Ashley Howard: Interplay - 18 July to 21 September 2025 Newlands House Gallery, Petworth

18 July – 21 September 2025

Ashley Howard – Interplay

Ashley Howard is a celebrated British potter whose practice bridges the expressive potential of the wheel-thrown vessel with a deep exploration of ritual, material, and transformation.

Grounded in the traditions of East Asian ceramics and shaped by extensive experience in Japan and China, Howard’s work challenges conventional notions of permanence. Drawing on longstanding interests in spirituality, space, and the poetics of material, his practice speaks to the shifting relationships between people, place, and object.

Interplay brings together new and recent works that push the limits of ceramic possibility, where glaze becomes glue, the wheel becomes a tool of expressive force, and the vessel takes on ceremonial resonance. Each piece is approached not as a static object, but as part of an evolving process, often fired multiple times, fused with incompatible clays, and reworked until form and surface reach a dynamic equilibrium.

Composer John Cage’s concept of a “world of events as opposed to objects” resonates strongly with Howard’s understanding of his work as an ongoing process rather than a finished piece.

His deep connections with Japan and China reinforce this perspective, suggesting that rather than embodying permanence, ceramic objects exist in a constant state of flux. Though ceramics are often considered durable, they too are subject to transformation and change.

Described by critic David Whiting as “an assured but rigorous explorer,” Howard redefines the wheel-thrown form as a site of experimentation and reflection. Howards’ work is held in both public and private collections and has been exhibited internationally, from London, Winchester, and St Ives to Tokyo and Beijing.