15 October 2011 – 31 December 2012

Excitations was an exhibition of ceramics from York Museums Trust’s collections chosen by leading ceramicist Gordon Baldwin.

Baldwin, born in 1932, is internationally regarded as the UK’s most distinguished living sculptural potter, who, for the last fifty years, has been producing the most radical and exciting work in clay.

He has been highly influential both as a teacher and artist and can be seen as a key post-war artist, whose activity has helped move ceramics onto a sculptural platform and away from its more traditional functional concerns.

This exhibition acted as an introduction to Baldwin and his inspiration, anticipating our major exhibition of his work in 2012, Objects for a Landscape.

It features a range of works from across the ceramics collections of York Museums Trust, all chosen by Baldwin to show the type of pottery that influenced him when he was a student, bringing about the moment he gave up painting in favour of working in clay.

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