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Autumn 2018

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ChAirmAn’s letterAngliAn Potters offiCers President – Grayson Perry

Chairman – John Masterton15 Maylins Drive, SawbridgeworthHerts CM21 9HG 01279 723229 john@johnmasterton.co.uk

Vice Chairman – Carolyn Postgate5 Whitwell Way, Coton, Cambridge CB23 7PW 01954 211033carolyn@clara.co.uk

Secretary – Jennie Longbottom13 Park Avenue, Little Paxton St Neots PE19 6PB 01480 394947jennie@longbottom.me.uk

Treasurer – Celia Greenaway33 Russet Close, St IvesCambridgeshire PE27 3NN 01480 393067chgreenaway@virginmedia.com

Editor – Peter Warren 2 Burrows Close, CliftonShefford SG17 5EG 01462 621946peterwarren@nasuwt.net

Membership Secretary – Vivienne BurnsThe Cowshed, Walnut Tree Farm Thorington, SaxmundhamSuffolk IP17 3QP 01502 478065info@cowshedholidays.co.uk

Press & Publicity Secretary – Karen WillisField Cottage, Cutthroat Lane, Yaxham, Dereham Norfolk NR19 1RG karen@feedbins.com

Exhibitions Organiser – Ian VanceLarkfield, Debden Road, Newport Essex CB11 3RU 01799 540137 ian@vance.myzen.co.uk

Selected Members Secretaries – Helen Humphreys 18 Rosemary Road, Waterbeach,Cambridge. CB25 9NB 01223 862968

Lorry Cudmore2 Anchor Cottages,Wainford Road, Bungay NR35 1JA 07811 132087

Events Organiser – Trudy Staines83 The Lammas, Mundford Thetford IP26 5DS 01842 879011 trudy6218@gmail.com IT Organiser – John Masterton15 Maylins Drive, Sawbridgeworth Herts CM21 9HG 01279 723229john@johnmasterton.co.uk

Cover PiCture

hArvey BrAdley

At the Agm

PhotogrAPh: Peter wArren

As usual at this time of year, I’m writing this while ‘on the road’. We’ve just finished a weekend at Potfest in the Park, near Penrith in Cumbria. Another great weekend, meeting up with friends and customers. Ceramics fairs must be a very effective rain-making ceremony - after weeks and weeks of hot dry weather, we had downpours for two out of the three days We’ve already driven a couple of thousand miles this year, attending fairs in Holland and Scotland, plus nearer to home at Hyde Hall in Essex. It can sometimes seen a bit of a chore, but when everything is set up and the visitors arrive, things look up. It’s not just about selling work (although that does help), it’s meeting the ‘public’, getting feedback about what you are doing, and swapping tales with the other exhibitors, meeting old friends and making new ones. I still think it’s wonderful that complete strangers feel enough connection with my work to want to pay me for it, and then to go home and live with it. What better compliment can there be? I’ve said before that most artistic endeavours are very individual, and tend be very lonely, working away in our studios, so getting out and about and meeting people helps enormously. If you aren’t able to exhibit, do at least try to visit one of the shows, and exchange greetings with fellow artists, and get inspired by what’s on display. If you can, take a piece home with you. Most of the larger shows are quite expensive to participate in (several hundred pounds just for the space), so unless people do buy things, the artists won’t come along any more.AP continues to grow, so I presume we’re doing something right somewhere. I hope everyone can get something from their membership. Our demo days are a great time to get together and meet other potters, and Trudy has arranged some

wonderful guests for us later in the year and into 2019, so I hope to meet more of you there. Camp will be over by the time you read this, and at the time of writing it seems unlikely that many of the kilns can be fired due to the fire risk in the fields. I’m sure it was fun anyway!Mentioning the demos, camp and clay stores reminds me to remind you all that everything we do is run by volunteers, cheerfully giving up their time to help fellow members. So please do understand if you don’t get an instant response about membership, a demo day or a website problem. Also, if the clay store can’t always be ‘open’ when you want - the storers do all have other things to do, and are very flexible, but can’t always help instantly. We don’t deliver either! Changes are afoot in the clay stores, as Richard Cranwell (our North-western store) has passed the baton to Denise Brown (or will have done in early September), and Deborah Baynes has also decided to hand over to someone else. Deborah has been instrumental in running the clay stores for many years, so she does deserve a rest. She also inveigled Richard into hosting a store within weeks of joining AP, so has great powers of persuasion. I’d like to thank them both on behalf of us all for devoting their time and energy to such a valuable service. We are looking for an alternative store location, ideally in the Colchester/Chelmsford/Braintree area, so if you have space and time, please let us know. We’ve had offers of other locations for stores, so you might see a better geographical spread in the future.Enjoy the rest of the summer.John Masterton

suBsCriPtionsThe official deadline for the current period is 31 August 2018 so if you

have not paid and you want to remain a member of Anglian Potters, contact

the membership secretary ASAP.Vivienne Burns can be contacted via info@cowshedholidays.co.uk or, by

telephone: 01502 478065. Single £30 (half year £17)

Joint £50 for two people at the same address-half year £27

Institutions £50 for a college or workshop-half year £27

Student £10 for full time ceramics students-proof of status is required

Editor

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ContentsPage 2 Anglian Potters Officers | Chairman’s Letter Page 3 Editor’s Notes | Ferini Exhibition | Selected Members SecretariesPage 4 Harvey Bradley at MundfordPage 6 Walberswick 2018 Page 8 Carina Ciscato at MundfordPage 10 Amberlea McNaughtPage 12 Hyde HallPage 13 Potters Camp | Its a Small WorldPage 15 Members' WebsitesPage 17 From the Archives | Clay StoresPage 18 Pit Firing, Icknield Potters Page 20 Anglian Potters at Potfest, ScoltlandPage 23 Ceramic Helpline Page 24 Diary Dates | Membership Fees | Advertising Rates | Deadline

