Japanese Trained Potter And Landscape Painter Join Forces For Windermere Hotel Exhibition
A Japanese-trained Cumbrian potter and a landscape painter have joined forces for a new exhibition at a Lake District hotel.
The latest Art in the Atrium exhibition has opened at Low Wood Bay Resort and Spa, overlooking Windermere. It features ceramics by William Plumptre and paintings by North Yorkshire-based artist Tony Roberts. Organised by English Lakes Hotels in partnership with Gavagan Art, the free display is part of an ongoing programme celebrating artists from across the North of England.
Plumptre studied ceramic design at Chelsea College of Art before travelling to Japan, where he trained in the workshops of three potters. He spent a year working with master potter Tatsuzo Shimaoka, learning traditional pottery techniques and firing methods using a climbing kiln. After establishing a studio in Hartsop near Patterdale, he later moved to his current workshop at a 17th-century farmhouse in Witherslack, where he has worked for more than 30 years.
His pottery is shaped by both Japanese training and the materials found in the Cumbrian landscape. Plumptre uses local granite and wood ash in his glazes, producing robust stoneware pieces that are reduction-fired in a gas kiln he designed himself. His work includes bottles and dishes made using throwing and press-moulding techniques, with rope, fabric and coloured slips adding distinctive decorative details. Some of his ceramics are held in public collections, including Blackwell Arts and Crafts House in Bowness.
Roberts trained in fine art painting at Hornsey College of Arts in London and the Royal Academy Schools before working as a teacher at art colleges in Bolton and Manchester. His work spans oils, watercolours, pastels, gouache and acrylics, with subjects including the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, floral still-life compositions and imagery inspired by Buddhist and Hindu traditions. His paintings have previously been exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and in galleries overseas.
The Windermere exhibition includes large oil paintings on canvas alongside watercolours, giving visitors an opportunity to see different aspects of Roberts’ work in one setting. He said the display offered a rare chance to exhibit some of his larger paintings in a location where they could reach people unfamiliar with his work. He also welcomed the opportunity for friends and family to visit the resort and experience the paintings in the setting of Windermere.
The exhibition is free to visit and is expected to remain on display until early 2027. The Art in the Atrium programme regularly brings together artists and makers at Low Wood Bay, providing a public space for visitors and local residents to discover creative work connected with the North of England.
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