Oxmarket Gallery 5th - 16th November 2019

Debra and Keith Menear will be holding a joint exhibition at the Oxmarket Gallery in November. It will be an opportunity to see the latest work from both potters in the wonderful surroundings of this historic gallery.

Amberley Museum Pottery Festival Sat & Sun 4-5 th July 2015

A Celebration of 30 Years at the Pottery Barn

We are pleased to bring you details of the Amberley Museum Pottery Festival in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Pottery Barn.

Article : Craft & Design Magazine

See our work featured in the July/August edition of the Craft & Design Magazine, Selected Makers.

Press Release

Medieval inspiration : The 1867 collection

December 2012 : Jeremy Knight, Museum & Heritage Manager

Over 700 years ago someone, we don’t know who, either lost or deliberately buried in a well a large collection of pots. For centuries they lay buried as buildings came and went in Horsham’s West Street. Then, by chance, in 1867, they were discovered and became known as the Horsham Hoard.

So popular was the discovery that little miniatures were made of them with crests on and sold throughout the country. Then they were forgotten. Eventually after many years the pots came back to Horsham and can be now seen in Horsham District Council’s Horsham Museum & Art Gallery.

The story doesn’t end there though, for Storrington-based potter Keith Menear has drawn inspiration from the Horsham Hoard to make an exclusive range of pottery for Horsham District Council’s Horsham Museum & Art Gallery.

The 1867 collection, taking its name from the year of discovery, has used elements from the Horsham Hoard but in a modern contemporary way. Keith, whose pottery featured in the gift shop for The National Gallery’s Leonardo exhibition, has created a range of studio designed pots and vases that are affordable, just as the Victorian pots were made for everyman.

Keith has taken inspiration from the medieval motifs, the lines and pinched feet as well as slight mottling to the glaze. Green and sludge brown may have been the pallet of medieval pots but in the 21st century rich red and pale blue are the colours of now. Keith Menear was asked by Horsham District Council’s Horsham Museum & Art Gallery to look at the Horsham Hoard and see if he could transform the medieval into the now. The bud vases and conical bowls have taken over 9 months to get the right colour, decoration and shape, each one is slightly different, being hand made as the medieval pots were, each one is unique. It is a great way to celebrate the once famous Horsham Hoard—a hoard not of coins, metal work or treasure, but a wonderful survival of the potter’s art from over 700 years ago. The 1867 collection is available only from Horsham District Council’s Horsham Museum & Art Gallery, where the visitor can also see the original Horsham Hoard.

For more information contact Jeremy Knight, Museum & Heritage Manager, on 01403 254959.

News Article : All About Horsham

In the November edition of AAH you can read an article on Menear Ceramics (p56).

Press Release

If it’s good enough for Leonardo!

01 Feb 2012 Jeremy Knight, Museum and Heritage Manager, Horsham Musem

Leonardo, one of the cultural giants loved the colours, adored the way the rich turquoise and russets complimented the paintings, really admired the hand made quality of the Sussex craftsman. So how did a Sussex potter in the small rural town of Storrington come to the attention of world famous Leonardo? That we will probably never know, not unless a cache of letters or e-mails are found. For Leonardo, the most important exhibition of the 21st century – an exhibition that has drawn people from around the world and has garnered rave reviews, has asked Keith Menear for his stunning Raku ware pottery to sell to the world’s culture lovers. Intriguingly though, Leonardo is following Horsham Museum, for last year the museum showcased the potter’s remarkable work.

Keith Menear, an outstanding potter who has created a reputation for producing rich raku glazes, lets his pottery do the talking. It is by word of mouth or through seeing a display of his pottery in Horsham Museum’s Wall of Great China that lovers of fine contemporary ceramics will discover his work. Now that reputation has grown significantly as nearly 200,000 visitors queued and paid headline grabbing prices for tickets to see Leonardo and Keith’s pottery in the must see shop.

The Leonardo exhibition ends on 5 February and the great paintings will return to their respective museums, but Keith will continue to experiment and create pottery; the glazes catch both the eye and the imagination and visitors can see his ware including those rich turquoise and russet glazes that compliment the master’s hand.

For further information please contact Jeremy Knight, Museum and Heritage Manager.

Horsham Museum and Art Gallery, 9 Causeway, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 1HE Tel: 01403 254959
email: museum@horsham.co.uk web: www.horshammuseum.org