AngliAn Potters newsletter Autumn 2018 editor’s notes

glAzed exPressions

Ferini Art Gallery27-29 All Saints Road

Pakefield, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR33 0JLWeekends 5 October-4 November

Fifteen Anglian Potter will be exhibiting pots, models and wall pieces-each expressive in their own unique fashion at this beautiful and spacious gallery by the sea.Ferini Art Gallery is located in a quiet suburban area within a couple of hundred yards of the sea but without the ‘seaside clamour’. There is a promenade with a plentiful supply of benches, ideal for taking a picnic lunch whilst admiring the excellent marine views and enjoying the sea air, after making your purchases from the exhibition. A municipal car park is only two minutes from the gallery.Ferini Art Gallery will be open from 11.00am until 4.00pm on Fridays, Saturdays and SundaysFurther details can be obtained from Harvey Bradley: 01502 450079Editor

At the recent AGM, Ruth Gillett conducted a survey of ‘pricing of pots’, inviting members to submit a pot with a price and then evaluating that survey at the end of the day. At the same time, Ian Vance produced a feature: 'The Pricing of Pots’ for the Summer Newsletter. Maybe by coincidence, John and Jude Jelfs published an "expert’s reply" to an enquiry about pricing in Ceramic Review. Such is the interest in the subject that the editor of the newsletter of another association has asked to use Ian’s article in her next publication.Congratulations to Rob Rutterford on another successful weekend of ceramics selling at Walberswick (photographs page 6) and to Richard Cranwell for organising the very successful Pit Firing Day for Icknield Potters at Hail Weston (see page 18). Thanks, also to Ian Vance for arranging the third annual Hyde Hall Show (see page 12)Finally, many thanks to Deborah Baynes who arrived ‘with the bricks ’ in the earliest days of EAPA and has provided not only a clay dump in Shotley for many years but has also supervised the links between Valentine Clays and the other Anglian Potters ‘dumpsters’. Deborah has given this greatly valued service to the association absolutely voluntarily but is now ‘retiring’ from the position in order to concentrate more fully on her own production and the operation of her well established courses at Nether Hall. Thanks, Deborah.Editor

seleCted memBers' seCretAry

Responding to Anja Penger-Onyett’s ‘hard act to follow’, two members have been appointed to the Selected Members Secretariat: Helen Humphreys and Lorry Cudmore. The general, but not absolutely specific, idea is that the role can be divided into geographical areas so that Lorry can deal with, for example, the north and east of the region and Helen can work with galleries in the central areas. Ideally, a third member would be welcomed to negotiate with gallery proprietors in the south and western areas. Interested members need not, necessarily, be ‘Selected Members’ but, those members who are ‘selected’ could meet their obligation to provide help to the wellbeing of Anglian Potters by sharing such a role. Prospective applicants should contact the Chairperson in the first instance.Members wishing to apply for Selected Membership can obtain further details from Helen (see Officer’s Panel, Page1).Members can also arrange to have their work ‘viewed’ at a pre-selection meeting, by a panel of selected members, normally held during one of the demonstration days at Mundford. Editor

Deborah Baynes

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Having presented AP with the changes taking place in the Association; steered by the expertise of, and adeptly presented by, John Masterton at the AGM, attendees were then enthralled by the sheer poetry, skills and change presented by Harvey Bradley in a captivating demonstration of his work. Harvey started his presentation by announcing that: “A year ago I was thinking of closing down my pottery

for ‘the quieter life’. Then, as John O’Donohue states, “A gift is the most beautiful of intrusions. It arrives underserved and unexpected. It comes ashore in our hearts carefully formed to fit exactly the shape of our hunger we might not even know we had.”Previously, Harvey’s skills in painting and drawing were kept separate from his pottery; last year these skills came together; the brushwork on his porcelain

vessels mimicking the essence of nature’s lines reflected by sea, coast and woodland. His throwing demonstration appeared effortless; rather than mastering a pot, the pot appeared to guide the potter; growing from his experience and passion; presenting movement and volume by carefully crafted, simple lines. The end product was a clean, simple and elegant piece of beauty. The contrast between the ordered banding brushstrokes and moving random lines appears to bring order and distance to the piece. I took away so very much from this demonstration, as we all do, but what I learned were three

important things: the need to prepare the clay for so much longer than previously taught in order to achieve maximum plasticity and to feel at one with it.The second lesson is to use the brush and wait….. wait for inspiration; move away from repetition and imitation and allow the brushwork to find a “state of mind". Thirdly, I do not need to glaze to produce a ceramic piece of work. Thank goodness that such an accomplished artist has given me permission to say no… no more glazing thank you. As with most Anglian Potter demonstrations I came away feeling inspired but humbled by my lowly pottery skills, compared to these ‘giants’ and their creativity. This was no exception… except the sun was beaming, Thetford forest was the greenest I have ever seen and I needed to get back to my wheel and see if Harvey had left a mental mark. I sat in my studio and threw the most perfect porcelain pot I have thrown to date.

