HISTORY

Chris Carter was born in Warwickshire on the 12th October 1945. He set up his pottery studio at Highfield Farm in Grendon, Warwickshire in 1971. His first pots were mainly tableware and terracotta garden pots which he sold from his studio and later from his shop at Drayton Manor Park, it was here that he gave demonstrations of throwing pots on the wheel to visitors to the park every weekend. Chris had a strong desire to make more individual pieces and in 1986 he finished at Drayton Manor and began selling his bespoke pots through galleries.

Chris has exhibited his work all over Britain as well as internationally. By the late 1970s he began to make one off pieces and in 1985 he was selling his work at Peter Dingley's gallery in Stratford-upon-Avon and at the Chestnut Gallery at Bourton-on-the-Water. From here he began exhibiting his work in some London galleries. During the 1990s he became Potter in Residence for a time at Warwick Museum and in 1992 two of his pots were purchased for the Sainsbury collection. In 2008 one of his pieces was added to the Ashmolean Museum collection in Oxford.

By the 1990s he began a long association with the Ombersley Galley and the Hart Gallery, which lead to him being asked to exhibit his pots and give a lecture in Chicago in 2001 and again at the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts. Other important galleries Chris has exhibited at include Bettles Gallery in Ringwood, The Gallery Upstairs in Henley-in-Arden, The Round House Gallery in Derbyshire, The Alpha House Gallery in Sherborne, Roger Billcliffe in Glasgow and the Gallery at Bevere in Worcester with ceramic curator Stuart Dickens.

In 2002 he met and became good friends with Martin Green, farmer and archaeologist. Martin has his own museum on his farm in Dorset. The influence of Neolithic and Bronze Age history has been very important to Chris's recent work. In 2011 they had a joint exhibition of archaeological artefacts, pottery and other work specially made by Chris at the Salisbury Museum called "Out of the Earth." Chris's work provided a contemporary commentary on 10,000 years worth of people's interaction with the Dorset Landscape.

Since then Chris has embarked on a fascinating journey exploring the connection between his pots and ancient stone tools and artefacts. As well as making pots, he shapes interesting stones by hand into wonderful sculptural forms, often presenting them in hand crafted boxes incorporating a variety of different materials and techniques. Chris has been heavily influenced by flint and uses it, along with other materials, in his complex glazes. These are fired multiple times to build up layers and then ground back by hand to give his work a tremendous depth and substance.

Chris has said that he doesn't mind making mistakes, which is why his work is often exciting and bold, but at the same time is subtle and precise. In his own words " I know when a piece is right." His work grows as a result of feeling what is "right" rather than following an intellectual approach.

The connection between his work and his surroundings has also lead Chris to write some powerful poetry which uses strong descriptive verses to form a comprehensive narrative to his work and the great thought that he puts into every single piece. This website has included a page of some of Chris's poems to illustrate this. Please click on the "Poems" tab at the top of this page.