Karen Bunting 1949-2024: A tribute from Ruth King

I first met Karen in 1977 when she began working on Saturdays at the Craftsmen Potters Shop in Soho, where I also worked part-time. I can still see her arriving stylishly dressed in an A-line skirt she had made herself (beautifully of course) with black beret and ankle boots – she in turn appreciated my lady golfer’s outfit. We both took great pleasure in making things out of stuff, but particularly pots.

We got cold together sharing a stall at Jubilee Market in Covent Garden.  She observed laughingly that we might have had more success if we sold things to eat or wear.

Having already completed a degree in chemistry at UCL, Karen’s life in pots began in earnest when she returned to North Yorkshire and worked for over a year with an established maker near Whitby.  Here she learnt the basics of her craft and on returning to London built on them by exploring, with her customary thoroughness, various different kinds of making and firing, taking inspiration from looking at both contemporary pots and those of other cultures and times.

Her unconventional approach to making useful pots might have been better appreciated today but it didn’t go down well at the time, particularly at the Craft Potters Association, which was mired in Leach – it was however recognised by Next who commissioned designs for their home range.

With her customary tenacity she carried on developing her skills and sensitivities to arrive at the elegant, contemplative and considered work with which we are now familiar.

Karen’s restless and enquiring mind wasn’t content with just sitting in her studio making pots. So alongside potting and bringing up two children, she engaged in several projects for the wider community. She was involved from the outset with both Hackney Contemporaries and Hidden Art, for which she received two awards, one of which was for 20 years of outstanding contribution.

Under the auspices of the Museum of the Home she was part of an unusual project called ‘Looking for a Home’ – where ordinary households from across the country signed up to receive and use a handmade pot for a week and respond to the experience. In partnership with the museum, Karen also initiated and curated Ceramics in the City, which grew into a highly successful major selling event in such a very appropriate setting.

She was also instrumental in setting up Broadway Ceramics, a shop run as a co-operative on Broadway Market, through which half a dozen or so Hackney makers sold their work – this is a very different Hackney to the one we see today, definitely before gentrification, when it was down at heel and struggling but as a result it was full of artists.

Eventually in the 1990s, the Craft Potters Association recognised the quality of her work and selected her as a member.  Wishing always to contribute more than she took out, in 2008 she put herself forward and was elected to the CPA Council.  It was a turbulent time, one gallery premises had closed, another temporary premises had to be vacated and the CPA nearly became homeless shortly before its 50^th anniversary.

Inevitably Karen saw this as a challenge to be faced and overcome and in 2009 she took over as Chair when no-one else wanted to take it on, the situation was far too difficult with almost insurmountable problems – but not for Karen.  With the approval of the finance manager she searched for and found new premises in Great Russell Street opposite the British Museum, oversaw its refurbishment and with the assistance and backing of the gallery manager Marta Donaghey, set it firmly on the path to the fine gallery it is today.

It was a testing time for Karen and for at least a year it left little space for her own work. The finance manager died unexpectedly and his replacement had to be found.  At the same time the CPA flagship event Ceramic Art London (CAL) needed a new home as the Royal College of Art was repurposing their exhibition space. Karen called on the invaluable assistance and backing of Rob Kessler enabling CAL to relocate very successfully to Central Saint Martin’s.

Remarkably this period of anxiety for us all on CPA council was navigated with pragmatism, tenacity, good humour and most importantly success – the CPA is indebted to her.

When Karen stepped down from Council at the end of her allotted time, instead of resting on her laurels she became a trustee of Clay College in Stoke-on-Trent, a new initiative set up by Lisa Hammond to provide a dedicated course for training in the clay skills needed to become a competent potter. This last project will have been close to her heart as these skills were hard won by her without a formal art school training and she felt disadvantaged by the lack of support from a peer group along with the confidence that can confer.

From a potter’s point of view, in addition to her splendid pots, what is most particular about Karen is that not one of the related projects with which she was involved were about her, nor were they to enhance her standing, they were to give help and support to a community, whether it was the immediate: around Beck Road, the locality: Hackney, or the wider pottery community.

Her humour, generosity, inclusivity and kindness, the help she gave to young or new makers, and her willingness to give more than was necessary to make sure the job was always done properly, will all be missed. I will miss her and she will be remembered.

Ruth King