Kenneth Clark (ceramicist)
{{Short description|New Zealand-born British ceramicist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Kenneth Clark
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MBE|size=100%}}
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| birth_name = Kenneth Inman Carr Clark
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1922|07|31|df=y}}
| birth_place = Wellington, New Zealand
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2012|06|10|1922|07|31|df=y}}
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| known_for = Ceramic tiles
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| spouse = {{marriage|Ann Wynn Reeves|1954}}
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| relations = William Inman (great-grandfather)
John Carr (4 x great-uncle)
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Kenneth Inman Carr Clark {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MBE|size=85%}} (31 July 1922 – 10 June 2012) was a New Zealand-born British ceramicist, best known for his decorative tiles.
Early life and family
Born in Wellington, New Zealand, on 31 July 1922, Clark was the son of Aubrey Sherman Clark, a farms inspector, and his wife, Annie Barbara Louisa Clark (née Inman).{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9454061/Ken-Clark.html | title=Ken Clark | date=5 August 2012 | work=The Telegraph | access-date=14 February 2016}}{{cite news | url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19200513.2.3 | title=Marriages | date=13 May 1920 | work=Evening Post | access-date=14 February 2016 }} Through his mother, Clark was a great-grandson of William Inman, founder of passenger shipping company, the Inman Line.{{cite news | url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19440607.2.104.1 | title=Mr. O. D. Inman | date=7 June 1944 | work=Evening Post | access-date=14 February 2016 | page=7}} On his father's side, he was related to the 18th-century English architect, John Carr.
Clark spent most of his childhood in Nelson{{cite news | title=Master ceramist welcomed home after half a century | date=4 December 1998 | work=Nelson Mail | page=13}} and was educated at Nelson College from 1937 to 1941,{{cite book | chapter=Full school list of Nelson College, 1856–2005 | title=Nelson College Old Boys' Register, 1856–2006 | year=2006 | edition=6th | type=CD-ROM}} where he won several prizes for drawing. In World War II, he initially enlisted in the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force, but subsequently transferred to the Royal Navy. He was present during the Normandy landings, and was mentioned in dispatches.
Ceramics
After the end of the war, Clark remained in Britain and took up an ex-serviceman's scholarship at London's Slade School of Art,{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/jul/18/kenneth-clark | title=Kenneth Clark obituary | date=18 July 2012 | work=The Guardian | access-date=13 February 2016 | first=Sarah | last=Hosking}} where his teachers included Stanley Spencer. He continued his studies at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, being taught by Dora Billington,{{cite web |url=http://marshallcolman.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/dora-billington-forgotten-potter.html |title=Dora Billington: time for reassessment |date=10 December 2012 | first=Marshall | last=Colman |access-date=14 February 2016}} Clark went on to teach there himself for 25 years, as well as at Goldsmiths' College.{{cite web |url=http://marshallcolman.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/kenneth-clark-ceramist-with-unusual.html |title=Kenneth Clark: ceramist with an unusual breadth of vision |date=24 July 2012 | first=Marshall | last=Colman |access-date=14 February 2016}}
In 1953, Clark and Ann Wynn Reeves, whom he married the following year, founded Kenneth Clark Ceramics in the London district of Fitzrovia. The studio relocated to Lewes in 1989. The couple used their complementary skills in their practice: Ann designed many of the motifs and decorative emblems that Kenneth applied to his ceramics, and he used his technical knowledge to recreate glazes used by William De Morgan. He reproduced decorative tiles for Debenham House, as well as the dairy at Windsor Castle following the 1992 fire.
As well as tiles, Clark made single hand-thrown domestic ware items, and in the 1960s designed for the Denby and Bristol Potteries, including the "Mooncurve" range for the latter.{{cite news | url=http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Xxx/story-11309110-detail/story.html | title=Bristol's potteries | date=8 September 2008 | work=Bristol Post | access-date=14 February 2016 | first=John | last=Carson | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150129045218/http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Xxx/story-11309110-detail/story.html | archive-date=29 January 2015 | df=dmy-all }}
Clark served as chairman of the Society of Designer Craftsmen. In the 1980s he assisted the Romanian government with the revitalisation of the pottery industry in that country, and later played a similar role in Afghanistan.
In the 1990 Queen's Birthday Honours Clark was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to art and design.{{London Gazette |issue=52173 |date=15 June 1990 |page=13 }} The following year he was awarded the Society of Designer Craftsmen's centennial medal.
Writings
References
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Category:People from Wellington City
Category:People educated at Nelson College
Category:New Zealand military personnel of World War II
Category:Royal Navy personnel of World War II
Category:New Zealand emigrants to the United Kingdom
Category:Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art
Category:Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design
Category:Academics of the Central School of Art and Design