John Maltby was a British artist born in 1936. He rejected the conventional Anglo-Oriental traditions defined by Bernard Leach and instead spearheaded the development of a new Modernist movement in British Studio Pottery from the mid-1960s until his death in 2020. Maltby was influenced by artists such as Henry Moore, Alfred Wallis, Picasso, and Paul Klee, emphasizing the symbiosis of abstract geometry and color. He regarded each piece as a sculptural work, enclosing particular memories and emotions. The concept of memory was always at the heart of Maltby's work, and this notion was reinforced in 1996 when he was forced to change his practice due to heart surgery. Rather than abandoning his craft, Maltby made the most significant change in his artistic career - the transition from turned pottery vessels to sculpture. The shift in practice made Maltby's previously employed patterns and aesthetics spring to life and introduced many returning 'characters', taking the form of birds, fishermen, kings, knights, and many more. These characters took on token characteristics of Maltby's life, and he embodied into them specific memories or emotions evoked by pieces of art or music. Maltby always sought for his work to regale a narrative, be it the far away chivalrous stories of knights and kings or the humble tales of the local fishing folk surrounding his Devon home. Continuously revisiting these for the last twenty-four years of his life, Maltby has built a unique legacy in the echelons of British Art Pottery.