SLIPWARE

SLIPWARE AT GALLERYTOP 6 - 30 OCTOBER 2012

gallerytop

gallerytop was formed in 2004 by artists Gill Wilson and Keith Logan with the aim of promoting work which has quality and integrity - which is grounded in a fundamental respect for materials, processes and techniques.

Selected work is exhibited in an environment that is welcoming, communicative and with a focus on promoting makers and their work to customers whose lives are enhanced by it. The gallery is based on the belief that art is important and fundamentally affects people’s lives. It is a transforming process - to the artists themselves but particularly to gallery visitors whose perceptions are enhanced by the unique creativity which artists bring to bear. Since it’s formation, the gallery has worked with over 400 artists and makers.

The gallery has eight exhibitions a year ranging from themed mixed exhibitions to focused solo shows. Guest curators bring a depth of focus and understanding to exhibitions and the potter and academic, Josie Walter, was commissioned by the gallery to curate a slipware exhibition. This book reflects the diversity of the work of the seventeen potters Josie selected to be part of the exhibition.

Gill Wilson & Keith Logan October 2012 gallerytop Chatsworth Road Rowsley Derbyshire DE4 5DD United Kingdon Š gallerytop Ltd 2012

Slipware has been the focus of my making for over thirty years. During that time searching out slipware potters in exhibitions and at potters markets has been a joy. The variety of ways potters choose to use red clay, such a humble material, together with a simple slip and glaze is truly astounding. Choosing a selection of these makers, for this exhibition, has been tremendously difficult - so many talented potters to choose from, it’s an almost impossible task.

SLIPWARE AT GALLERYTOP

In the end, of course, I have not been able to show work by everyone I know that makes slipware in the UK and in the rest of mainland Europe. But what I have tried to do is to bring together a group of makers that show the variety of slipware as well as potters who have not been so familiar to visitors to Gallerytop.

Makers from France, such as Sylivie and Francois Frenais, who I met when researching my book Pots in the Kitchen. I originally saw Cormac Boydell’s work exhibited at le Don du Fel, in the Auvergne, France before visiting his workshop in Southern Ireland last summer. A few surprises too, I hope, such as work by Andrew McGarva, better known for his decorated stoneware, now making large decorated platters and tiles with rich treacly glazes and Pim Van Huiiselling from the Netherlands, who has created some of the most vibrant earthenware in the exhibition..’

This is my selection, I hope it brings you great pleasure too!

Josie Walter

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF EARTHENWARE POTTERY

In the late 16C tens of thousands of Protestant Flemings left the Netherlands because they were being persecuted for their religion.

Many of these people settled in Britain and were allowed to trade.

They brought pottery with them but they also encouraged local potters to make the ware they were used to, such as pipkins, (small earthenware pots usually with a horizontal handle) candlesticks, plates and even chamber pots! The refractory nature of earthenware clay made it ideal for cooking food over an open fire, for making pancakes in earthenware frying pans or slow cooking in oval three legged pots with lids. You can see the kinds of pots that were in use by looking at Dutch genre paintings of the 17C such as ‘The Pancake Bakery’ painted by Pieter Aetsen in 1560 or ‘The Idle Servant’ by Nicolaes Maes painted in 1655. Here the poor exhausted servant girl has fallen asleep in the kitchen with all the washing up around her feet – beautiful colanders, casseroles and three legged dishes, a real feast for the ceramic historian.

Traditional country potteries were usually located near to a source of clay and a good fuel supply. Generally the pots were made to cater for the needs of the local population, for agriculture and the dairy, for making butter and cheese. Pots were ideal for storing butter in the days before refrigeration, as the earthenware clay kept the contents cool. Earthenware pots were also vital in the kitchen, pancheons for making bread, large pots for preserving hams or storing eggs, fruit and vegetables.

Slip is powdered clay mixed with water and used in a consistency from single to double cream depending on whether it’s being used for trailing or laying down a background on the clay. Slip was first used on the inside of jugs in the 14C to make them easier to clean and therefore more hygienic. The technique of decorating with liquid clay, or slip trailing was introduced into Britain from the continent.

This rapid and simple process, which is a bit like cake icing, made plain ware more saleable. Potters were not slow to recognise the potential of this skilful decoration, particularly for writing inscriptions celebrating births, marriages and other important occasions.