Now let us not get carried away, it bore no resemblance to the work of Harvey Bradley in the slightest but it was good and I felt good making it: it arrived undeserved and unexpected.The skills and talent which artists present never fail to amaze. Even more rewarding, on this occasion is that Harvey is one of ours: “home grown”. AP is indeed very lucky to have such people from whom to learn. My thanks go to Harvey for such an excellent afternoon and to Trudy and the remainder of the team for their organisation of the event. Long may this level of teaching and demonstrating continue. Jennie Longbottom

hArvey BrAdley At the AgmPh

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Peter

War

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wAlBerswiCk 2018. PhotogrAPhs By hArvey BrAdley

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I had been looking forward to meeting Carina since participating in a porcelain course with Chris Keenan at West Dean in December 2013. They share a studio in London so it was natural that he mentioned her and her work. So when the opportunity arose to meet her at Mundford I booked my place and joined a full house for a great demonstration day. Carina is from Sao Paolo and, inspired by her architect mother, she studied Industrial Design at University. After graduation, she took a course in Furniture Design in Germany, which she found very boring. However, this experience, 22 years ago, awoke an interest in ceramics and, as she put it: Clay chose Carina. Back in Brazil, she had an apprenticeship with a potter for six years and thereafter some ceramic workshops in the USA. In 1999, having met her first husband, she moved to London where for three years she was the assistant to Julian Stair and afterwards to Edmund de Waal. Carina considers herself a potter, not a ceramicist, and she has chosen to work with porcelain because it is a white canvas, easily distorted, and highly malleable. With her pots, Carina wants to show the throwing and making marks. She does not wish to create pretty pots. They should say something. She likes torn pots, playing with the rims, cutting the bases, elongating the pots, pushing and stretching. She experiments with different cuts and methods of assembly. She uses colour and texture to emphasise her ideas and monochromatic colours

to concentrate the view. Brazilian aesthetics and the Favelas are Carina’s main inspiration as is Sir John Soane whose museum she visits regularly. With her background, it is natural that she should explore the link between ceramics and architecture, i.e. pots as buildings. Carina’s aim is to make all her pots unique and she is always experimenting and learning. She does not work from drawings. The ideas are in her head and she questions herself all the time to keep moving forward and staying fresh.In the spring of 2017, she went on a Residency at the Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art in Japan and this experience has had a great influence on her work. She is now striving to deal with the challenge of the loud pots from the West and the quiet pots from Japan.Carina considers her pots alive at

the greenware stage but after biscuit firing, they are dead since all water has evaporated. By using a sensitive, mainly transparent, glaze she strives to get the greenware look back.Carina’s industrial design background dictates that all her pots must be fluid with well-fitting lids. With such high standards, it should come as no surprise that she is a very disciplined potter with a carefully planned work schedule. She works on several different pieces at the same time but can make only eight pots per week. New work is thrown on

Mondays and on Fridays all the pots will be finished and set to dry. Here is how it is done:Mondays: ThrowingAll components needed for the week’s eight pots are thrown and stored overnight covered with plastic. She showed us how she throws lids off the hump, shaped like bowls, and made the walls of her pots. Carina also demonstrated how she throws the bases of her work on the wheel, rather than using slabs, in order to retain the softness of the clay and to create interest by showing the throwing marks offset on the finished pieces. Tuesdays: Turning and assembling The bowl forms are turned into lids with galleries on the wheel, using a foam covered bat to hold the work in place. Her advice is to turn as much as you like – without restrictions! – and to leave the turning marks on show. The rims of the

lids are finished using a chuck. For the assembly, wall and base sections are cut and the walls are flattened slightly with a ruler. The edges are moistened with water and the pieces fitted together and compressed. Carina continues in this way, cutting more sections, at different heights and using her eye judgement

to create interesting pots and fit lids. All the work is covered with bags overnight.Wednesday: Fit coilsRoll very thin coils on damp table or canvas to prevent them drying out. Fit coils in each join using big coils inside and small ones for the outside. Use a

CArinA CisCAto At mundford

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wooden tool to press coils into the joins, supporting the pot from the outside and smooth edges to make coils become invisible.Thursdays: Fit lids and basesMeasure pots and even the top of each pot with a surform tool. Score rims with

knife, add water and score again. Brush water inside lid. Fit each lid to a pot and compress. Turn upside down and fit coil inside around lid. Do the same on the outside. Roughly cut off any excess of the lid. Use surform to smoothe the cut lid edges. Do not attempt to finish everything in one day as some parts of the pot will still be soft. Before fitting a base cut off the bottom edge of each wall piece as it might have dried too much. Then put the vessel (without base!) on wooden bat and pour in a little water. Meanwhile score the base, roughly cut to size, and brush lots of water to the scored base. Position vessel on top and sponge off excess water. Press thick coil outside around base and do the same inside using a brush. Cut off excess base and smoothe edge with surform. For the

knobs, Carina uses off-cuts which she fits on the lids after scoring and wetting and she finishes with thin coils. The pots are covered again overnight.Friday: Finish potsUse hacksaw blade, or surform and metal kidney, to smooth lid edges. Remove marks on clay surface with damp sponge. Re-introduce corners and indents in pots

with ruler and wooden tool and soften edges with a brush. The finished pots are then set to dry and Carina’s drying process is very slow and controlled. She covers the ware with a plastic bag and leaves it on the shelf for two to three weeks. She then uncovers the work and

places it with other pots under one sheet of plastic for another week. She never uses a heat gun to dry her pots since the drying will not be even and the work may warp or crack.Carina’s Tips: Coil throwing:This is a good method for people who cannot throw large pots. The process is as follows:Wedge clay, make thick sausage coil and smoothe it by rolling. Fit coil onto bat in a circle shape and cut ends to fit together snuggly. While clay still dry press coil firmly into bat. Slowly spin wheel, add a little water, and centre the coil. Pull up clay coil and

