Art in Clay

 You may be forgiven if you think I have retired as I've posted so little recently. But no, I've been steadily potting away. All the work tops in the studio are crowded with pots waiting to go to Farnham.
Tomorrow we set up in The Maltings ready for the week-end festival. Check out this link to see who's exhibiting and whats on.
Life has been very busy with a challenging number of  'things' to sort.( Cars needing attention, central heating breaking down, visas to be applied for. You get the picture).
I like to be able to concentrate on the pottery and really give it all my attention so the last few weeks have been too full of distractions. But somehow I feel that I have managed to keep working and retain a sense of humour.

Half-term visits

 It was half-term last week so I headed to Wales to visit my parents. Whilst there I visited the gallery in Carmarthen.http://www.orielmyrddingallery.co.uk/
The exhibition last week was the Jerwood Makers Open. One of the exhibitors was  William Shannon who had set himself the brief to create a workshop for an imaginary potter. Just the mention of pottery had me hooked. The accompanying programme said that  this imaginary potter 'has limited resources (as potters tend to).'
The outcome was delightful and I'm sure some of us might like a pocket sized raku studio. Glenn Adamson ( Head of Research at the V and A) who wrote the accompanying essay, suggests that the experiment is 'entirely absurd, or at least symbolic...Symbolically, it is a miniature temple to self-reliance. In practice he could never have made it without the support of the Jerwood Maker's Open'.
To some extent I can see his point. William had made tiles for the exterior of the studio by raku firing tiles. On that scale a slow process. After all if you want individually hand made hung tiles you go to my friend at Babylon Tile Works. Just see the rows of tiles he produces below. However, I found it quite encouraging to think that people are looking at the idea of producing from locally sourced materials and being self-sufficient.
I was tempted to start 'playing ' with the tools and materials but I don't think it was meant to be inter-active.

I take 'The World of Interiors' magazine. In one of the issues it had mentioned an antique shop that shows Welsh pottery. That was enough for me - I was off in search of Tim Bowen Antiques. I was not disappointed. He had a wonderful collection of slipware from Buckley. I think it's joyful, lively and fresh looking. So simple yet with it's treacle, honey and amber colours warm and practical. Of course the use of script on it is also of interest to me.
Tomorrow I'm off to hear a talk by Alison Britton at The Crafts Study Centre in Farnham. On the one hand I feel I cann't afford to take any time off work but I also feel I need to get out of the studio every now and again and expose myself to other influences.

commission

Here are some pictures of a commission I delivered last week. When I was first asked to do a bowl with a greenhouse and very specific plants at first I thought it was too difficult. But then I thought I should give it a try, partly because I know how much pleasure it gives to people to have something made specifically for them. I had to be quite focused because if I spend too much time working on these there is no profit in making them. I hope I've got the balance right.

Pots and Food at wardlow Mires

 At the week-end we were at a festival of pottery and food in Wardlow Mires, Derbyshire. The idea was that potters producing domestic ware should show it alongside food producers.
The combination made for a very enjoyable week-end. We interspersed the selling of pots with sampling the wares of the food producers.
There was also a stall exhibiting Brampton Pottery. This was salt glazed ware produced by a consortium of potteries in the Chesterfield area I think produced in the 18th century. Josie Walter wrote a small book about them and you can find much of the text here. 
I was delighted to see the pots as I've only seen them in Josie's books before.They are quite exuberant with lots of sprigging.

 Did I mention that as well as Brampton pots I share a name with a brewery?
There was a stall selling Brampton beer but I won't tell you if I sampled that as well as the food.

Bird Bowls

I've dashed out quickly this morning to take these pictures as my son wanted to borrow my camera. It was so pleasant in the garden the September light was soft and surprisingly for the time of year the garden was still looking good.

Books

 I've been busy working for some weeks with very little break so I rewarded myself with a new book. The post man always comes about lunch time and earlier in the week he brought Linda Bloomfield's book on colour in glazes. He was just in time for me to look through it whilst having lunch. I think I want to experiment with more colour now!!
The book below is about Jean-Nicholas Gerard a French potter and arrived a few weeks ago. I am enthralled by it. My photos really don't do the book justice. The book shows the pots at various stages of making and also on show in galleries but the bit I find inspiring is seeing the pots in use. It looks so much fun having food out of hand made pots with real character. It makes me think that good food can only taste better out of these vessels.

Distractions

 I have plenty of work I should be doing. I have been busy in the pottery each day but I had planned to get some water colour painting done in the evenings.
But I heard the phrase 'match box art' somewhere in the blogsphere and made these little boxes. I've been putting one in with my husband's sandwiches now and again. They are meant to distract him in his busy work day. I put things like chocolates, tea bags, jokes and other things similar to a Christmas cracker in them. They don't really cost anything so it's just a bit of fun. I'm not sure who's been more distracted him or me!

 Another distraction has been trying to find an easy and quick way to make photo 'mosaics'. You know something the computer illiterate can do in three seconds and it looks like a professional did it.
I've also been trying to take photographs of my work as I need some up-to-date ones. That's something else I'd like to do in a few minutes and it look as though Jan Baldwin or Jonathan Lovekin took them.
I'm working very industriously in the pottery getting things ready for the Pottery and Food Festival at Wardlow Mires. I may have mentioned all ready I'm looking forward to the food part.
One of the exhibitors there is Robin Wood , a green woodworker, and I am looking forward to seeing his work. Check out his site it's full of interesting articles.