In the second half of the 17C a market system began to develop.

Whereas before, potteries had supplied only customers within perhaps a 20 mile radius, merchants now began to carry their pots further afield and potteries found that they were now in direct competition with each other. What happened next was that those potteries with particularly good clay, other raw materials, a good fuel supply, access to roads, canals, rivers and eventually railways, had an enormous advantage. Potters began to develop particular regional styles, to make pots all the year round and invent new lines to tempt their customers, including toys for children such as whistles, marbles and money boxes.

In the late 18C, increasing industrialisation meant people moved away from the countryside into the towns. Here they were able to buy beer from pubs, food from shops, and there was less and less demand for earthenware pots for home brewing, preserving and baking bread. However as factory owners began to make money, people began to take more interest in the countryside again, collecting nature and needing plant pots for their homes. Academics also began to take an interest in these old potteries and wrote books, Solon’s ‘The Art of the Old English Potter’ (pub. 1886) for example.

However this tide of fortune was killed off by WW1 and in WW2. Men joined the forces, the blackout meant no kiln firing at night and many of the potteries closed down.

In the 1920s Michael Cardew revived many of the old 17C earthenware techniques, digging local clay and firing in a traditional bottle kiln to produce useful and affordable pots at Greet Pottery in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire. Cardew’s experimentation echoed throughout the 20C and 21C inspiring potters educated in art schools to continue to find creative possibilities in the slipware tradition.

These potters went on to make pots for use or for expressing their thoughts and ideas about contemporary life. The makers from France, The Netherlands, Ireland and Britain in this exhibition illustrate just some of these exciting possibilities.

Further reading Brears, P (1971) English Country Pottery, David and Charles Eden, V & M, (1999) Slipware, A&C Black Edgeler, J (2008) The Fishleys of Fremington. A Devon Slipware Tradition, Cotswolds Living Publications Edgeler, J (2008) Michael Cardew and the West Country Slipware Tradition, Cotswolds Living Publications McGarva, A (2000) Country Pottery. Traditional Earthenware of Britain, A&C Black Walter, J (2002) Pots in the Kitchen, Crowood Press Wheeler and Edgeler (1995) Sid Tustin Winchcombe Potter: A Celebration, Cotswolds Living Publications Wheeler, R (1998) Winchcombe Pottery. The Cardew Finch Tradition, White Cockade Publishing Wondrausch, M (1986) Mary Wondrausch on Slipware, A&C Black

CLIVE BOWEN Born 1943 | Cardiff

After studying painting and etching at Cardiff College of Art, Clive Bowen joined Michael Leach as an apprentice at Yelland Pottery and stayed there for five years. Clive was always drawn to country pottery and in 1970, as well as working as a production thrower, making functional wares in large batches at C.H Brannam Ltd in Barnstaple, he helped Michael Cardew at weekends at his pottery at Wenford Bridge and built himself a kiln. In 1971 he set up his own pottery at Shebbear, near Holsworthy in North Devon, and has been working there ever since. In 1976 he built a 400 cu. ft. down-draught circular wood-fired double-chamber kiln, similar to the one at Wenford Bridge that can hold up to a thousand pots. Clive uses a local Fremington red earthenware clay to make a range of thrown pots and hand pressed dishes that are usually slip decorated with sgraffito, trailed slip, or both, and fired to 1060° C. Clive is an accomplished graphic artist and his paintings are often exhibited with his pots. Clive is influenced by medieval jugs and early Japanese Tamba ware. He says, ‘The form and function of my work can be traced back centuries. I hope that I am reinventing them and not merely imitating them.’

Collections

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Victoria and Albert Museum, London National Museum of Wales Ulster Museum; Northern Ireland, Crafts Council Collection, London York City Art Gallery Stoke on Trent City Museum Winnipeg Art Gallery, Canada Mingeikan, Tokyo Mashiko Museum of Ceramics, Japan Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

DYLAN BOWEN Dylan Bowen trained at Shebbear Pottery with Clive Bowen and then studied at Camberwell school of Art in London, graduating in 1992. After travelling and working with several American potters he set up a workshop in 1998 in Oxzford with Jane Bowen, moving to their present workshop in Tackley in 2002. Dylan became a member of the Craft Potters Association in 2008 and a member of the CAA in 2009. Dylan has exhibited widely throughout the UK and was a guest artist at the International Ceramics Festival, Aberystwyth in July 2011.

