Michael Casson; innovative potter
Hyfler/Rosner
Innovative potter in the Leach tradition
(some of his work)
http://www.wellbelovedgallery.co.uk/michael_casson_obe.htm
17 December 2003
Frederick Michael Casson, potter: born London 2 April 1925; OBE 1983;
married 1955 Sheila Wilmot (one son, two daughters); died Upton Bishop,
Herefordshire 12 December 2003.
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Michael Casson was one of the pioneers in the renaissance of studio pottery
in the post-war period, a greatly respected and a charismatic teacher and
educator who influenced several generations of potters. After reading
Bernard Leach's 1940 A Potter's Book, Casson responded positively to its
concept of unity and wholeness, and its advocacy of functional and
individual wares. Together with his wife, Sheila, he sought to put Leach's
ideas into practice.
Mick Casson was born in London in 1925, one of four children, to a family of
restaurateurs in the City. Deemed unsuitable for the armed services in the
Second World War (from birth he had several vertebrae fused together in his
neck), he was placed in the fire service, spending much of his time
fire-watching in Oxo Tower on the South Bank.
With the war over he studied art and woodwork at Shoreditch College, before
moving full-time to Hornsey College of Art in north London, intending to be
a painter, but specialising in ceramics, focusing, unusually, on throwing on
the wheel. At Hornsey he met Sheila Wilmot, a fellow student, and they were
married in 1955. Other students included Eileen Nisbet, a potter who was
also to become a lifelong friend, and Victor Margrie. Despite different
temperaments, Casson and Margrie shared an abiding interest in ceramics and
the need for proper educational training.
Regardless of the relatively low level of teaching at Hornsey, Casson had
found his métier, and with his brother Tony he acquired a hardware shop at
55 Marchmont Street in London, where he not only served in the shop but also
threw pots in the basement. Despite the limited facilities, and with an eye
on early Mediterranean and Greek wares, he produced lively red earthenware
with a white tin glaze, iron-speckling adding an extra sparkle. Shapes
included bookends, bowls, salad serving dishes and lidded containers, many
of which had a knob in the form of a bird, modelled with crisp simplicity.
These were successfully sold to Liberty and Heal's.
Requiring more space and eager to explore reduction firing, the family moved
in 1959 to Prestwood, in Buckinghamshire, where Casson set up a workshop in
what had been a greengrocer's shop. With the use of a gas-fired kiln and
ample space he produced reduction-fired tableware, making sensitive use of
the interaction between body and clay, with the rich, but quiet,
contemplative colours of pale green celadons, deep black-brown temmokus as
well as matt browns. Memorably, Casson produced a range of well-designed
functional ware, such as teapots, mugs, and casseroles, many with restrained
brushwork decoration.
In 1976, feeling that what had been a rural area was becoming increasingly
urban, the Cassons moved to Herefordshire, acquiring Wobage Farm, a part
Elizabethan, part 18th-century structure with plenty of outbuildings
including a vast barn they dubbed the Cathedral.
At Wobage Casson devised a stoneware body that fired a rich red brown, and,
helped by Andrew McGarva, experimented with different kilns. These included
building a 60-cubic-foot oil kiln and a smaller one fired with wood -
Casson's favourite method of firing. Using waste wood from the nearby Forest
of Dean the kiln was environmentally friendly. A salt-glaze kiln allowed
Casson to investigate the unity of glaze and form in a new way.
Rather than continue with tableware, Casson concentrated on more individual
pieces, in particular jugs - forms that quickly became his signature pieces.
Derived from medieval models, these could have a round, full bottom with a
strong, flaring neck, or slender, architectural forms, with a subtle, gently
swelling belly.
A natural decorator, Casson developed a range of incised, wax and paper
resist decorations with clay slips, some based on the abstracted form of a
swimmer, others on more geometrical patterns, some recalling the rhythm of
waves and the undulating patterns of landscape. Colours were invariably
those of the earth, such as deep ochres, saturated dark browns and creamy
whites, or, on other pieces, inky blues and greys. In Casson's hands shape
and decoration formed one harmonious whole, and with a sharp eye on his own
pots, he divided them into Racers, for the best pieces, followed by Gems,
Firsts and Subs. Exhibitions in Britain and abroad consolidated his
reputation.
In addition to being a fine potter, Casson worked diligently to nurture the
burgeoning studio pottery movement. He was an active supporter of the Crafts
Centre of Great Britain (now Contemporary Applied Arts) and in the late
1950s was one of the founding potters of the Craftsmen Potters Association
(now Craft Potters Association), a co-operative that acquired a shop and
gallery in central London in 1958. Working with its honorary secretary,
David Canter, Casson helped put the CPA on a sound, democratic footing,
serving on its Council as both member and chair. With the setting up of the
Crafts Advisory Committee (now Crafts Council) in the early 1970s, Casson
became involved in running committees, giving sound, sensible advice and
helping to steer the new body with insight and understanding.
Casson was an able communicator. In the early 1960s, with Victor Margrie, he
was one of the initiators of the Harrow Studio Pottery Course (now part of
Westminster University). They recruited Colin Pearson, a professional potter
who had trained in workshops rather than art school, to help meet the
growing needs of students wanting a sound, practical training before setting
up their own workshops. The course proved a huge success, graduating
students including leading potters such as Janice Tchalenko and Jane Hamlyn.
Casson confessed to learning as much as the students from fellow members of
staff.
In 1976, Casson devised and presented the BBC's The Craft of the Potter, a
groundbreaking series that involved practical demonstration and discussion
on the art of the potter. To the BBC's amazement a book, issued to coincide
with the programmes, was a great success, and the series was repeated many
times. Casson proved a gifted presenter, articulate, non-patronising and
interested, his bearded face and cheeky smile looking every inch "the
potter".
With increasing age Casson suffered bouts of illness, and he was to forced
to decline outside involvement to allow him time to concentrate on his own
pots. These continued to be innovative, with new shapes devised and older
forms revisited with a fresh eye. His pots were intended to be enjoyed
within the domestic environment, examples of the potter's art carrying a
powerful sense of the personality and generosity of their maker.
With a life divided between making pots and education in its many guises,
Casson never fully received the recognition he deserved. A full-scale
retrospective is long overdue.
Emmanuel Cooper