Hugh Purdie exhibit at the Isle of Arran Heritage Musuem
The Isle of Arran Heritage Museum opened last month for the 2023 season, and along with a fascinating series of upcoming talks and events, there is a wonderful new exhibit of Hugh Purdie’s pottery.
The potter, and museum, are featured in the Arran Arts Heritage Trail, and a sandstone plinth at the front of the museum marks this. Shelagh Collins of the museum, and curator of the exhibit said, “We had very little of his work or related archival material. However working with Hugh’s daughter and others we were able to obtain sufficient information and examples of his work to mount the display”.
Material from the Arran Art’s Heritage Trail website tells us more about Hugh Purdie’s life and work. Words by John Andrews –
With its emphasis on the lives of those who lived and worked on Arran, the museum is the ideal site for our place-maker celebrating the life of Hugh Purdie, a master potter. Hugh Purdie studied at the infamous Camberwell College of Arts and Craft Ceramics Department from 1946.
During this time strong connections existed between Bemard Leach and the Leach Pottery at St. Ives and Camberwell Ceramics Department and Hugh worked there during the holidays. In 1952 he exhibited his work alongside pottery giants such as Bernard Leach, Shoji Hamada, Michael Cardew, Lucy Rie and Hans Coper.
In 1958 he returned to Arran, where, with Lady Jean Fforde and Tom Alexander as partners, he started a pottery at Cladach, known as Cladach Industries. He was then aged 51. He had discovered a talent for pottery rather late in life.
From the start of his move to Arran Hugh’s pots impressed with their bold designs, strong colour and vigorous forms and demand was high. A kiln-load of pots would sell out very quickly. To be sure of buying the pots they wanted customers needed to know when the next kiln-load was due in the shop. There was always a problem in matching supply to demand; not that Hugh saw this as a problem. His overriding motivation was to produce pots that satisfied his conception of what a good pot should be like, and he was reluctant to allow pots for sale that fell below this standard, despite the fact that they would have sold.
To continue reading, and to view more examples of Purdie’s work, follow this link to the Arts Heritage Trail.
Images below are of the exhibit at the Museum –