Dylan makes individual pieces in slip decorated earthenware. The work is wheel thrown and altered, or hand built. Black and white and some green slips are poured, trailed or brushed on before being glazed with a honey glaze and fired to around 1080°C in an electric kiln. Dylan is influence by traditional slipware, music, outsider art, contemporary American ceramics and abstract expressionism. He works on large platters and bottle shapes aiming to combine making and decorating methods to capture the spontaneity and energy of his creative process. He says. ‘Working with slip is for me all about the moment, everything else is preparation for that. I prepare the materials, plans, ideas and myself and then stop thinking and act. Sometimes it works and other times not, when it does it’s like everything flows. With the finished work, I look to see if I have caught any of that moment.’

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JANE BOWEN Born 1966 | Oxford

Jane Bowen decided to be a potter when she first touched clay at the age of eleven. She studied ceramics at Camberwell in the late 1980s and after graduating, she made pots in India for a year, in a pottery in Delhi. She then trained at Shebbear Pottery with Clive Bowen from 1992 -1995, working for other potters in Devon at the same time.

She set up her fist workshop in Northmoor, Oxfordshire, in 1995, then set up the next with Dylan Bowen in 1998, moving to their present workshop in Tackley in 2002.

She has always loved the earthy tones and spontaneity of slipware. But her influences are many and her work draws on both historical and contemporary work from all over the world.

Jane’s work is influenced by traditional European slipware, Japanese ceramics, Staffordshire figurines as well as the work of many contemporary potters.

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CORMAC BOYDELL Born 1946 | Dublin, Ireland

Cormac Boydell's studio sits between the Caha mountains and the Atlantic Ocean, in Allihies, at the tip of the westernmost peninsula of Ireland. Cormac worked as a geologist in Australia and Libya before moving to Allihies, West Cork in 1972 and has worked full time in ceramics since 1983.

Cormac uses no tools, preferring the direct contact between his hands and the clay. He is keen to emphasis the importance of the process of making and that the nature of clay is reflected in the final work. He uses Irish terracotta clay from Co. Wexford for its colour, which makes a perfect background to the brilliant hues he applies to the surface of the forms.

Cormac exhibits throughout Ireland and France. His work is represented in public collections, including the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin, the Ulster Museum, Belfast, the National Self Portrait Collection, Limerick, The Crawford Municipal Gallery, Cork, and the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin.

Publications

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Gordon Bowe, N (2008) ‘Representing Art in Ireland’, essay for Fenton Gallery, Cork Lamb, P., (1999) Irish Arts Review O’Byrne, R (2010) Dictionary of Living Irish Artists, Plurabelle Publishing, Dublin McCrum, S., (1988) GPA Irish Arts Review Year Book Millcove Gallery (2011) Irish Ceramics – The Best of Irish Ceramic Sculpture Mulrooney, A (2011) ‘Un Esprit Sauvage’ Exhibition Catalogue essay for Galerie du Don, 2011 also in Ceramics: Art and Perception, issue 86, 2011 Portfolio No. 1: Cormac Boydell, Gandon Editions, 1991 Portfolio, Craft Council of Ireland, 2011 Ruane, F (2011) ‘Un Esprit Sauvage’ in Irish Arts Review, Summer Edition RTE Television: featured in “Nationwide”, 5th May 2010.

PATIA DAVIS Born 1967 | Emberton, Bucks

Patia studied pottery on the Harrow Studio Pottery course from 1986 to1988 followed by further study at Cardiff until 1990. In 1991 she was invited by Mick and Sheila Casson to be part of the team at the Wobage Farm Craft Workshops where she continues to work today.

Porcelain was Patia’s first love but the combination of a stunning earthenware dish by Ray Finch and a stray conversation with John Nuttgens abut his way of applying slip, inspired Patia to begin experimenting with slipware. Using a small baked bean can with its edge taped to give a soft edge, the slip flows rather than being squeezed or pushed and gives Patia’s decoration spontaneity, composed in the moment, rapidly executed and yet carefully considered. Each pot has been described as a ‘canvas in its own right’.

