William Plumptre
In 1985, having studied ceramic design at Chelsea College of Art, William Plumptre travelled to Japan, there he continued his training in the workshops of three different potters, including one year with the Japanese master, Tatsuzo Shimaoka, a National Treasure. The training regime was rigorous and repetitive but he returned to England with greater knowledge and understanding of the Japanese way of producing and firing pottery in a traditional climbing kiln.
In 1987 William Plumptre set up his first pottery in Hartsop near Patterdale, where he built his own oil-fired kiln in the outbuildings of a traditional stone built Lakeland house. He moved into a seventeenth century farmhouse in nearby Witherslack in 1994 and established a new studio where he creates his pottery today.
He throws with robust stoneware clay and makes a variety of press moulded bottles and dishes, with the use of rope and material each piece is then inlaid with different coloured slips. His glazes are made largely of local materials including wood ash and granite, all of his work is reduction fired in the sixty-five cubic foot gas-fired kiln, which he designed himself.
At the invitation of Tatsuzo Shimaoka’s daughter Yoshiko this summer William spent seven weeks working in the work shop of her Father, making pots with the twelve other foreign students that Shimaoka worked with and trained during his career. They then followed this period of intense production of pots with the firing of Shimaoka’s climbing kiln. An example of the pots made by each student will be exhibited in Japan for a memorial exhibition of the life of Tatsuzo Shimaoka. William donated a piece of work to the Tatsuzo Relief Fund through Blackwell Arts and Crafts House in Bowness.
EDUCATION
1972 – 1977 Attended Milton Abbey School, Dorset
Introduction to pottery – teacher Ian Gregory
1980 – 1983 Attended Chelsea Art School, Shepherds Bush, London
3 year, London Dip course in Ceramic Design
1983 – 1984 Studied painting under Dennis Ramsey
1985 Studied with Takeo Tsudo potter, Mashiko, Japan
Studied with kiln builder Tamaki Tamotsu; apprenticed with
Takeshi Yasuda specialised in anagama and climbing kilns
1986 Studied with Shimaoka Tatsuzo potter, Mashiko, Japan
1987 Visited potters in Southern Japan and South Korea
1988 Established Workshop at Hartsop, Cumbria
1994 Moved workshop to new premises at Witherslack, Cumbria
1999 Visited Shimaoka Tatsuzo
SOLO SHOWS
1989 – 1997 Annual show at Spink & Son London
1992 – 1999 Annual show at Bourne Fine Art, Edinburgh
1998 Century Gallery, Henley on Thames
1999 St. Paul’s School, Barnes, London
2000 Abbot Hall, Museum and Art Gallery, Kendal
2005 Beaux Arts, Bath
2007 Beaux Arts, Bath
2011, 2017 Beaux Arts, Bath
GROUP SHOWS
1990 Piano Nobile, Richmond, London
1991 Ewan Mundy Fine Art, Glasgow
Castlegate Gallery, Cockermouth, Cumbria
1992 Brantwood House, Coniston, Cumbria
1994 Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery
1995 Joanna Bird, Chiswick, London
1996 Joanna Bird “Pots for Christmas” Chiswick, London
1997 Exempla 97’ Munich, Germany
1998 Century Gallery, Henley on Thames
Browse and Darby Gallery, Cork Street, London
1999 St Pauls School, Barnes, London
Castle Gate Gallery, Cockermouth
Bourne Fine Art, Edinburgh
Browse and Darby Gallery, Cork Street
2000 ‘Two Pipers and a Plumptre’ at Stonor Park, Henley on Thames
Bourne Fine Art, Edinburgh
Browse and Darby Gallery, Cork Street
2001 Beaux Arts, Bath
Castle Gate Gallery, Cockermouth.
Browse and Darby Gallery Cork Street, London
SOFA Chicago, USA
2002 Maltby Art, Winchester
Stonor Park Henley on Thames
Browse and Darby Gallery, Cork Street, London
SOFA Chicago, USA
2003 Beaux Arts, Bath
Browse and Darby, London
ARTICLES
Aug 1991 “Pot Luck” Homes and Gardens, Elizabeth Leeming.
July 1993 Cumbria Life, Sue Radford
May 1996 Sunday Express, Sally Griffiths
Aug 1997 Country Life “Spy Glass” , Alistair McAlpine
Aug 1999 “Working from Home” Ideal Home, Sally Griffiths
Nov 2001 “The Potter”, Kate Bardon, Westmorland Gazette
Jul 2001 Country Life
July 2004 “Language of Expression” Ceramic Review, Alex McErlain
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Abbot Hall Gallery, Kendal, Cumbria
Townley Hall Museum, Burnley, Lancashire
Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery
Banque Paribas, London
COMMISSIONS
11 Nov 1998 Commission Presented by H.M.The Queen to President Chirac of France on Remembrance Day 1998
Aug 2000 Commission Presented by The British Government to The Emperor of Japan
