Jack Doherty
Trained in Ceramics, at Ulster College of Art and Design (1971) Jack started work as a studio potter at Kilkenny Design Workshops within a ceramics department whose main function was to design high quality products for the ceramics industry. While developing and exhibiting his own work, he became involved with the production of prototypes and the development of glazes for industrial use. He was awarded gold medals at the International exhibitions in Faenza 1974 and Vallauris 1976.
In 1977 he started his first workshop at Scarva Co Armagh, producing stoneware tableware and individual porcelain pieces before moving to England in 1983 and setting up his new studio in Ross-on-Wye, Hereford. In 1987 he became a part-time lecturer in ceramics at the Forest of Dean College and over the years has worked extensively in ceramics education as an advisor and external examiner on various Higher Education awards across the country. He is currently Chairman of Ceramic Arts London, and has been Director of both Ceramic Review magazine and Contemporary Ceramics for more than 13 years. He was elected as Chair of the Craft Potters’ Association between 1995 and 2000 and again between 2002 and 2008.
Jack specializes in porcelain, making thrown and slab built functional forms ranging from exquisitely fine translucent vessels to large rugged wall pieces. Over the past thirty years of working as a potter he has exhibited internationally and is now featured in many important national collections including Potteries Museum in Stoke on Trent, Castle Museum in Nottingham and Princeshof Museum in Holland.
In 2008 he was appointed as the first Lead Potter at the newly reopened Leach Pottery in St Ives where he has been responsible for establishing the new pottery studio, curating contemporary exhibitions in the gallery and designing, launching and overseeing production of the new range of Leach tableware.