“After early experimentation, influenced by Henry Moore and the studio pottery of the first generation of English modernists, James Tower settled on a few basic forms including the dish and his characteristic flat vases that often look, with their open necks, like thin torsos. On these forms, he scratched his designs. From the early drawings in pen you can see James’s nervous line becoming fields of energy. It is this ability to create vectors by the multiple application of lines inscribed through an imposed glazed surface I think that characterises his most successful work.
I think of James as a quintessentially English artist, who responded to his environment, was dedicated to his craft and who was a true friend. His works outlive him and for me they represent the very best of English studio ceramics.”
– Antony Gormley, from The Ceramic Art of James Tower, 2012.
Enjoy the work of ceramicist James Tower now through February 28, 2014 in London at Erskine, Hall & Coe Ceramics and Modern Art.
