Raw and Ragged: Clad exhibition opens 4 May

For 10 days from 4–14 May, Matthew will be displaying eight specially created artworks in clay, terracotta and earthenware tiles. Each piece is a response to the concept of the urban grid – the framework of streets, buildings, paving stones and indeed tiles, that shapes the cities around us   and the ways in which those grids are transformed by the movement of people over time.

The eight works vary in scale and form. Individual Motives, is composed of large, hand-rolled tiles

featuring details of etchings found in Dr Barnado’s Night & Day journal, published at the time he founded the Ragged School. Another piece, Panel Discussion comprises four three-dimensional tiles inspired by a 15th-century Italian shrine and featuring a quote from Victorian journalist Henry Mayhew in hand formed clay lettering. Fearful Symmetry directly addresses the issue of who creates urban grids, while Top Table explores the connections between empire and exploitation.

Before the exhibition opens, Matthew Raw will be transporting the works from his studio in Hoxton to the Ragged School Museum by a converted barge along Regent’s Canal. This unusual journey represents a link to the history of Raw’s craft – Britain’s father of industrial ceramics, Josiah Wedgwood, was instrumental in the development of Britain’s canals as they were the safest means of transporting his pottery. The canal trip also celebrates the physical connection between the studio and the museum – a 2.5-hour voyage through the East London landscape whose changing face has inspired and influenced both the exhibition and the venue hosting it.