Patia’s work in earthenware is a direct response to the clay’s warmth and rich colour and reflects her interest in utility and the pleasurable role that these pots play from kitchen to table. Patia’s earthenware range is predominantly decorated before construction with pours, drips, trails, featherings and brushmarks.

Collections William Alfred (Bill) Ismay Studio Pottery Collection, York Art Gallery, York

Publications Cooper, E. and Fielding, A. (2010 ) Mick Casson, Ruthin Craft Centre Slip Ruthin Art Gallery

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FRANÇOISE DUFAYARD Born 1960 | Lyon, France

Françoise Dufayard studied ceramics at the Ateliers de Fontblanche in Vitrolles in the late 1970s before travelling in Asia from 19811982. From 1983-1987 she worked for Gustave TIFFOCHE and Suzy ATKINS. In 1988 she set up her own studio at Rennes.

Françoise uses a red Spanish earthenware clay fired to 1120° C in a 500 litres gas kiln. She has developed a very personal interpretation of terre vernissée, (slipware), which creates a ‘translucence’ in her work and gives her decoration a painterly quality. This can be attributed in part to her exploration of Eastern ceramics from her visits to Nepal, India, Burma, Thailand, Japan, Korea, China, Uzbekistan and recently Tibet.

In 2009 Francoise had a residency at the Sanskriti Museum (New Delhi, India) and demonstrated at "ENFANGA'T, Girona (Spain).

In 2007 she was an invited demonstrator at the Aberystwyth International Ceramics Festival in Wales. She has also demonstrated at Art in Action in 2005 and at Earth&Fire, Rufford Craft Centre in 2006 and was also awarded the Sotheby’s prize at Potfest in the Park, UK.

Publications Eden, Victoria (2007) ‘A Journey in Clay’ in Ceramics: Art & Perception (Australia) No. 70 Gardelle, Linda (2009) ‘Françoise Dufayard, British Connection’ in La Revue de la céramique et du verre (France) No.165 Matthes, Wolf E (2011) ‘ENGOBES et autres revêtements argileux en céramique’, in Editions de la revue de la céramique et du verre (France) Mathieson, John (2010) Techniques Using Slips, A&C Black (RU & USA)

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SYLVIE AND FRANÇOIS FRESNAIS Sylvie Didier (born in 1953) and François Fresnais (born in 1959) were trained in ceramics at Art Schools in France including the E.N.B.A de Bourges (National School of Fine Arts in Bourges).

François was there from 1978 to 1980 and Sylvie from 1977 to 1979.

They were also both apprentices at Atelier Lerat/Mohy but they finally met in 1980 while working at the terre vernissée (slipware) pottery of Cliousclat, run by Olivier Sourdine. After their apprenticeship finished, they spent six months cycling through Spain and Maghreb visiting traditional potters and absorbing the local culture. In 1984, they establish their own workshop in Burgundy, about 30km North of Chalons-sur-Saône, at Sampignylès-Maranges, in an old 18th century mill nested on the slope of a wooded hill, and built their first wood fired kiln. In 1993 they built another wood kiln and then a gas kiln. Every year they have improved the pottery, adding a new shop in 2005 and an artist in residence scheme in 2008.

The Fresnais get inspiration from and interpret the ancient shapes and patterns they had studied in their work experiences and in their travels, integrating them into contemporary forms and colours.

However their work is far from rigid repetition. There is in their production energy and enjoyment, a curiosity, a burgeoning eagerness for experimentation, which leads to exciting results. With François throwing and making and Sylvie decorating, the Frenais great love of pottery, brings a spontaneity and a freshness to their work producing beautiful, contemporary glazed pottery that is both generous and alive.

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GEOFFREY FULLER Geoffrey’s first career was as a librarian, but he showed an early interest in pottery collecting Staffordshire figures from the markets and in the junk and antique shops of Chesterfield and Sheffield.

He is still a keen collector of antique pots today, as well as contemporary pieces.

At 30 years of age Geoffrey’s life took a new direction, ceramics at Art Schools in Chesterfield and in Farnham, Surrey. Over the next three years he worked hard to grow from no knowledge to amassing a vast amount of ceramic knowledge. His first love was saltglaze, and clay and kilns became his whole preoccupation. He stayed on for a fourth year at Farnham as the ceramic technician. Then on a visit to the V&A he discovered Middle Eastern pottery - earthenware.

