art like painting.

“I like pottery because it’s humble. It’s not hubristic like a lot of contemporary art can be. I like the fact that it offers me a wide range of techniques to work with.” Grayson Perry at the Turner Prize Retrospective, TateShots

 

Perry’s large beautiful vases are built using the ancient coil technique, each following an original hand drawn paper template as a guideline for form, then excessively decorated using a mix of stamps and sgraffito into layers of photo transfers, slips and glazes. The classical forms seem at odds with his scrawled satire and kitsch. Perry uses pots as narrative and figurative media for his politics, social commentary, personal narratives, and images of kink, sado-masochism. “Perfersion to match the curtains” Perry says.

You’re reading a V. Note, written by Ruthie V, the director of the Seattle Artist League. The League is an art school for the busy nurse, tech geek, and mom with a long lost art degree. We offer engaging online classes in drawing and painting. Join us! Find your class: https://www.seattleartistleague.com/product-category/d-online-classes/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“People say, ‘why do you need to put sex, violence or politics or some kind of social commentary into my work?’ Without it, it would be pottery. I think that crude melding of those two parts is what makes my work.’”

“We’re only here once and I want to get as much out of it possible. And as an artist, my job is to be as much “me” as possible.” Grayson Perry, Saatchi Gallery

Grayson Perry: Pottery is my Gimmick

Describing pottery as his ‘gimmick’, Perry demonstrates his process and explains why he wants people to be able to just enjoy art, rather than having to interpret it.

Grayson Perry: What is Art?

Perry is an incredibly thoughtful artist and talks openly about everything from getting started as an artist, to cross dressing, to what is art vs craft. If you enjoyed the interview above and want to learn more about Grayson Perry’s thoughts and processes, I highly recommend these videos. I definitely do not recommend the one below.

How to Make a Pot like Grayson Perry

In this video, a person who is not at all like Grayson Perry makes a pot that is almost kind of sort of like a Grayson Perry pot, sort of.