Gray’s alumnus and leading ceramicist, Andrew Matheson, reflects on his ‘Journey through Cobalt Blue’
This month, RGU was delighted to welcome back renowned ceramicist and Gray’s School of Art alumnus, Andrew Matheson. As part of his visit, Andrew, a long-term supporter of Gray’s and founder of the ‘Andrew Matheson Ceramics Prize’, awarded annually at Gray’s Degree Show, led a student workshop and exhibition ‘Journey through Cobalt Blue’ at the Scottish Ceramics Gallery.
You studied Ceramics & Sculpture at Gray’s School of Art in the seventies. How did this influence your work and what memories do you have from Gray’s?
During the course I developed and built up my skills, creative ideas, expanded my knowledge, and started a created process that formed the basis of what I do now. This was particularly so of the post graduate year.
I like to feel that everything that I do, had its grounding at Grays. The structure of the course was good. You started with a broad base and eventually focused on a more specific area/discipline. The course was Ceramics/ Sculpture or Sculpture /Ceramics and there is a sculptural aspect to what I do now including my trees/landscape form.
Can you tell me a bit more about ‘Journey through Cobalt Blue’ and the student workshop at Gray’s?
I hope people will find out more about how I use cobalt blue as a decorative technique. The way that it has changed the techniques that are used. Some of the processes will involve demonstrations and some practical sessions.
One of your pieces of work, a bowl featuring a crackle graze, is part of RGU’s Art & Heritage Collections. What does it mean to be part of the RGU Art & Heritage Collections?
These collections are important for several reasons. They are physical and are not just images. Within reason you can handle and examine them. It’s an important record of what people have done. It shows the progression of work and ideas, the changes over time and so forth.
In an age of increasing use of AI and other technologies, how important is the potters' wheel, and traditional craft techniques?
The potters’ wheel and the skills involved are an important craft in our knowledge & understanding of how pieces are made but not exclusive. Times change, even the wheel has changed. It's a joy and pleasure to see how crafts are done. It influences what we have and sharing this knowledge helps understand the past and inform the future. It’s a sad day when these skills and techniques are lost.
What inspires your work now?
I like to feel what I do is a journey, a progression, it challenges. I like making and trying out ideas. Sometimes I'm asked to make something. It's nice to hold or to have a piece that has been created and made. If someone's willing to part with their money, then that's a bonus!
You have forty years’ experience as a potter. What would you say to any student at Gray’s, or anyone who is just starting out with ceramics?
See what people do, how they do it. Clay is such a versatile material, there are so many ways of doing it and what it can do. If it grabs you, join in.
Over the past month, the Scottish Ceramics Gallery has been showcasing the ‘Class of ‘24’, celebrating work from undergraduate and master’s graduates from Duncan and Jordanstone College of Art Design, Gray’s and UHI. How important is it to be celebrating talent from across Scotland and how important is to inspire the next generation?
They are the future.
It’s important to show what is being done, the range of work and what has been achieved. We want to share this work and to show we are here, and this is what we can do.
