In addition to some Cedric Bouchard fizz I was given this lovely Chris Keenan pot. It is one of the best things I’ve seen by him in a while.

The inside burns with a vivid, evil radiance.

We got other Rupert Spira goodies whilst out yesterday, a couple of espresso cups:

They have a black slightly metallic glaze which, when the light is right, burns with iridescence. I will feel much happier when I make a brilliant espresso into one of these.

Just so you know, if you are looking to pick up some Rupert Spira stuff this is the mark on the base you should be looking for:

That red glaze is amazing.

It is a few weeks early but I don’t mind. I’ve been given a bowl:

Isn’t it marvellous? This is by Rupert Spira, a properly famous ceramicist (don’t tell me you’ve never heard of him). It is about 15cm across and has a wonderfully deep red glaze which is flecked with blue. I am very pleased with it, it is an entity of livid beauty.

If you are in London and you haven’t been to Collect yet, you need to get yourself over there this evening or tomorrow; it is wonderful. Clearly the best art fair I’ve ever been to, indeed better than it has been for years.

However, the story is of the acquisition of another beautiful thing. We drifted by the Adrian Sassoon stand and fell in love with a truly marvellous Rupert Spira bowl. It had to be ours. It is a stoneware bowl with an incised poem through black pigment over white glaze and it looks like this:

Isn’t that a beautiful thing?

We own a few pieces by him now, a truly gifted man. Do I prefer this to the Sarah-Jane Selwood pieces? I’d hate to commit myself…

Many thanks for taking the pictures, Dan.

Whilst we were in Edinburgh we visited the studio of Sarah-Jane Selwood. This is something I have wanted to do since I purchased my first piece of hers in the mid-nineties. We were both a bit nervous. It was much like visiting a wine producer we love only not having a raft of incisive technical questions to ask; we know a lot about wine but not so much about ceramics.

When I looked over her dining room balcony and saw the beautiful, beautiful bowls she had my anxiety just melted away and I knew I could do ‘appreciative’ better than almost anyone. The first one that caught my eye was this (click to enlarge):

I had never seen a piece of hers in this colour. It looked and felt totally brilliant. Very sensual.

When I could tear myself away from this one I moved onto a terribly complex reconstruction which was really quite large:

The lines on it were totally pleasing and it had a real feeling of architectural, sculptural beauty. Totally, totally wonderful.

The final pieces that caught my eye were some, how can I put this? Less precise reconstructions:

They had a really organic, vivacious look and feel to them. Like all of her pieces their texture was completely lovely.

We talked ceramic details for a while, managed some questions about how she throws, reconstructs and fires them and, most importantly, told her how the beauty of her pieces delights, charms and compels us. She seemed charmed. We were charmed, too, she is a completely delightful person.

So why ‘under-appreciated’? Our impression is that, given the tiny amount she now makes, the constant progression of ideas she has and the skill she shows in making really difficult stuff, the prices you can buy them for are hilariously low. For a bowl the size of the white one in the second picture someone like Rupert Spira would charge four or five times the price. Don’t get me wrong, I love Rupert Spira’s work, and don’t think his prices are outrageous, it is just that Sarah-Jane’s work is a huge bargain. I strongly suggest you go to The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh, Contemporary Applied Arts or the Contemporary Ceramics Gallery (both in London) and snap up what you can of hers before people realise how good she is.

I should add that Sarah-Jane will be at the Collect art fair in London this May, we saw the stuff she will be bringing and it is great. There will be many other people whose work is worth seeing at the fair. Details of the event are here.

At the crack of sparrow-fart tomorrow morning the partner and I will be going to Edinburgh. We’ll check out the wine merchants and, even better, we will go and visit Sarah-Jane Selwood’s studio. She is my favourite cermicist, she has new ideas on a regular basis. You can see some of the pieces of hers we own here. Beautiful, eh? Holding and fondling such beautiful things pleases me in a way I find hard to express. It maybe true that, after silence, that which expresses the inexpressible best is music, but a beautiful bowl does a pretty damned-good job.

Last night there was a fun-filled evening of fine wine and larks. I'll write up the wines I can remember tomorrow when I am hiding from the cleaner. Today I'll post pictures of the ceramics I was given. Firstly a large, celadon bowl made by Stanley Field:

A little stoneware vase by Ursula Mommens:

Finally a mug made by Karen Downing:

We've gone on a trip to Oxford to see the Inspires gallery's exhibition of Sarah-Jane Selwood ceramics. Not much of an exhibition, as it turns out, a sum total of five pieces on display. We are told she is not making as much these days because she is busy dropping sprogs. We scored the most distinctive and beautiful piece. It is a polished stoneware bowl called 'triple inversion'. It looks like this:

The polished stoneware feels amazing; it has the texture of a pebble on a beach which has been worn to smoothness by the sea.