concentrate to make walls even. Avoid walls collapsing by using only a little water. Compress walls with kidney and at the end use a wooden tool to make exaggerated throwing lines.Slab base on the wheel: Start by rolling out a 12 mm slab, cut it to the size of the bat and put it on the foam-covered bat or on wheel head and make throwing lines with wooden tool to create interest. When done, turn over the bat without wiring off the slab as it will warp! – and leave overnight. Next day wire off slab and place unto plastic for further work.Total recycle policy: All scraps and tools are cleaned in the throwing water, which she uses over and over again.Rest slab offcuts on damp sponge while working to retain moisture.Carina’s Materials and Methods:Clay: Royale from Valentine (a mixture of Audrey Blackman and Frith porcelain) because it retains its whiteness in the electric kiln. In reduction kiln Royale porcelain becomes grey. Chris Keenan uses Limoges clay so Carina has tried it but she finds that it becomes yellow in oxidation. Glazing: Carina uses only two glazes, one shiny and one matt. She always dips her pots to get a smooth finish without patches. Firing: Carina uses both an electric and reduction kiln. She biscuits to 1000 degrees and glazes to cone 7. In summary, it was a great demonstration day and Carina is a very engaging potter. I came away with some useful tips and am eager to try coil throwing which was completely new to me.Annie Hull

Photographs: Karen Willis

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Potters are people who are, inevitably, addicted to working with clay and who enthuse about their own and other’s particular styles and production methods. Clay, though is always at the forefront

of their creative process, or so I had always imagined until, that is, I spoke with Amberlea McNaught whose clay work is superb but is not her first choice of medium.

Amberlea and I had a conversation on the Sunday morning of the recent Innovations in Ceramic Art Exhibition: a conversation which left me both exhilarated and refreshed but with the feeling that I had just spent thirty minutes inside a spin dryer. Amberlea McNaught is a young potter who exudes excitement and enthusiasm for her craft. She is, clearly, very dedicated to her work and it was a pleasure to listen to her thoughts and ideas.Having completed her degree course at Cardiff, via Chesterfield, Amberlea spent time in India and Ghana before travelling to Fes, in Morocco, to learn how to carve plaster wall panels in the ‘Stucco’ manner under the directorship of Master Abderrazack Bahji. This is her chosen medium. Her current work: thrown and pierced ceramic pieces, is probably the closest she can get to producing Stucco wall panels whilst she is working in Britain.We spoke about inspiration and learning how to approach one’s own speciality by looking at other specialisms: cross fertilising; looking how craftspeople from other spheres meet inevitable challenges and relating the resulting outcomes and working methods to one’s own production. There are close similarities to those footballers, for example, who will strive to improve their own skills by watching other activities: basketball, hockey, rugby or even ballet dancing. There are often skills to emulate and transfer. Amberlea uses clay almost as a substitute for plaster but, working in three dimensions rather than two. We talked about the Moors’ medieval occupation of the Iberian Peninsula and the carvings at Alhambra Palace in Granada, the Alcahza in Seville and the Mesqita Mosque in Cordoba

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which contain the very finest examples of Islamic Stucco carving. We spoke about tiles. We talked about textile designs which could be transposed into clay work and we spoke about looking at actual clay work which had tenuous but very transferrable links to Amberlea’s pots. The Pueblo potter, Lucy Lewis, for example, who worked with a very similar method of design: a complete covering of the surface area with, apparently, no pre-set chart of her voyage but, instead of using a blade to pierce the clay, Lucy Lewis used the leaves of a Yukka plant, shredded through her teeth to produce a ‘brush’ with which she painted her designs onto the clay body.There are many fine examples of ceramic ‘piercing’ notably from China and Korea but there also excellent examples to be found amongst English eighteenth and nineteenth century pottery. Leeds Creamware teapots, for example, or the reticulated porcelain pieces by the Worcester potter George Owen or, in more recent times and in a much closer idiom, the piercing and carving of Ian Godfrey.Amberlea’s pierced pots are produced in a variety of sizes and clay bodies: Valentine’s buff stoneware and a smooth white porcelain body and, contrastingly, Vulcan, a black body produced by Potclays, which is produced in a variety of textures from fine to very course. Amberlea is also experimenting with Potclays’ recently introduced Apache Red, a low firing, course clay of authentic Apache origin. Her work is mainly oxidised and once fired.Amberlea’s journey has been both physical and explorative in so far as she has spent time in far reaching countries working with different cultures to explore and thoroughly research, a wide range of disciplines, often not directly related to ceramics. Flowing freely between two mediums, Amberlea finds ways to incorporate the art of the Moroccan architectural plaster carvings, stucco, into tactile ceramic vessels. She is fascinated by ancient walls and floors and crumbling Madrassas and Mosques and she appears to be on a journey to carve her own Alhambra.Peter WarrenPhotographs, left, Peter Warren

Lucy LewisPhotograph: Peter Warren

Ian GodfreyPicture by kind permission of Maak Contemporary Ceramics www.maaklondon,com

Korean Porcelain Stand with Floral Designs Reproduction by kind permission of The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

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I was a late addition to the twenty six members taking part at this event. Ian Vance had four people pull out ( maybe from some prescient thought that I might be joining the group?).I decided to travel down to darkest Essex the night before:Pots and plinths packed? CHECKClothes packed? CHECKPassport and visas packed? CHECKEssex phrase book packed? CHECKI managed to get through all passport and visa checkpoints, through customs and made it safely to my destination for the next three nights. I was staying at the University of Essex, Southend, student accommodation campus. On arrival, using my pigeon English, I managed to book in and settle in for the night. It was rather noisy until almost dawn as most students were still out and about!After a few hours’ sleep I set off on the half hour journey to Hyde Hall. On arrival I enquired about Mr Jekyll but was told that he was out for the day having a full body shave and a manicure on his talons. Finding my way to the new complex at the top of the hill I was struck by the stunning design and construction of the brand new events centre they have built. . ( See photos ) What’s more, Anglian Potters were the first to use it! They have installed their own lighting on tracks and more than enough power points for an exhibition. Although the outside areas were still

under construction this will obviously be a lovely venue with outside eating areas and fabulous views over the Essex countryside from the oak decking areas. The public started to arrive and as usual I was still setting up and trying to make my floor area tidy ( I failed abysmally as I always do! )

