Acknowledged as one of the world’s great potters, this is Svend Bayer’s last ever exhibition.
On Saturday 21st March, Goldmark Gallery, Uppingham will open Svend Bayer’s final exhibition, with work that represents the very best he has made over the last three years. Bayer, now 74, has been a potter for over 50 years and says that these pots are the last he will ever make.
A wood-firer of worldwide standing, Bayer was born in Uganda in 1946 to Danish parents. On graduating from the University of Exeter, from 1969-72 he worked at Wenford Bridge Pottery under the legendary potter Michael Cardew. Cardew memorably described Bayer as ‘easily my best pupil’ in his biography: ‘I speak of him with awe and fear. He is more than just a potter, he is a force of nature.’
'There really isn’t anyone making wood-fired pots like Svend Bayer. His peers, if he has any, are those anonymous makers of imperial China and Korea – thousand-year legacies whose spirit Bayer has channeled into five decades of work, without it ever feeling like anyone’s but his own.' – Max Waterhouse on Svend Bayer, December 2019
'We welcome Svend Bayer back to Goldmark with immense pleasure. I thought it impossible to improve on Bayer’s last show here in 2012, but after seeing his new work I am delighted to say that he has surpassed himself. As his last, this promises to be a landmark exhibition in British ceramics.' Mike Goldmark
Svend will be joining us for the opening on Saturday 21st March.