About my work
My interest in making my own pottery began in 1989 at a local evening
class and the sheer joy of working with clay was immediate.
I soon realised that Ceramics was a vast subject and wanting to find out more about techniques, glazing and firings embarked on a course at Chesterfield College. The experience proved invaluable and led me to apply for a place on the Applied Art degree course at The University of Derby; I graduated in 2000 with a first class (Hons) degree.
After graduation my partner and I decided to become self-employed and share a building in Cromford, Derbyshire. He ran a quantity surveying practice and I had my own pottery workshop and showroom. This worked well until my partner unexpectedly died. I was unable to carry on renting the building on my own and decided to move my pottery business and work from home.
Working with clay helped me through bereavement and I wanted to make something to acknowledge this. Through research I found that commercially produced funerary urns often left me feeling cold and empty. There seemed to be nothing uplifting about them. They were simply a container for ashes and often without character.
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I thought I could improve on this and set about designing and making unique, hand-built funerary urns, that I hoped, in a discrete way, might celebrate life and be of some comfort to those who remain.
Each funerary urn is made using the slow and considered technique of hand building. This method is the earliest form of pottery making and it feels natural for me to work in this way. Through it I feel a deep connection to the material and to our ancestors.
An interest in ancient standing stones, with their carved decoration and symbols, led to research into Neolithic burial mounds and consequently, to investigate the newly built barrows that have chambers with niches to hold funerary urns.
The Long Barrowin Wiltshire is constructed in a similar way to those built in Neolithic times and was the first to be built in 5000 years. Some of my urns now rest in this barrow, a place for contemplation where people come together to remember loved ones, spend time and share memories.
More of these monuments are being built as people search for meaningful and alternative ways to commemorate the dead. In Warwickshire there is Mid-England Barrow while in Kent at The Lost Village of Dode, Holly Barrow nestles underground. Sacred Stones have barrows in Cambridgeshire and Shropshire.
I am a member of the Heritage Crafts Association, Northern Potters, the Good Funeral Guildand the Society of Bereavement Practitioners.
Exhibitions
Upcoming Exhibitions
October 2025 Departures – Natural Endings Funeral Director, Todmorden
2020 - 2024
2024 Water Street Gallery, Todmorden – Seeds of Change
2024 Wardlow Mires Pottery & Food Festival, Mires Lane, Wardlow
2023 Sheffield Ceramics Festival, Kelham Island Industrial Museum, Sheffield
2022 Solo Exhibition – Echoes: reverberations across millennia, Buxton Museum & Art Gallery, Buxton
2021 Wardlow Mires Pottery & Food Festival, Mires Lane, Wardlow
2015 - 2019
2019 Maker’s Mark, Cupola Gallery, Sheffield
2018 Still, The Manger Gallery, Kings Newton, Nr. Melbourne
2016 Art Out Loud, Chatsworth, Derbyshire
2015 Earth & Fire Ceramics Festival, Rufford, Nottinghamshire
2010 - 2014
2014 Art in the Round at The Roundhouse, Derby
2011 Transformations in Clay, Sheffield Cathedral
2010 Ashes to Art (5), The Gallery at Funeria, California, USA
2010 Women Artists, Gallery Top, Rowsley, Derbyshire
2005 - 2009
2008 Ashes to Art (4) The Gallery at Funeria, California, USA
2005 Northern Fire, the gallery @ OXO, London
2000 - 2004
2002 Common Ground: Original Craft from the Peak District, The Millennium Galleries, Sheffield
2002 Art in Clay, Hatfield House, Hertfordshire
2001 Beyond Function, The Millennium Galleries, Sheffield
2000 Craft Potters Association, St Edward’s School, Oxford
Testimonials
“It is my pleasure to recommend the work of Ann Bates which, in my experience, is excellent both technically and artistically. Ann’s ceramic pieces are also imbued with a rare spiritual quality.”
LD, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
“Thank you Ann, for your kindness and empathy and for making this more than just the purchase of an object to hold my husband’s ashes. When I looked at the urn I saw the work and the skill and the part of yourself that had gone into creating it. You must have tremendous job satisfaction!”
Mrs JR, West Midlands
“We wanted to express our warmest appreciation of the immense care you took in realising the designs we commissioned, your only concern being to achieve the closest possible match to our vision in terms of design, colour and glaze, however much experimentation that might take. We are delighted with the result and hope we can stay in touch.”
Mr and Mrs L, Nottingham
“I chose to commission Ann Bates to create an urn for my late wife’s ashes because I was dissatisfied with the impersonal and uninspiring offerings elsewhere. Initially attracted by the examples on her website, the resulting urn has far exceeded my expectations. It truly captures my wife’s spirit and is a wonderful and unique monument to her. Ann involved me in each stage of the design, eliciting my views but then transforming my basic ideas into a sensitive and beautiful work of art. The interactive process of development, as well as the urn itself, have helped me personally in coming to some closure on my grief.”
Mr PG, Scotland
“Working with Ann has been a real pleasure. Planning for end-of-life can be difficult. Working with someone who is kind, conscientious and thoroughly talented is a blessing. The urn Ann created for me is beautiful and an expression of my passionate love of family, friends, and life! Thank you Ann!”
LVL, Ohio, USA
“Several years ago my wife and I made the decision to have our ashes interred in the newly constructed Long Barrow at All Cannings in Wiltshire – the first such structure since Neolithic times. When my wife died very unexpectedly in 2018 I requested an urn that would both honour her memory and, being practical, survive underground for millennia. Ann’s solution was elegant but robust and exactly suited my requirements. I was so impressed that I have subsequently ordered another for myself.”
Mr GL, Berkshire
“Ann’s empathy and understanding made working closely with her on the design for the urn for my brother’s ashes a positive and uplifting experience. She sent me photos of every stage of the creative process for my information and approval and so I felt fully involved throughout. The finished urn is a fine piece of art work – both pleasing on the eye and structurally sound. The care and thought behind Ann’s hand-made urn makes it so more meaningful than a standard product and it is eminently fitting for my brother’s final resting place in the Neolithic-style Long Barrow in Wiltshire.”
HS, Devon
“Ann was extremely helpful and sent photos at every stage when designing and making the urn; it helped us feel involved in the creative process. Thank you Ann, for making such a beautiful object to honour my father.”
MH, Scotland
“I commissioned this piece for my funerary urn which is intended to rest in the All Cannings Long Barrow in Wiltshire. I wanted the design to reflect the Neolithic nature of the piece with its spirals and textures. Ann has done a fantastic job integrating these ancient elements into a contemporary and unique design. What might have been a very difficult subject was handled with care and sensitivity and as a result the process has been enjoyable as well as being a truly healing experience. Thank you, Ann. Highly recommended.”
GW, London
“We commissioned Ann to produce three urns, one for myself and one for my wife, both to be placed in The Long Barrow at All Cannings in due course. The third was for my daughter who wants to keep some of our ashes in her home. The whole commission was treated with kindness and understanding and we are delighted with the results. I chose Ann by instinct over other competitors, my instinct was right and I cannot recommend Ann enough.”
BW, Basingstoke