We had a steady flow of visitors each day apart from the lunch time lull. Our work reflected the huge variety of the possibilities when working with mud; many visitors commented on this.Sales were fairly steady but at times

stalled due the ‘… that’s nice…’ but then walking away syndrome. We all agreed that this was becoming the more prevalent response rather than ‘…that’s nice; I’ll have that please. Can I pay by card?’ It’s not surprising really when you see some of the big name high streets stores closing, only to be replaced by charity shops and vaping emporiums ( whatever they are! ) Despite these thoughts of

financial doom and gloom we were able to sell a respectable £7,000 plus of work between us.As usual, this was a very happy and positive event with most of us meeting old friends and making some new ones.Everyone packed up swiftly at the end

… apart from… you know who! I was the last to leave! However, Helen Humphries only just made it, making me take last place! Next year Helen ….!Events like these don’t just happen and, as I know, take time and effort to plan and organise. On behalf of us all I would like to say thank you to Ian Vance for the seamless and cheerful way in which he made this happen.

I have already booked my place for next year; get in quickly!Anton ToddPhotographs: Anton Todd

AngliAn Potters At hyde hAll

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By the time you read this many of you will have experienced the delights of Potters Camp 2018.So, the best AP event of the year, without question, is off to pastures new; exciting times! New vistas and new hosts: Rebecca and David who must clearly have taken leave of their senses or will very quickly do when the Anglianus Potteridese tribe descends on them! Do these poor people truly realise that for one week of the year their lives will be completely and utterly turned upside down, inside out and back to front in ways they had never, in their wildest dreams, believed possible? Jerry never had these problems as he became very used to this; or did he? Has he warned them? Imagine the headlines in the East Anglian Daily Times: ‘Thirty acres of prime orchards burnt to the ground when experimental Raku firing goes disastrously wrong.’So … new toilets, new showers etc etc. Lots of new challenges in getting the whole thing up and running.Lots of planning to be done.Lots of organising to be done.Lots of equipment etc. to transport from Shotley to Battisford.Lots of hard work to achieve this.And … Lots of lovely memories of my times at Shotley. I am a relative newcomer having only taken part in five or six camps. However, for me, Shotley has always been a magical place for many reasons. Spending time with such lovely friends is always good; making new ones is a bonus. Then there is ‘Jerry’s place’; unique in so many ways. For me it has always held a charm, all its own, due to its collection of Aladdin’s mystical and magical nooks and crannies concealing numerous delights. Jerry’s bewildering collection of vehicles, machines, devices and ‘objects’ that only Jerry knows what their purpose was and what he has envisaged for them when he repurposes

them are a sight to behold. I have never before seen such a diverse and ingenious use of huge slabs of

recycled chipboard. However, all would agree that it is time for Jerry to take a well-earned rest.Then there is ‘The Man for all Reasons’ .. Mr John, do you know, do you have, can you find, can you help, where do I, can you fix, can you mend … etc. etc.’ Genial John has a wealth of resources that he can always rely on to help deal with the minute by minute requests that assault him at camp. My own requests of ‘John, do you have a 4.5 mm drill bit?’ and ‘John, I’m building a nuclear fusion reactor in my tent.’ have been met with ‘4.5mm?.. Yes, just hang on a minute and I’ll find one.’ and ‘Yes, Jerry has some weapons grade plutonium somewhere; now where did I last see it?’ I’m left wondering how John will cope at our new site without his multifarious backup supplies. However, knowing John, he will manage cheerfully, as he always does.So for me, and probably a few others, it will be a sad departure from Shotley coupled with an eager anticipation of things to come. The great AP story continues to evolve:Firing, the final frontier These are the voyagers of the Anglian Potters Their five years mission To explore strange new clays To seek out new recipes And new glazes To boldly go where no potter has gone before!Trekkies will recognise this!PS … These are my own thoughts on Potters Camp – Looking Forwards and Looking Back. I feel certain that many of you will be thinking along the same lines.PPS Thanks Jerry! Don’t be a stranger to the new camp!Anton Todd

Potters CAmP: looking forwArds, looking BACk

‘It’s a small world’: a phrase to denote a coincidence normally relating to the realisation of the existence of mutual acquaintances. I find I use it more and more as the world apparently shrinks ever more in on itself.When I was teaching in Stevenage, one of the homework items I would set would be an essay about the life and work of Hans Coper and one of the tasks was to identify Coper’s link with Hertfordshire. One bright spark told me that Hans Coper’s son lived next door to him and that he, the student, went to primary school with Han’s grandson. What a load of old rhubarb. (and Elvis Presley is a live and well and living with my Gran in Baldock) It turned out, however, to be absolutely correct. (not about my Gran). The ‘son’ was in fact Han’s step son: James Gate whose mother, Jane, Hans had married. Stephen, the student who supplied the answer spoke with the Gates’ and I was invited to their home. Trish Burton, a fellow Camberwellian and Hans Coper student, was working at a neighbouring school and I invited her along for a magical mystery visit telling her nothing of where she was going only that she would be delighted when we got there. I think the Gates’ were as surprised to meet a couple of Han’s students as we were to see Han’s family. The incredible became quite normal when we realised that James was employed by British Aerospace, in the town, as a draughtsman.When we were students at Camberwell our group was invited to ‘Albion Mews’ to see Lucie Rie's studio but, apart from that I have never seen so many of her pots and Han’s pots together in one place as were at the Gates’s house. On page 76 of Tony Birks’ definitive book: ‘Hans Coper’ there is a picture of a young James clinging on to Han’s arm during a woodland walk and, in my copy there is a bookmark: two sheets of file paper containing the bright spark’s homework which has a ‘poloroid’ picture of a Coper pot stuck on as a tail piece.All I wanted to know was that Hans Coper had lived and worked at Digswell House in Welwyn, Hertfordshire.Peter Waren

