The Judging Panel
The judges for the Henry Rothschild Memorial Ceramic Bursary are:
Liz Rothschild
Liz Rothschild was lucky enough to grow up with the Henry Rothschild collection.
It was never locked away but always in use in the kitchen and on the dining room table, the more sculptural pieces available for visitors to handle and enjoy.
Liz worked in Primavera and helped at exhibitions. She was trained from an early age in how to look and has a strong interest in the design elements of projects she undertakes be they theatre pieces, websites or publicity materials.
Liz feels fortunate to have grown up around makers whose passion was the materials they worked with and learning how they responded under different conditions. This joyous engagement shaped what she values in life. She is interested in ceramicists who have originality, passion for their work and the skills to match their vision.
Liz was instrumental in setting up the bursary and creating the panel of judges.
Ronald Pile
Ronald Pile read History of Art at Edinburgh University, but chose to work and train in a small country pottery after graduating.
Here he first met Henry Rothschild, who later invited him to come and manage his shop (Primavera) in Cambridge.
In 1980 Ronald took over the business and ran it for the next 20 years, organising many ceramic exhibitions over that period.
He became interested in the subject of conservation while restoring a 17c. building in Ely and subsequently took the Graduate Diploma course in the Conservation/restoration of Ceramics and Glass at West Dean College.
Ronald now works full-time as a ceramics restorer in Cambridge.
Helen Walsh
Helen has a background in crafts, specifically stained glass and has worked in the museums sector since 2001.
She joined York Museums Trust in 2004 as Assistant Curator of Decorative Art and has since become Curator of Ceramics, responsible for the designated collections of contemporary British studio ceramics, as well as the historical ceramics/decorative arts collections.
Helen founded the UK’s Contemporary Studio Ceramics Subject Specialist Network (SSN) in 2012 and led on the establishment of the Centre of Ceramic Art (CoCA) at York Art Gallery, which opened in 2015.
Along with a successful track record of fundraising for acquisitions, projects, exhibitions and SSN support grants, Helen has curated a number of exhibitions, including ‘Lucie Rie Ceramics and Buttons’ (2018/19), project managing and contributing to the accompanying catalogue of new research.
She has taken part in a number of national and international conferences and published several articles and papers on contemporary studio ceramics.
In 2017 she completed her PhD on the subject of collecting contemporary ceramics, and is currently working on publishing this research alongside a related exhibition.
Sim Panaser
Sim has been working with collections in museums and galleries for over a decade.
From 2008-2014 she was Keeper of Art at the Shipley Art Gallery and supported the research and delivery of the Henry Rothschild Study Centre. Here she also curated exhibitions drawing on Henry’s collection and was responsible for the acquisition of contemporary ceramics for the permanent collection.
Sim is currently Gallery and Exhibitions Manager at Morley College, a leading centre for adult education in London.
Her academic research has focused on post-war design and regional design histories.
