Creative Conversations

Studio Ceramics from The Stradling Collection

The Stradling Collection’s largest ever display of its mid to late 20th century British Studio Ceramics will offer an intimate portrait of how a collection, and the relationships at its core, takes shape over time.

Drawing on the long-running and often deeply personal exchanges between Ken Stradling and the makers whose work he championed, the exhibition charts the development of studio ceramics across several decades. It weaves together a series of creative conversations: between makers, between teachers, and between collector and craftsperson.

Some 100 ceramic pieces are displayed alongside rich archival material, letters, notes, personal correspondence, and paintings, that illuminate how Stradling’s relationships with individual makers evolved. Together they reveal how dialogue, both personal and creative, shaped the collection, while telling a wider story of British Studio Ceramics.

The exhibition also marks the first public showing of paintings by Betty Stradling (née Haggar), Ken’s wife. Many of her works take ceramics as their subject, and here they are placed in direct conversation with the pots Ken collected and chose to live with. A Bath School of Art alumna, Betty is part of a broader network of makers: together, their work forms a layered narrative connecting object, visual language, and domestic space.

Creative Conversations invites visitors to reflect on how taste is formed, how collections evolve, and how personal and professional exchange contributes to the construction of cultural value. It is a rare opportunity to encounter a collection as a living record of relationships.

“This exhibition traces shifts in studio ceramic styles across the mid to late 20th century and examines how relationships develop over time with makers and collectors. For the first time, it also looks at the extent to which Betty Stradling’s artistic practice shaped Stradling’s collecting choices and his relationships with makers. By placing ceramics, paintings, and archival material next to each other, Creative Conversations invites reflection on how taste is formed, how collections evolve, and how personal and professional exchanges contribute to the construction of cultural value.”

Peter Alcaraz, Founder, State Ceramics

This exhibition and its accompanying catalogue of essays are supported and sponsored by State Ceramics, a UK-registered grant-making charity dedicated to the study and appreciation of studio ceramics.