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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:

Michael Casson

Born: 1925, UK, England, London Died: 2003, UK, England, Herefordshire, Upton Bishop

Ceramicist. Casson first made pots in 1945 and trained at Hornsey College of Art, later establishing his first pottery in 1952. He was a founding member of the Craft Potters Association in 1958 and was active in setting up the first shop in Carnaby Street which was run by his sister, Pan Casson.

With Victor Magrie, he co-founded the Harrow Studio Pottery training course in 1963, which was to train and influence many contemporary potters who aspired to run small-scale potteries. He had a pottery at Prestwood, Buckinghamshire, but in 1976 he moved to Wobage Farm in Herefordshire.

With his wife, Sheila, and Andrew McGarva, a new pottery was established, offering opportunities for emergent potters. Casson’s work is based in the ‘Leach Tradition’ of thrown stoneware functional pottery and he developed a style which included incised and resist decoration.

A hugely influential figure in the British ceramics world, in 2001 Casson was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the International Ceramics Festival, Aberystwyth, an organisation of which he was Honourary President for many years.