its A smAll world:elvis And my grAn

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memBers’ weBsites:www.amandabanham.comwww.angelamellor.comwww.angliaclaysupplies.co.ukwww.anniehullceramics.ukwww.antontoddceramics.co.ukwww.joarnoldceramicsetc.co.ukwww.artsculpt.co.ukwww.brendagreenart.co.ukwww.brickhouseceramics.co.ukwww.cathydarcy.comwww.ceramicsbuyanja.co.ukwww.chrisrumsey.co.ukwww.corbykilns.co.ukwww.christinepike.comwww.desaphilippi.comwww.fionafitzgerald.carbonmade.comwww.getfiredup.orgwww.harveybradley.co.ukwww.heathergrahampotter.comwww.helenhpottery.co.uk www.helenmartino.co.ukwww.iangeorgeceramics.co.ukwww.ianvance.netwww.jackiewatsonpottery.co.ukwww.janehollidge.co.ukwww.jeremypeake.co.ukwww.jjvincent.comwww.johnmasterton.co.ukwww.judsonsinfrance.comwww.katherinewinfrey.co.uk www.katiespotterystudio.co.ukwww.lindaluckinpottery.blogspot.co.ukwww.lydiacollings.co.ukwww.lorrycudmoreceramics.comwww.madeincley.co.ukwww.madelainemurphy.comwww.maggygardiner.comwww.mariamcullumceramics.co.ukwww.markjudsonart.blogspot.comwww.nickysheales.co.ukwww.ozonelouise.comwww.paulwestley.netwww.philarthurpottery.co.ukwww.potterycourses.com www.potterycourses.netwww.richardbaxter.comwww.robbibbyceramics.co.uk www.rockwellpottery.comwww.rowanhumberstone.co.ukwww.sandylarkman.co.ukwww.sharonlaslett.co.ukwww.sonialewis.co.ukwww.spaceforclay.comwww.spettigue.comwww.stephenmurfitt.squarespace.comwww.susancupitt.co.ukwww.suffolkstoneware.co.ukwww.swaffhampotter.co.ukwww.waterloohouseporcelain.com

MANUFACTURERS & SUPPLIERS TO THE CERAMIC INDUSTRY

GLAZE & UNDERGLAZE STAINS ONGLAZE COLOURS GLAZES ~ FOR ALL APPLICATIONS BRUSH-ON GLAZES PAINTING COLOURS CERAMIC CAFÉ COLOURS RAW MATERIALS COLOURING OXIDES PRINTING INKS PRINTING MEDIUMS COLOURED ENGOBES BODY STAINS

BELOW IS A SMALL SELECTION OF OUR PRODUCTS

STANDARD COLOURED GLAZES

STONEWARE GLAZES

RAKU & CRAQUELLE GLAZES

PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CONTACT US FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

SNEYD CERAMICS LIMITED Sneyd Mills,

Leonora Street Burslem, Stoke on Trent,

UK, ST6 3BZ. TEL: 01782 814167

Email: sales@sneydceramics.co.uk www.sneydceramics.co.uk

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PuBliC liABility insurAnCe

If members are taking part in events wholly organised by Anglian Potters, they are

covered by our insurers.Members taking part in

any event not organised by Anglian Potters will need

to arrange their own Public Liability Insurance.

Editor

Brick House Crafts operate from a 5,000 sq. ft. premises in Essex. They are pleased to confirm the continuation of their 10% discount scheme to members of Anglian Potters on raw materials, clays (up to ½t) and hand tools. Lessons available on an hourly basis together with City and Guilds Level 2 & 3 courses (100% pass rate to date). Contact Mary Tel: 01376 585655.www brickhouseceramics.co.uk

Anton Todd

Photo

graph

: Pete

r War

ren

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AP ClAy storesClay from Valentine, Staffs: an inexpensive source of clay for members. Sold in 12.5 kg bags. Paper clay can be ordered by request, as can any Valentine or Scarva clays. Please contact Denise, Nicki or Deborah. stonewAre:- Firing 1150°C – 1280°CSpecial Fleck £4.70 ES5 Original £10.32 White B17C grogged £6.90 ES40 Handbuilding £13.60 ES50 Crank £8.90 V9G Dark £4.65eArthenwAre:-Red (1080°C-1160°C) £4.00 White (1060°C-1150°C) £9.00 PorCelAin:-Firing 1220°C – 1280°CP2 (fires to 1250°C) £10.00Royale £14.00Royale Grogged £14.70Audrey Blackman £15.25mArCh, CAmBridgeshireDenise BrownGrange FarmWhittlesey Road BenwickMarch, Cambs PE15 0XU07949 442772info@denisebrownceramics.co.uk

norfolkNicki Darrell46 Church Road, CantleyNorwich NR13 3SN01493 701525cantleypottery@gmail.comsuffolkDeborah BaynesNether Hall, Shotley, Ipswich Suffolk IP9 1PW01473 788300 deborah@deborahbaynes.co.uk

Phone to confirm availability and to arrange pickup during office hours. Collect with a cheque made payable to Anglian Potters with membership number on the back. Please note that ten bags of clay of the same type is the maximum that members can take per visit.

