Panorama

Commissioned by Susan Daniel-McElroy, Director of Tate St Ives, I produced an installation for the 55- foot long curved exhibition space. This consisted of over 100 ceramic pieces. The catalogue essay ‘Richard Slee, Grand Wizard’ was written by curator and historian, Dr. Oliver Watson of the V&A.

In 2002, I had been commissioned to make an installation at the St Pancras Art and Design Show which led on to working on the idea of a ‘panoramic’ view rather than the fixed perspective of the St Pancras work done in response to the specific high Victorian interior.

Panorama formed a narrative of the imagination that could be read from any point, challenging any linear reading or sequence. The title was chosen not just because of the sweep of the showcase but to present a continuously passing scene that did not rely on a central, classical viewpoint. As Daniel-McElroy succinctly described my thoughts in the catalogue, the work consisted of ‘seemingly desperate elements of a story, including an appropriated rabbit, belle tents, frightened balls of fluff, various weaponry, an aeroplane for a quick getaway, a bedroom snake and one hundred chocolate logs, surrounded a duck who swims against the tide’.

Panorama toured onto the Ruthin Crafts Centre, Wales, then returned by special request to Tate St Ives. An expanded version was exhibited under the title Panoramas for The Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, Orkney.

Artist Profile
Richard Slee's career as a studio ceramicist now spans over thirty years. Born in1946 in Cumbria , he attended Carlisle College of Art and graduated in Ceramics from the (then) Central School of Art and Design in 1970. Early career consisted of part-time teaching and practice as a Studio Ceramicist; he was awarded an MA in Design from the Royal College of Art in1988.

Slee started teaching at Camberwell College of Art in 1990, and was awarded professorship in 1992.
Throughout his career he has built an international presence in the USA, Canada, Korea, Japan, Australia and Europe, with his work being represented in numerous collections world-wide.

He completed a major commission for Sculpture at Goodwood in 2000, and in the following year was awarded The Jerwood Applied Arts Prize for his contribution to contemporary Ceramics. In 2002, he curated the exhibition 'Sleepers' at The Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro, as part of the Ceramica International Festival. He has recently received an Arts Council Individual Artist Award to further his practice (2006).
Richard Slee is represented in the United Kingdom by Barrett Marsden Gallery, London.

Artist’s Statement
Current Research
"Specializing in ceramics as the medium, my interests and practice has evolved from Studio Pottery to a contemporary craft debate with reference to the current positioning of material specializations in visual creativity. Recent developments in my output have seen the use of both the found and non-ceramic materials in works produced questioning past loyalties towards a single material.
A formal exploration of the creative use of fired enamels onto metal has been recently undertaken, to expand my personal craft knowledge. The resulting works challenge both the place and purpose of individually produced and crafted works."