New book : Searching for Beauty: Letters from a Collector to a Studio Potter by Richard Jacobs.

Richard Jacobs is a Professor Emeritus in California and a keen collector and curator of studio pottery. He is a regular panelist at the NCECA and has written a book of considerable interest, not just to potters but artists and craftspeople generally.

'As a collector of ceramic works of art, Richard Jacobs is interested not only in the aesthetics of his pieces, but also in the creators. Most of his collection has been purchased through personal contact with the artists themselves, giving him the opportunity to get to know their personalities, life situations, and special talents. He has great empathy for the issues that potters face: the hard physical work, artistic development, self-promotion, economic realities, and the "to-one's-own-self-be-true" decisions.

Christy Johnson, Director, American Museum of Ceramic Art, California

The book is published by Kestrel Books Ltd, Wales, UK and available from October 24th 2007.

352 pages. Hardcover. UK Price £25
ISBN 0-9548840-6-X

Richard will be in the UK to promote ‘Searching for Beauty’ at the following lecture and booksigning events:

School of Art and Design, Wolverhampton University - 16.30pm 24 October
‘Beauty as Idea and Experience: The Rehabilitation of an Aesthetics of Sentimentality’

Oxford Ceramics Fair, St Edward’s School, Oxford - 2pm 27 October
Richard Jacobs in conversation with David Jones, potter and author

The School of Art and Design, University of Wales in Cardiff – 2pm 1st November
Richard Jacobs in conversation with Dr Jeffrey Jones, author of the forthcoming ‘British Studio Pottery 1900 – 2005’ (A&C Black)

Bluecoat Display Centre, 54 Hanover Street, Liverpool - 2.30pm 7th November
Richard Jacobs in conversation with Lionel Burman

University College for the Creative Arts, Farnham – 10am-12.30pm 14 November
‘Beauty as Idea and Experience: The Rehabilitation of an Aesthetics of Sentimentality’

Contemporary Ceramics, 7 Marshall Street, London – 5-7pm 15 November
Launch and booksigning. Richard Jacobs has visited Contemporary Ceramics several times over the past twenty-five years.

hub, National Centre for Craft and Design, Sleaford, Lincs - 3 pm 19 November
Richard Jacobs in conversation with Joanna Howells, author and potter
in conjunction with the exhibition ‘The Pot, the Object and the Vessel’

Royal College of Art, London - 10.30am 22 November
Talk and seminar with staff and students of the ceramics and glass department.