David Garland’s broad painterly brushwork on pots is fresh and unrehearsed, his marking never obvious or slick. His work has more in common with French and Spanish country pottery for example, and with bold modern abstraction (Matisse particularly springs to mind) than any British ceramic tradition. His jugs, bowls, teapots and large open cups are a festive enhancement of any table, good in the hand and generous in form, thickness and weight.

Born in 1941 and now long established in Chedworth in Gloucestershire, Garland continues to paint as well as pot, his ease on canvas transferring well to ceramics. He was an important part of a new spirit in studio tablewares in the 1980s, his pieces offering a richly expressive alternative to the often formulaic decoration that also typified the period. His work today keeps this distinctive quality.

David Whiting