Geoffrey says, 'There are a lot of technical difficulties to overcome with earthenware, and unlike salt glaze, there are no gifts from the kiln. You only get out what you put in!' Moving back to Derbyshire in the 1970s he set up a workshop in Pilsley and taught part time on the Studio ceramics Course at Chesterfield College of Art. In 1988 Geoffrey took over the Three Stags Heads Pub at Wardlow Mires with his wife Pat, also a potter. Here he divides his time between running the pub and working in the pottery making pots for food and serving food to his customers in ware made in the pottery.

Collections

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Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Wales Harley Gallery, Welbeck, Notts Manchester City Art Gallery Rufford Ceramics Centre, Notts V&A Museum, London William Alfred (Bill) Ismay Studio Pottery Collection, York Art Gallery, York And many private collections throughout Europe

NIEK HOOGLAND Niek’s father worked in a ceramic factory, painting machines and fixing windows. However it was watching his next-door neighbour, a production thrower, making pots in his garden shed that really inspired Niek’s desire to become a potter.

By the time Niek had finished secondary school many of the potteries in his home town of Tegelen had closed, or were closing down.

Over the next four years, Niek worked as a nurse with the mentally handicapped, met Pim van Huisseling and travelled overland to Afghanistan, India and Nepal in 1978 and 1979, and later in 1981 and 1982 to Europe, Morocco, Israel and Egypt.

Finally back in the Netherlands in 1984 Niek began his training as a potter. He started with a traditional potter in Tegelen, followed by an apprenticeship with the talented and knowledgeable Joop Crompvoets.

Then a year as a production thrower in a local factory, before Niek and Pim set up a shop and workshop of their own. Finally they moved into an empty building attached to Tegelen's monastery. Pots are sold at potters’ markets throughout Europe and from their shop in Tegelen.

Hoogland has a fresh and individual approach to his work, at once seeped in the past traditions, but at the same time, producing work with a contemporary significance that is tinged with both warmth and humour.

Publications

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Eden, V. & M (1999) Slipware, A&C Black Walter, J (2002) Pots in the Kitchen, Crowood Walter, J (2005) ‘Dutch tableware with a bohemian personality’ in Ceramic Review 215, Sept Oct 2005

NIGEL LAMBERT Nigel worked for the Forestry Commission before going to Art College in Cornwall in 1983 where he began his love of pottery. His interest in the work of abstract painters, particularly Roger Hilton, Terry Frost, Patrick Heron and other artists from the Cornish peninsula has influenced his work and the decorative marks he makes. However, his work is approached not as a painter, but as a potter. Clay is the starting point. Historic pots and potters have also been a strong influence on Nigel’s approach to ceramics.

From the warm colours of old French and Spanish peasant ware, the fine brush work of Delft pottery, to potters such as Michael Cardew, Peter Smith and American potter Jeff Oestrich.

After finishing his BA in Ceramics, Nigel worked with Roger Cockram at his north Devon pottery, before establishing his own workshop in Bristol in 1987. In 1990 he moved to the Forest of Dean, where he currently lives and works. Nigel Lambert has exhibited widely in England and Europe and was elected a fellow of the Craft Potters Association in 1990.

Publications Lambert, N (2011 ) ‘Setting the Table’ in Ceramic Review 249, May/June

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SOPHIE MACCARTHY Sophie MacCarthy grew up in an Anglo-French family with art and literary connections. There are three generations of artists on her maternal side, and her father was the son of Sir Desmond MacCarthy, a member of the Bloomsbury Group. An art school education led on to a passion for ceramics and she made her name in the mid-1980s following her first solo show at Luke Hughes’ showroom in Covent Garden.

In 1992 she was invited to be the first potter-in-residence at Charleston Farmhouse in Sussex, the former home of the painters Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. Her work is in several public collections and is represented in many books on ceramics. She taught for ten years at Morley College and still gives one-to-one tuition in her Stoke Newington studio.

In 2007 Sophie was commissioned by the Folio Society to illustrate a special edition of the classic Elizabeth David cookbook Mediterranean Food. This was a great success and over the next 3 years she was commissioned to do four more: Italian Food, French Provincial Cooking, French Country Cooking and Summer Cooking Sophie’s ceramics are individual and largely one-off items. She welcomes commissions small and large, ranging from single items to sets of dinner plates and large-scale statement pieces, such as large shallow dishes and bowls.

