Sculpture

Classification(s):
Pottery
Date: c. 1951-1976
Dimensions:
73 × 62 mm (7.3 × 6.2 cm)
Medium: Stoneware
Object number: CC050
See Also
DescriptionSmall stoneware sculpture by Ian Godfrey. The sculpture is of a sheep-like animal suspended on wire from a stoneware stand. The animal can swing back and forth.


ProvenanceThis object was originally acquired for the Inner London Education Authority’s (ILEA) ‘Circulating Design Scheme’ collection.

The collection was instigated by the London Country Council (later the Greater London Council) and the Council of Industrial Design (COID). The collection’s original purpose was concerned with the teaching and dissemination of modern, ‘good design’.

The collection was established in 1951/52 as the ‘Experiment in Design Appreciation’, later renamed the ‘Circulating Design Scheme’.

The Circulating Design Scheme lent boxed showcases to London schools. The showcases contained handling objects, material samples and interpretation on a specific subject.

COID withdrew its involvement in the Scheme in 1957. After which time, it was managed exclusively by the London County Council from 1957-1963.

After the administrative restructuring of London authorities, the Scheme was jointly managed by the Greater London Council and the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) from 1963 – 1976.

The Scheme was operational until 1976 when the collections were withdrawn from circulation. ILEA was abolished in the late 1980s and the collection was donated to Camberwell College of Arts in 1989/90.

ILEA was responsible for secondary and tertiary education in the inner London boroughs, this included Camberwell.


NotesIan Godfrey studied painting at Camberwell Art School, it was at Camberwell that he began to make pottery and was trained in the department run by Dick Kendall with teachers including potters Lucie Rie, Hans Coper & Ian Auld. In 1962 he started his own pottery workshop in Islington. In 1967 he worked at the Royal College of Art on a pottery fellowship. Godfrey developed his own techniques - this included carving the almost dry clay with a penknife, as well as developing an individual repository of forms.