from the ArChives EAPA Newsletter, September 1991Ursula Stroh Rubens, Exhibition,

Corpusty Gallery, Norfolk, Review by Colin Saunders

Coming down into the village of Corpusty on the night of Ursula’s Private View everywhere seemed in darkness except for the lights of a busy fish and chip shop and the pub next to it. However, a couple of hundred yards along a lane which runs just the width of a grass bank away from the River Bure, there was a second centre of activity. This was the Corpusty Gallery, a row of three old shops knocked through to make a mixture of gallery, shop and café. A further gallery for special exhibitions lies behind the shops across a flagged courtyard.That night this little complex of buildings was showing not only Ursula’s ceramics but the work of two painters, plus the furniture of Rob Corbett (who, with his wife Mary, runs the gallery) and a collection of the work of East Anglian potters. Surprisingly amongst the works of art and between wine and the buffet, four musicians dressed in full Tudor costume played ancient music on recorders.Somehow the exhibition organiser, Margaret Melicharova, had manage to give Ursula’s work the space it needed. Nearly all the fifteen pieces were made especially for the show. For those unfamiliar with the work it is hand built raku whose primary function must be to be ‘looked at’ rather than to be used. However, the words ‘looked at’ are far too limiting because if there are such things as pots for the blind, these would be the ones. If I were to single out their strongest quality it would be one of beauty of section-and this of course governs the weight and feel of the pots.This section runs true and even whatever the wall of the pot encounters on its way from base to rim. Often deep valleys gouge themselves around the pots and always the echo inside is identical. If we were able to slice down through a pot, as throwers do, and make lots of cuts, each resulting section would be different, each a beautiful line.Fresh to me in this new work were the flutes scored into bulges that reminded me of streamlining on old tin toy cars, yet also of Epstein’s Rock Drill. All quite crazy and all part of Ursula’s rich formal language.The pots do not have rims as such but fold over as if, like an ash tray, they are to support some giant cigarette. It is in these concluding areas of form that some art nouveau edges creep in and these worry me because they don’t seem strong enough.I have not mentioned ‘decoration’, but this needs no separate discussion because these glazed areas are incorporated in the pot just as much as the deep valleys and other three dimensional marks.To see Ursula’s pots is to have an insight into the world of a true artist potter. All the beliefs, the techniques being pushed, the whims and fancies- all of these add up to make a very rewarding experience for us, the ones who come to see.

Pot and photograph: Ursula Stroh-Rubens

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Pit firing Icknield PottersIcknield Potters are a very small, local, group. Most of us are active Anglian Potters members and we all live in and around the area where the counties of Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire meet. One or two people in the group are also Dacorum & Chiltern Potters Guild members. We

meet up to six times a year and use those meetings either as workshops to develop particular techniques, or a chance to visit a museum or gallery for a ‘behind the scenes tour’ or simply for gathering to discuss members work. No matter what the occasion, it always involves a bit of lunch somewhere!This was a 2-day event in the paddock at the back of my home in Hail Weston. Day one being the Pit Firing and Naked Raku day for around tenIcknield Potters together with a demonstration, by Frank Logan, of the technique of producing Obvara pots. Day two involved the opening of the pit when we found out if we were either pleased or disappointed with the results.By 10am. Frank Logan was entertaining the group over coffee in the kitchen and had everyone laughing. Martin George arrived to help Frank and to help all of us with his invaluable expertise in Raku firing and his huge enthusiasm and knowledge or all things ‘pottery’.Frank Logan had, seemingly, brought half his pottery with him not to mention a load of his wonderful pots to use with the Obvara and Ferric Chloride

decoration. He had brought gallons of his Obvara mix (see below for the mix ingredients if you need them).The kilns used, in addition to the pit were a 24” by 18” circular gas kiln and a smaller raku kiln brought by Martin. Frank filled the larger kiln with as many pots as we could get in. The burner was ignited and away we went. It was a little tricky to keep the burner going as it was a very windy morning. The temperature built up fairly quickly to about 800 º C while Frank practiced getting the feel of a grip on pots with his various different long handled tongs. He explained that it would surprise us to see how quickly a pot would be dipped into the Obvara mix then exposed to the air for a short time as the mixture started to carbonise on the outside of the pot. Expose it for too long and the pot will be too black. The skill is in judging how long to let colour develop and how to turn the pot to allow the Obvara mixture to run on and off its surface before dunking it quickly into cold water to halt the carbonising process. Just as important is knowing how to hold and manoeuvre an 800ºC pot with long tongs and heavy gloves. Dropping the pot can have interesting results!The speed of the whole process was remarkable as was the transformation from a plain white, precisely made pot into a beautiful multi-coloured object admiidst a great deal of fire, steam and spitting hot water. It got a "WOW" and many other admiring exclamations from the assembled company.Everyone had the opportunity to have a go with help from Frank and Martin.While some individuals were dealing with the Obvara others were decorating pots to go in the pit. We used Copper and Cobalt carbonate and Ferric Chloride soaked string to wrap around some pots. Some of the pots using ferric chloride o were also given a dusting of sugar while the ferric chloride was still wet. One or two pots were totally covered in a couple of coats of ferric chloride then had whole clematis flowers applied to the surface and fixed there with a wrapping of tin foil.The pit itself was 8 ft. Long, 2 ft. Wide and 2 ft. deep. The filling was a 6 inch deep layer fine wood chips and sawdust in which was mixed a shovelful of rock salt. On to this layer about 40 pots were layed and each person added their own extra ingredients: seaweed; copper carbonate; cobalt carbonate; salt

and banana skins. Then more sawdust was added together with a thick layer of scrunched up news paper. The final layer was one of chopped up old pallets complete with most of their nails forming a large heap sticking a foot out of the top of the pit.This was ignited and quickly became a raging fire. After about 30-40 minutes the pit had settled to a really good bed of

red/orange hot coals. We then covered it with sheets of corrugated iron and sealed them all round with earth. It was now time for lunch.Day two was a week later when everyone assembled to extract their pots from the pit. As with all such things the results were mixed but the photographs show that, after cleaning up, we did get some pleasing results.The whole event was a real pleasure to experience as is always the case when a group of like-minded people get together and have the opportunity to share knowledge and practice and learn more about their art.