Since 1990 she has been a member of the Artworkers Guild and was elected Master of the Guild for 2010. She is also a Fellow of the Craft Potters Association of Great Britain. (CPA)

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ANDREW MCGARVA Born 1956 | Scotland

In 1974 Andrew worked part time for the potters Mick and Sheila Casson at Wobage Farm. Between 1976-79 he studied ceramics at West Surrey College of Art and Design in Farnham, followed by an exchange with the Ecole de Beaux-Arts, in Bourges, France and a period working in La Borne with Steen Kepp, building and firing a Japanese style tunnel kiln. In 1979 Andrew set up his first workshop in Herefordshire at Wobage Farm, making wood fired salt-glazed domestic ware inspired by French and English country pots.

Selected as member of Craftsman Potters Association and for the Craft Councils index of Craft workers in the 1980s, Andrew exhibited throughout the UK, USA, Germany, and Japan. In 1986 he worked as a consultant for a development project for NGO Oxfam. In 1990 Andrew moved to Burgundy with his wife Clare and their two young daughters, into an old tile-works that has red clay on site. The buildings of the tile works are a long term and ongoing restoration project.

In the last decade, the painted stoneware continues as the mainstay of the production, with help from Clare decorating the pots. Andrew also makes sculptures using thrown sections, extrusion and modelling and a range of medieval-style two-coloured tiles. More recently Andrew has returned to making English slipware dishes in the 18thC style suitable for everyday use. Andrew has pots in collections at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Wales and in the Museum in Stoke on Trent City.

Publications

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McGarva, A (2000) Country Pottery: the traditional earthenware of Britain, A&C Black, London.

Walter, J (2002) Pots in the Kitchen, Crowood Press

SEAN MILLER Born 1958 | London

Sean Miller was set to become a lawyer until he took up pottery in 1987, enrolling at the Harrow College of Higher Education and completing his BTEC HND Design in 1990. From 1990 to 1991 Sean worked part time as an apprentice at S & B Evans Pottery, Ezra Street in Bethnal Green, London where he gained invaluable experience about making pots.

From 1991-1993 Sean set up his first workshop making table wares in Hackney East London before moving to a workshop in the garden of his home in Willesden, North London in 1993. He made a useful collection of functional pottery - lidded jars, jugs, cups and saucers and oven dishes in brightly coloured glazes, which drew on his love of freely decorated slip wares. Sean became a Professional Member of the CPA in 1994. During these years he sold his pots at potters markets in the UK as well as in France and exhibited at galleries and shops.

In 2008 Sean moved to France with his family to set up a workshop and gallery in Peillac, Brittany. Sean's work, although contemporary in feel, is inspired by the warm colours of traditional European slipware and his shapes are carefully designed for everyday function in the modern kitchen.

Publications Walter, Josie (2002) Pots in the Kitchen, Crowood Press ‘The Great Escape, Sean Miller’, in Ceramic Review, No. 201 May/June 2003 pp20-23

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PENNY SIMPSON Born 1949 | Lincolnshire

Penny’s interest in making pots started when she was living in Japan in the 1970s. She loved Japanese food and the way that the colours and textures of pots were chosen to complement the food and the season. Penny began to explore many of the potterymaking areas of Japan and as a result of her research wrote The Japanese Pottery Handbook published by Kodansha in 1979. After training at Dartington Pottery in Devon, Penny set up her own workshop in Devon, moving to her present two storey workshop in Moretonhampstead in 1994. Penny sells her work from the showroom on the ground floor of her workshop and also exhibits her work widely in the UK as well abroad, in particular Japan.

Penny has always been drawn to the warmth of red earthenware clay and the decorative possibilities of working with coloured slips using brushwork and sgraffito. She makes planters, and tiles for kitchens and bathrooms. She also enjoys making pots for the kitchen and cooking, both activities which enhance the pleasures of cooking and eating. Penny says, ‘Eating with friends and family is one of life’s greatest pleasures. I hope to show how the warmth and character of hand made ceramics can really enhance the pleasure of cooking, serving and eating food.’ You can follow Penny on her blog: potsandfood.blogspot.com where she promotes the connection between ceramics and food.

Penny is a member of the Craft Potters Association and the Devon Guild of Craftsmen.

