Edmund de Waal, A reading silence, 2006, 24 pieces, shades of white and celadon glazes. Image © Hélène Binet

Kettle’s Yard is currently presenting an exhibition of the work of the leading British potter of his generation, Edmund de Waal.

Running until July 22 2007 the exhibition shows how his work is characterised by the repetition of the simplest, cylindrical, porcelain forms, each distorted by the hand and in their firing.

For de Waal, who read English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, in the mid 1980s, the exhibition is a homecoming and since his student days the gallery has been a constant source of inspiration.

Edmund de Waal, Untitled-1: (in window) A line around a shadow 2005, 97 pieces, shades of whites; (on wall) Predella, 2007, 49 pieces, whites, shades of yellow and grey. Image © Hélène Binet

As a potter, and as a writer about ceramics, Edmund de Waal has long reflected on how pots have been presented and perceived, from the mass produced teapot to the studio crafted object, and their relationship to the buildings they inhabit.

Using the variety of spaces in the gallery at Kettle’s Yard and extending into the house with its permanent collection, de Waal has created a series of installations.

The first, A Change in the Weather, offers the visitor a pot for each day of the year. Further on, there are pots in a skylight, on shelves and in boxes, and running along the street-front window sill.

Edmund de Waal, Untitled-3, Below the waterline, 2005, 51 pieces, shades of celadon. Image © Hélène Binet

In the last space, visitors are invited to glimpse into a room – a wunderkammer – lined and stacked with 342 plates. In the house, smaller installations replace the normal pots and find their way into bookshelves and cupboards.

The exhibition has been organised in association with the newly opened mima in Middlesbrough where the same pieces will be used in an exhibition that explores quite different surroundings.

The exhibition is accompanied by a book including photographs by Hélène Binet of the installations at Kettle’s Yard and mima, as well as other pieces at Chatsworth and elsewhere.

Edmund de Waal, Untitled-5: A change in the weather, 2007, 364 pieces, shades of celadon and grey. Image © Hélène Binet

On Saturday June 23 there will be a symposium discussing the sculptural reading of architecture with architects Deborah Saunt and David Hills, artists Keith Wilson and Richard Woods, Hélène Binet and Edmund de Waal, plus new and ancient music.