Phil Rogers RCA (1951-2020)

Phil Rogers was born in Newport, South Wales in 1951. He spent a year at Newport College of Art before moving to Swansea College of Art from 1970 – 1974 and it was while in Swansea that he first experienced working with clay. After graduating he took up teaching posts in Cambridgeshire before returning to Wales in 1978 to begin working as a professional potter in Rhayader. Phil has been a fellow of the Craft Potters Association since 1985 and served four consecutive terms as Chair of the Association. In 2004 he was elected to the Royal Cambrian Academy and has been a member of the International Academy of Ceramics.

Phil has written four books on various aspects of ceramics and in 2007 ‘Phil Rogers-Potter’ a book about his work was published in the USA. There have been TV and radio appearances and two films…..’Phil Rogers- A Passion for Pots’ and ‘Drawing in the Air’ both produced by the Goldmark Gallery and filmed by Alex Wright. Over the years there have been more than 50 one person shows across the world and Phil has conducted more than 60 workshops in the USA, Korea, S. Africa, Canada, Germany, Malta and of course the UK.

Phil’s work is the confluence of many influences….Medieval English, German salt glaze, Korean pottery of the 15th and 16th centuries, certain Japanese pots in particular Shigiraki, American settler pottery and potters more recent such as Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada. His pots are deceptively simple relying essentially upon form with most decoration in the surface of the clay and, for about half of his work, the vagaries of the wood kiln.

Phil’s work is held in the permanent collections of more than 50 major museums across the globe including the V&A Museum, London, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Royal Ontario Museum, Canada, Museum of Ceramic Art, Mashiko, Japan, Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC. USA. and Newark Museum, Newark, NJ. USA. He exhibited with Thackeray Gallery since 2004 and we are proud to continue to represent his work today.

Very sadly, Phil Rogers passed away in December 2020, leaving his widow, the Korean potter, Hajeong Lee and his son Ethan to carry on his legacy and look after the estate of his extra-ordinary work.  We miss him.