Elspeth Owen: Unavoidable Knowledge

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Elspeth Owen’s ceramics are found in museum collections all over the world and are made in her studio in a former cricket pavilion in Grantchester. The Fitzwilliam Museum is fortunate to have a number of pots by Owen in its permanent collection, including two large works given by Nicholas and Judith Goodison through the Art Fund.

As part of the programme Art Talks with Art Fund, a national programme of artist talks around contemporary art in museums across the UK, Elspeth Owen gave a public talk at The Fitzwilliam Museum on 27 July 2019, speaking about the centrality of touch in the making and enjoying of pots and placing her work politically within the ‘gift’ economy’, an idea as important for museums as for artists. This short film, created by filmmaker Marco Carini, combines highlights of this talk with footage of Owen speaking about her work in her Grantchester studio.