Trevor Corser

Trevor Corser. Photograph by Marie Yates.

Trevor Corser. Photograph by Marie Yates.

Trevor Corser was the longest serving member of the Leach Pottery. Born in Oldham in 1938, he arrived in St Ives as a fisherman with no thoughts of becoming a potter and could not have imagined his future involvement in an artistic legacy so important to 20th century ceramics. 

Corser began work for Bernard Leach in 1966, packing pots for transit and mixing clay. Over the years he went on to learn the skilled craft of a production potter, making the Pottery’s iconic standard ware and becoming one of the last to remain here until the Pottery’s closure in 2005. Having studied under Bernard Leach, he worked for many years alongside William Marshall and himself became mentor to subsequent Leach apprentice potters. Known for his uncomplicated, functional pots and distinctive glazes, Corser grew to be an acclaimed studio potter in his own right and spent his life making pots firmly within the Leach tradition, many of which are now found in collections all over the world.

Trevor Corser sadly died on 30th November 2015, aged 77, whilst working on his 2016 retrospective at the Leach Pottery. We had been looking forward to seeing Trevor return here so that we could acknowledge his great contribution to the Leach Pottery, but in his absence we continued our plans to celebrate his long association with us, and in March 2016, presented 'Trevor Corser: 40 Years a Leach Potter', our first major exhibition of his work.