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We are all set up at Art in Clay in Farnham. The show is still on Sunday so if your in the area it's well worth a visit.
I've only had time to snap a few pictures of stands but you can look up all the potters on the Art in Clay web site. Here are Simon Conolly's stand, Roger Lewis and Emily Myers.
I expect that by now everybody has seem the field of poppies at the Tower of London. They have made a moving impression on people.
At the end of my road is a school for children with learning disabilities. They too wanted to make a connection with the project and that's where they contacted me to help make and fire the ceramic poppies.
It's not a very large school so every pupil was able to get involved.
At first I wondered if they could get anything out of the project, after all it didn't seem very creative. However, I am surprised just how much it impacted the school as teachers,staff and even the caretaker all got involved.
They obviously don't have the impact of the ones at the Tower of London but for each young person they had meaning and impact on an individual level as they made a connection. They were all ready just in time to be set out on Tuesday the 11th of November.
We've recently arrived home from China after a wonderful visit see to our daughter. China is so full of amazing sights, sounds and smells it would be difficult in a short blog to write about it. However, here is a glimpse of some of the things we did during our stay. The scene above is the corner of the street where my daughter lives. Expensive shiny new cars run side by side with these 'carriages'.
There seemed to be a market around every street corner. Markets for everything. There was the vegetable market, the fabric market, the antiques market etc. all teeming with colour and life.
Some streets were full of people making street food. It all looked delicious. Even the most basic 'kitchen' seemed to be producing mouth watering foods.
Park life takes on a new meaning in China. Partly because people don't have individual gardens but also because people love to do things communally. The local park was alive until late a night with people singing. dancing doing tai chi selling goods and all sorts of other activities.
This park had a whole cast of sculptures of opera singers.I like the way this little chap wanted to get in on the action.
People just seemed to rock up in the park with a ghetto blaster and start dancing or come with a whole ensemble of friends to play and sing.
We travelled out to the countryside to walk up into the mountains. It was the most beautiful, magical place but the footpath only consisted of a very rough path of boulders.We were quite surprised to find a community living near the beginning of our walk. Latter when we had walked quite some way we were even more surprised to find more homes, though I'm not sure who was more surprised, us or the folk who lived in such a remote place.
Another trip we did was to Fuping Pottery Village. There were some huge galleries there unlike anything I've seen before. I didn't see any kilns and only one potter making coiled pots.
Having driven all the way to the south of France earlier in the year to see Jean Nicholas Gerrard's work imagine my surprise to find he'd been to Fuping before me.
Granddaughter Isabella enjoys her very first walk in the gallery.
Here we are being very touristy in yet another park. I could go on but I think you get the picture!
Do you remember these puzzles we had as children? You had to move the pieces around to make the picture or the run of numbers. They could be quite frustrating if you couldn't quite get them where they needed to be!
Well my studio has been a bit like that. I've had to keep moving pots around so that I can continue using the space. I've had to get bisque firings on to clear work space for throwing then I've had to get on and glaze to keep the space clear...
It feels as though my studio is shrinking around me. I really need a bigger space.
I've had to go to London twice recently to apply for a Chinese visa. the first time I went on to Brick Lane for a little wander and a coffee after queueing for three hours. These wall painting are all off Brick Lane. My favourite place for coffee is in No 5 Fournier Street where they also keep a good range of pots by Jonathan Garrett.
When I returned a few days later I popped into the British Museum for a wander. I so like these tiles. I get excited about them every time.
I really enjoy this mouth watering mug and of course I thought of Hannah when I saw it.
I'm always looking out for objects with script on them and it never fails to fascinate me but isn't this a bit macabre!? It's been a very busy, but enjoyable, few weeks so on Sunday afternoon we went for a walk around the lake. It's just minutes away from our house but we hardly ever make time to stroll around. There were bird watchers out but I don't know what they are all looking at! I expect that many of the birds are getting ready to migrate.
We are getting ready to head to Wardlow Mires next week-end for Pots and Food.
It's a very enjoyable week-end with a great combination of pots and fine food. Do come along and sample both. I'm looking forward to both! It's also in a very beautiful part of the world.