Starting on 27 September there is a Sarah-Jane Selwood exhibition at the Inspires gallery in Oxford. This gallery opened after I moved out of Oxford, so I cannot guarantee the quality of it. However, I'll be visiting after lunch on the day it opens, just to look at her latest work rather than necessarily buy anything. I hope there is plenty of good stuff to fondle.

Yes, it is another Sarah-Jane Selwood bowl. This is only a little one, with a very pleasing ice-crackle glaze. I am told it is called Falling Counterpoint 1. It is nice to have a good little piece again; the bloody cat broke my last ones.

We went out shopping today and with only moderate arm-twisting the partner purchased a truly, truly beautiful thing. It is a Sarah-Jane Selwood bowl and looks like this (click for enlargements):

We now own nine pieces by her and this is one of the most beautiful. I love it. It is really suggestive. If you want to pick up a piece by her I suggest you go to Contemporary Applied Arts.

This is a rant about art. More specifically, people's reaction to art. Now this is something that gets me very irritated but I shall try and keep this brief as it is not about wine.

We own a couple of display cases with ceramics on them. One has Sarah-Jane Selwood stuff in it:

Look at that stuff, really top bunny. The other display case has work by a variety of ceramicists in it:

From time to time we will score a new piece and when someone visits I will invariably whip it out to show them. Normally this will generate the response, "What is it for?"

We also have a new object d'art sitting on the wall in the hall. It is a metal construction:

When I show people this they say, "What is it supposed to be?"*

Now, these responses make me worry about the people I know. Are the people I like so utterly functional and devoid of feeling that they think everything has to have a use and everything has to be representational. Everything you buy doesn't have to have a specific purpose, unless you count 'pleasing you' as a purpose. Similarly, everything that doesn't have a use doesn't have to be a china representation of a dog but instead can be a form that pleases you. That is enough of a form or a use, that it makes you happy; if that is true all is well.

*I find this question so depressing I've been trying to answer it as facetiously as possible, this object is normally termed a 'wall minge'.

I have ranted about Sarah-Jane Selwood ceramics before on this blog; OK they are not wine, but they are beautiful things. In order to reward myself for surviving a freaking awful time and a brush with death I have decided to buy myself a little piece by her. I have owned four little pieces by her but the bloody cat smashed them before we got display cabinets (the cat has a bit of a thing for Sarah-Jane Selwood ceramics). So I am going to buy myself a new little piece. Contemporary Applied Arts have got three in stock and they sent me this picture of them:

Aren't they beautiful? I really like the ice-crackle glaze (which you can just see if you click on the picture to get an enlargement). Now I just have to decide which I want. I also have to not be tempted by one of her big pieces when I go into the gallery; they are great things.

I feel extremely fortunate to have acquired a beautiful thing today. Not a bottle of Musigny, but there are other interesting things out there. I also collect contemporary ceramics, and now have seven pieces by the talented, imaginative and reasonably hot Sarah-Jane Selwood. This is a fairly dodgy picture of the wonderful bowl I purchased.

One side of it has been folded up with six folds, which she terms a reconstruction. She is my favourite ceramicist because she is not only very skillful, but she also has new ideas on a regular basis; we like ideas. They are truly creative, inspiring and sensual pieces of art.

How can I afford these things? The Arts Council give ten-month, interest-free loans at registered galleries in a scheme called Own Art. I can afford a small amount each month whereas stumping up a big whack eats far too much into my monthly wine budget. If they accept me for a loan they'll accept a blind dog that has just been declared bankrupt for credit.

May I take this opportunity to recommend a couple of galleries in London where great ceramics can be purchased. Contemporary Applied Arts carry Sarah-Jane Selwood, Rupert Spira, Chris Keenan, Sophie Lowe, amongst others. They have a good range of art in other media as well. The Contemporary Ceramics Gallery has quite a lot of crap, but there are always a few good pieces there. They usually have some Sarah-Jane Selwood, Chris Keenan, Emmanuel Cooper and many others. Both top places to visit when you are in London, they have many beautiful things to look at and fondle.

Right, that is enough about ceramics, wonderful things though they may be. I promise the next post will be a tasting note, or some kind of wine-related rant....