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PIM VAN HUISSELING Born 1953 | Langenboom, municipality of Mill, N-Br.

Pim initially trained as a nurse, working with the mentally handicapped for a number of years. From 1978 to1979 she travelled with Niek Hoogland through Israel, Afghanistan, India and Nepal and again from1981 to1983, travelling through Spain, Morocco, Egypt, with a longer stay in Israel.

In1984 their son Jair was born and in 1986, a daughter Saartje. It wasn’t until 1991 that Pim was able to help in setting up a pottery studio in Tegelen with her partner Niek Hoogland. In1993 the pottery was moved to a larger studio in the same town, and the studio at Grotestraat 52 became the pottery shop. Finally in 1997 the studio, shop and family were relocated to Parkstraat 11B in Steyl. By 1999 Pim was working full time in the pottery, the beginning of her personal body of work. Pim has learnt her craft alongside her partner Niek but also from 2002 to 2006 she trained with Joop Crompvoets at “Pottenbakkerij de Walsberg” in Swalmen. In 2008 Pim was invited to a ten day tea bowl festival in South Korea. Her robust forms with their delicate, abstract decoration and transparent turquoise glazes were so popular there, that she has been invited back each year since.

Collections El Museo Nacional de Ceramica y Artes Suntuarias “Gonzales Marti” Valencia, collection Adolf Egner, Valencia, Spain Mungyeong Ceramic Museum, South Korea Rufford Ceramic Centre, Ollerton, Notts

Publications

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Turquoise Noise: Ton, Klang und Farbe, Neue Keramik Jan/Feb2012 Ceramics by Pim van Huisseling

JOSIE WALTER Born 1951 | London

Josie trained as an anthropologist at University College, London, then as a secondary school teacher before taking the studio ceramic course at Chesterfield College of Art in 1976. From 1979 to 1988 Josie shared a workshop with John Gibson in Matlock, Derbyshire before moving to a purpose built workshop at home in Bolehill, near Wirksworth, Derbyshire. In 1980 she spent six months as an apprentice with Sue and Nigel Atkins at the Poterie Du Don, Auvergne, France making salt glaze tableware.

Josie has taught History and Theory of Design part time at the University of Derby since 1988. After gaining an MA in History of Ceramics at Staffordshire University she wrote Pots in the Kitchen about the history and contemporary production of pots made for cooking and serving food, published by Crowood in 2002.

Pots are thrown on a momentum wheel or slab built in earthenware clay. Decoration is with paper resist using slips poured thinly or applied thickly by brush on the wheel to give a ‘wrapped’ look. The pieces are raw glazed and decorated with coloured glazes for their delicate translucent qualities.

Collections Buxton Museum, Derbyshire Pinchin Collection, Hanley Museum & Art Gallery Stoke on Trent William Alfred (Bill) Ismay Studio Pottery Collection, York Art Gallery, York

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PAUL YOUNG Born 1961 | Chesterfield

Paul trained in Sheffield and at Chesterfield College of Art in the late 1970s and early 80s. He currently works from a Victorian Railway Station near Nuneaton in Warwickshire.

Influenced by seventeenth century pew groups and eighteenth century Staffordshire chimney pieces, Paul skilfully makes figures, dovecotes, trees and boxes coloured in delicate but vibrant hues. He says, ‘Potters like Ralph Wood, John Astbury and Thomas Whieldon continue to please, excite and amuse me. Appearing both naive and sophisticated in its execution, their work has a charm and honesty combined with the sheer joy of just being alive. My hope (in my own work) is to convey a joy, narrative and intrigue for the viewer.’ He is also drawn early textiles and metalwork, to the traditions of English earthenware, slipware as well as European folk art, which infuse his useful and decorative domestic ware with country imagery.

Paul has given workshops and demonstrations in Delhi, Johannesburg, Kwa Zulu Natal and Cape Town, South Africa. He has designed for Habitat and exhibited widely in the UK. He has work in public and private collections and sells his work from most of the major ceramic fairs in the UK.

Collections Hanley Museum, Stoke on Trent Metropolitan Museum, New York York Museum & Art Gallery

Publications

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Paul Young in World of Interiors Magazine, 2004 Wondrausch, M ( 2007) ‘Flamboyance and Flair’ in Ceramic Review 224, Mar/Apr

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