Mr Ben live in Blackburn Museum

About the Artist

Benjamin Hall – otherwise known as Mr Ben – is a ceramicist, painter and songwriter. Hailing from the limestone crags of the most northerly tip of Lancashire, Mr Ben now resides in Sheffield, or more importantly and creatively, his corrugated steel garden shed. Musically Mr Ben has toured countless trips around the uk and released 12 albums (Bingo records, Bella union). Recently since the release of LP ‘Small Wide World’ Mr Ben has hibernated amongst a scattering of slowly and crudely crafted acoustic ponderings which will be finally set free from the creaking armchair of his garden fortress.

Practise Makes Pigeons Exhibition at Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery

Ben Hall’s garden shed studio becomes the foundation of a new artwork installation here at Blackburn Museum & Art Gallery, capturing the spirit of makers and the unique spaces they create for their craft.⁠

Down a ginnel, behind a high fence on a terraced street in Sheffield, sits a garden shed. Like many garden sheds, it’s full of tools. But in Ben’s shed, these are wheels, clay knives, loops and sponges. Surfaces are smudged with the dried residues of clay used to make the ceramics that line the high shelves.⁠

Recognisable for their scored surfaces, glazed and fired in rich blues and etched with haiku, Ben’s vessels are containers for stories, observations and small moments of everyday life.⁠

Delivered in Partnership with The National Festival of Making as part of the 2026 programme. On display in our Temporary Exhibition Gallery.