Ceramic artwork by David Taylor

Available artwork by David Taylor

DR1 - Porcelain Wood Dragon - by David Taylor

P12 - Porcelain Bird of Prey - by David Taylor

V1V2 - Two Glazed Stoneware Vases - by David Taylor

TP1 - Glazed stoneware blue teapot - by David Taylor

TP4 - Glazed stoneware brown teapot - by David Taylor

TP5 - Glazed Stoneware Green tea pot - by David Taylor

David Taylor

David Taylor Favourite Medium

Ceramic

About David Taylor

I trained as a graphic designer in the 60’s and whilst completing a post graduate ATD course at Priory Road, Edgbaston I had to do a ceramics unit. In those days all schools in Birmingham had a pottery. The tutor Eddie Price was an enthusiast and soon had us hand building using crank, raku and earthenware clays. In addition we built and used Roman pipe kilns, saw dust kilns as well as gas and electric kilns. Eddie also introduced us to the rich cultural and historical aspects of ceramics and to potters such as Leach, Cardew, Hans Coper and Lucie Rie.

My first post involved a heavy ceramics teaching load and I came under the influence of Allan Leary who became the head of department. He had spent many years in Nigeria and had worked with Michael Cardew. He more than any one ensured my life long passion for ceramics. From him I learned to throw, use traditional African hand building techniques and later the throwing production methods from India and Pakistan. I collaborated with Allan and tutors from the Birmingham PGCSE course in producing documents and a book about ethniographical art forms that included ceramics.

Later I took up an offer to work with Brian Erasmus at West Midlands college for an evening a week. He taught me the discipline of throwing well and how to transform ideas of shape and form into pots that would be transformed by glazes and a reduction firing.

As ahead of an Art faculty we taught ceramics for at least 30% of the time and had our students ceramic work exhibited in international exhibitions. During this time I was able to experiment with traditional thrown and built techniques and was able to replicate Allan Leary’s Pakistani throwing methods using throw moulds. I still have them today and have used them to produce a range of cooking pots similar to those in Cardews book, pioneering pottery.