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School of Art
Aberystwyth University
Buarth Mawr
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion
SY23 1NG

Tel: +44 (0)1970 622460

Fax: +44 (0)1970 622461

Email: artschool@aber.ac.uk

Display artist/maker:

Mark Hewitt

Born: 1955, UK, England, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent

Ceramicist. Hewitt’s introduction to ceramics was through his family’s business as directors of fine china manufacturers Spode. While studying at Bristol University in the 1970s, Hewitt was given a copy of Bernard Leach’s work ‘A Potter’s Book’. Excited by the possibilities of a career in hand-made rather than industrial pottery, he was taken on as an apprentice by Michael Cardew for three years.

In 1979, Hewitt left Cardew’s supervision and travelled to West Africa for two years, visiting Suleja, Nigeria, where Cardew had established his training centre. His journeys also took him to the Far East, where he particularly admired Korean pottery. Eventually Hewitt settled in the USA, first in Connecticut where he worked with Todd Piker, another Cardew student. Here he met with his future wife, Carol.

In 1983, the couple moved to Pittsboro, North Carolina, and set up their own pottery. His work incorporates North Carolinian folk traditions, and he uses local clays. He is especially known his large-scale wood-fired, salt-glazed jars and storage pots, but he also produces affordable domestic ware.

Hewitt’s work is grounded in older traditions but is made contemporary through his personal interpretation such as his popular series of iced tea ceremony vessels. He was a demonstrator at the International Ceramics Festival, Aberystwyth, in 2011.