Michel Ducos

From carving lumps of plaster scavenged from bombed out houses as a child in French North Africa to sculpting forms in clay today, 3-dimensional creation has always been part of my life. Like many people of my generation, I wasn’t allowed an Art education as no proper job could come from it so I studied Law and Politics with the aim to become the next President of the French Republic. This didn’t happen and I found myself working as a professional potter in England from 1972 onwards with my wife Heather as Alford Pottery.

Over the last 20 years or so, ceramic sculpting and conceptual form making have increasingly become my creative language. A progressive exploration in materials and found objects has widened my creativity and focused my political and ethical commentary on modern life.

All my work is entirely made by hand, starting with clay or with paperclay which I make from recycled clay and old newspapers, often built in sections for pieces over 1 metre high,

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From carving lumps of plaster scavenged from bombed out houses as a child in French North Africa to sculpting forms in clay today, 3-dimensional creation has always been part of my life. Like many people of my generation, I wasn’t allowed an Art education as no proper job could come from it so I studied Law and Politics with the aim to become the next President of the French Republic. This didn’t happen and I found myself working as a professional potter in England from 1972 onwards with my wife Heather as Alford Pottery.

Over the last 20 years or so, ceramic sculpting and conceptual form making have increasingly become my creative language. A progressive exploration in materials and found objects has widened my creativity and focused my political and ethical commentary on modern life.

All my work is entirely made by hand, starting with clay or with paperclay which I make from recycled clay and old newspapers, often built in sections for pieces over 1 metre high, carved and decorated and painted by hand. The only equipment used are kilns and a glaze spraying gun.
I use my skill and experience to try and realize people’s ideas and I have made some unusual and improbable sculptures like a guitar, a fire extinguisher, a melodeon and several ecclesiastical memorials!
I have been lucky to have many clients and collectors who have given me the justification to pursue my interest.

My non- commissioned work is total freedom when I make what I fancy but I often work to a theme or in series. In ceramic or other materials often re purposed and recycled, it has been wide ranging from trompe l’oeil to political statements to more romantic meanderings like Italo Calvino’s book Invisible Cities or large garden lights and decorative shapes. Current work includes commentaries on global heating and the Ukraine crisis.
All have pleased, most have sold, some have resulted in further commissions and all have fed my creative obsession.

Enter your Exhibitions here.
Object” with artist Carole Ann Grace. The Gallery Upstairs. Norwich St. Fakenham. Norfolk.
December 1st to 23rd. Solo Exhibition of sculptures at Alford Arts Gallery.

2023. March. Accepted for Group selected Exhibition at the Open Gallery, Halifax.
July. Paper and Stone. Month long joint Exhibition with Andrew White Ceramic Sculptures and Etchings. Hammond House Gallery. Louth.
Selected entry for The Midland Open 2023. July to September Tarpey Gallery. Castle Donnington.
September. Clay and Paint joint exhibition of Paintings by Twink Addison and Ceramic Sculptures. September 1st to 30th at Venetia’s Art Gallery. Fakenham. Norfolk.
No Exhibs during 2024 due to Health issues.
2025. Art of Now. Selected for the Summer Exhibition at the Usher Gallery Lincoln. 20 July to 19 October.
2025. Selective Open at the Spout Yard Gallery. Louth. 8th Nov to 5th Dec
2026. the Art of War and Peace. Selected for exhibition at Collect Art Tbilisi, Georgia. ( Incl: online plus magazine expose and interview)

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