Obvara Mix2.6 Gallons of warm water (around 18 -20 º Centigrade)2.2 lbs of Flour1 tablespoon sugar2 x 7grm. Packs of Allison’s YeastMix well and allow to ferments for about three days, stirring frequently.

Richard Cranwell

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Photographs: Sarah Rooms -Heaphy

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for sAle

CromArtie fB190 eleCtriC kiln 6.7 Cu.ft./190 litres CAPACity

£2,000 ono

Single or three phase and neutral 240/415V Load: 8kwMaximum temperature: 1300

Outside measurements: h54" x d39" x w29"Chamber: h27" x w18"

Kiln legs and Kiln Furniture included in the price

Buyer collects: Norwich area.

Contact: 01953 852568

Katherine Winfrey at Potfest Scotland. Photoraph: John Masterton

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Pat Armstrong at Potfest Scotland. Photograph: John Masterton

John Masterton at Potfest Scotland. Photograph: John Masterton

22

Kilns for ceramics

New and second-hand equipmentKilns and furnaces serviced and repaired

Potters wheels – pugmills

Essex Kilns LtdTel 01621 869342

email contact@essexkilns.co.ukwww.essexkilns.co.uk

Front LoadersTop Loaders ECO

Energy Saving Range of Kilns

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Selected Members to contact:Alan Foxley: handbuilding, reduction firing 01799 522631 Deborah Baynes: raku, salt glaze, stoneware, earthenware (reduction & oxidised) 01473 788300Usch Spettigue: raw glazing/single firing 01473 787587Margaret Gardiner: salt / soda firing 01279 654025Murray Cheesman: Single firing, domestic ware,repetition throwing. 07999 510084Sonia Lewis: high-fired ware, porcelain 01353 688316Angela Mellor: bone china paperclay and slipcasting 01353 666675John Masterton: Throwing, reduction firing 01279 723229Beryl Hines: General Raku and Earthenware 01394 386280

If you are willing to give advice and be added to this list, please contact the Editor.

CerAmiC helPline

AngelA mellorWeekend Paperclay

CoursesExplore various techniques of

working withBone China Paperclaythrough handbuilding

and the use of plaster mouldsAutumn 2018

in Ely, Cambridgeshirewww.angelamellor.com/courses

angela@angelamellor.com

gAs kiln for sAle good Condition

External dimensions 32w 34l 40hInternal 21w 20l 20h

shelf size18x17 double burners that fit under the kiln

and an external flue.£950.00 . Pictures can be emailed linda@lindaluckin.co.uk

07866 168281Buyer collects Essex

A messAge for Potters CAmPers

I noticed some people had written their e-mail addresses on my note about finding another hand-out on slip-casting. Unfortunately, when I went to get the list, it had gone

from the board, so if you want the hand-out, please e-mail me.

ann.chil@yahoo.co.uk.

Ann Allen

Obvara pot by Frank Logan at Hail Weston

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diAry dAtes

Members' Exhibition5 October-4 NovemberFerini Gallery, Parkfield, SuffolkIckworth Park Wood Fair6-7 OctoberAshraf Hannah25 November, MundfordAP Christmas Exhibition10 November-9 DecemberAll Saints' Church, Jesus LaneCambridgeCraig Underhill3 February 2019. MundfordAnna Lambert10 March Mundford

memBershiP fees Single £30 – half year £17Joint £50 for two people at the same address – half year £27Institution £50 for a college or workshop – half year £27 (details on application to the Membership Secretary)Student £10 for full-time ceramicsstudents – proof of status is required

Advertising rAtesPrice:Per issue, 4 issues a yearFull page w 18cm x h 26.8cm £60.00Half page w 18cm x h 13.4cm £30.00Third page w 18cm x h 8.8cm £20.002 column w 11.8cm x h 17.6cm £26.002 column w 11.8cm x h 8.8cm £13.001 column w 5.7cm x h 17.6cm £13.001 column w 5.7cm x h 8.8cm £6.50Leaflet inserts (500) £50.00Copy dates:Spring Issue 1 FebruarySummer Issue 1 MayAutumn Issue 1 AugustWinter Issue 1 NovemberCopy:To be supplied as .jpg, .tif, .pdf Advertisements can be designed if text and pictures (minimum 300dpi) are provided. Printed in full colour.

Contact: Peter Warren, Editore: peterwarren@nasuwt.net t: 01462 621946

deAdline for the Winter neWsletter

1 november 2018for PuBliCAtion By 1 December 2018

triP to koreAGeoff Kenward, former chair of London Potters, is

putting together a trip to South Korea next Easter. This will be a cultural visit with a strong ceramics focus.

A number of Anglian Potters joined Geoff ’s China trip last year and had a great time.

It will be an all-inclusive affair with everything planned to the last detail, so, no hassle. Currently there are 15/16 interested parties so Geoff is going ahead with sorting

the itinerary and finalising the dates. There are still places available so, if you are interested, contact Geoff as soon as

possible: gandfkenward@gmail.com