The Pearoom Centre for Contemporary Craft.

Born in Johannesburg, Jonathan Keep grew up and was educated in South Africa. He moved to Britain in 1986 and has established a studio at Knodishall on the Suffolk coast. Here, having established himself as a sought after domesticware potter he has found the time to pursue his initial interest in sculptural pots. Over the last few years Jonathan has produced a body of work that is intriguing, unusual and full of diverse references. It is the relationship of maker to object that is of greatest interest to him, particularly the way form portrays, consciously or unconsciously the makers feelings, instincts and psychic condition.

In South Africa part of his childhood was spent living in an African Game reserve where he experienced and observed animal behaviour and ecology first hand with the result that the dominating characteristic in his work is the exploration of the concept of "earthness".

"Humanity is of this earth, and it is man's association to the earth as our most potent image of nature that intrigues me. Working with the stuff of earth (clay), transformed through the elements of water and fire, I aim to achieve images and objects that express the essence of this experience".

Jonathan's work is characterised by a strong use of line, particularly in the profile, while the forms are full in volume and invariably wonderfully tactile. All his ceramic works are handbuilt in stoneware using a combination of throwing, coiling and slabbing techniques. He uses an ash and clay glaze in different proportions and metallic oxides to achieve colour. The natural fired colour of the clays is allowed to show through giving a pallet from an earthy red, through browns, grey and touched with highlights of blue and turquoise glaze.

This is Jonathan Keeps first solo show in Britain. Some of the ceramic works in the exhibition have been made especially to fit the unique gallery space of the Pearoom which is not a purpose built gallery but a grade 2 listed building which was once use as a pea sorting warehouse. The exhibition will mix both small and larger sculptural work with tile "wall paintings" a recent development, which represent experiments with repetition and pattern making on a large scale, with some as long as eight meters.