Every collection has a life story. Like any individual it has its own personality and potential and is caught up in the vagaries of a wider history.

In 1974, as a recently appointed lecturer, I discovered that Aberystwyth University owned a considerable collection of art and craft. It languished in store cupboards and dusty display cases around the institution. The original collection had been formed between 1920-1936, a key period for the history of studio pottery, and contained substantial bodies of work by pioneer potters including Bernard Leach and Michael Cardew, to name two. There had been no purchasing since the 1930s. The next stage in the collection was launched after a little research around the university records revealed a small endowment fund which had lain dormant for forty years. We considered how the collection might be developed but with minimal finances it seemed pointless to try to fill in the 40 year gap at that stage. In the mid seventies the Crafts Council, the Craft Potters Association and publications such as Crafts and Ceramic Review were bringing a higher profile to young makers and contemporary ceramics. We chose to respond to the exciting developments in the field.

Histories of taste tell us that values change and things that may be fashionable with one generation will look 'old hat' to the next and may become meaningful again to a future generation. The explosion of interest in new ceramics after the 1970s has meant that many more museums began to create collections of contemporary ceramics and there is a tendency for everyone to buy the same key artists. It might seem obvious that the aim for any public collection will be to buy important works by the most significant artists. I believe there are other considerations. The wide range of people who represent the audience have different needs and tastes. Any exhibition with prizes where there is a 'people's choice' will often show a marked discrepancy between the choices of the judges and that of the general viewers. The University of Wales collection has always been developed in conjunction with its audience: local people, visitors, potters, ceramics students, students at the School of Art and even school children. Purchasing work that shows a particular technique, or illustrates a historical moment or contrasts well with some work in the older collection, or that will make an effective group display may also be important.

Although in a small organisation we have had relative flexibility about acquisitions, we have often worked in conjunction with others, commissioning through the Arts Council of Wales or buying from the Aberystwyth Arts Centre's Ceramic Series exhibitions and through the International Ceramics Festival. This biennial event brings 800 visitors and leading ceramic artists from all over the world to Aberystwyth and has allowed us to acquire work from international artists, unusual, as British collections have tended to concentrate on the national scene. We have modest purchasing funds but can apply for matching grants from the Victoria & Albert Purchase Grant Fund and the National Art Collection Fund for major acquisitions. Our most recent purchase is a historic piece from 1955, a fine example of the work of the Nigerian artist, Ladi Kwali, who worked with Michael Cardew at Abuja. It makes a telling comparison with Cardew's work and examples of traditional African pottery also in the collection.

Collecting for a public institution carries with it responsibilities to ensure that work will be preserved properly. Some might say this happens at the expense of making it accessible to the public. Space is always a concern; without a recent expansion in storage space we would have found it difficult to attract further grant funding from official bodies. Few collections can afford to purchase and store large numbers by any one artist but we do try to acquire examples as artists create a completely new body of work. Although we would not do it, sometimes artists themselves have asked to exchange work as they feel early pieces may be unrepresentative.

One of the stories that collectors and curators tell is about 'the one that got away'. Opportunities missed through moments of hesitation - often because the price seemed high - five years on it seems like a bargain. I comfort myself with that mental list where I can say, 'I am glad I went with my hunch on that'.

The Ceramic Archive has been in existence since 1989 and is now beginning to bear fruit. For any art production to exist within the public domain it has to be known, publicised, discussed and used in teaching, something that was an aim of the collection in its early years. All this is much more likely to happen where there is information available but it takes time and money to build up such material. Wherever possible we try to collect publications and audio and video recordings of artists talking and working. Since the mid 1990s we have pioneered the use of new technology to develop projects around the collection and expand the audience through electronic means.

Perhaps I should have said at the beginning that collections have many lives, certainly they have the ability to outlive the people that make them, re-emerging to serve new generations in different ways. New technology makes this all the more possible.

Moira Vincentelli
Senior Lecturer in Art History, Curator of Ceramics
University of Wales, Aberystwyth

May 2002