Hi folks
Last week we had a visit from some friends from across the pond, Nancy Gallagher and her husband Tim. I met Nancy at the workshop Hannah and I gave in Virginia, back in the Spring, so when I heard that they were coming over to visit British potters, we invited them to come and stay. It was great to spend time with them, we had a lot of good fun. They're high in the sky on their way home as I type this blog.
I'm afraid the pictures are a bit blurry, my camera is on its way out - too much clay dust. Here they are in my local pub, The Half Moon Inn......
....which boasts a fine skittle alley, typically found in Devon country pubs - it's a bit like ten pin bowling - but it's free and must be played with a belly full of cider.
We toured round various potters, I didn't get pictures of all of them. Here's Hil at Svend Bayer's pottery - she liked this big pot - we have one at home, but at the moment it lives in our garage as it's too huge to fit in our tiny house.
Svend's a great master, his forms are wonderful irrespective of scale, the hugest of jars like these, or the smallest of jugs, they're always bang on. What a great way to display big pots.
This is Nancy making a selection at Clive Bowen's pottery. I used to spend a lot of time at Clive's place, he's been a great influence on what I do.
And here with Harry Juniper, a slipware potter from Bideford, who specializes in making commemorative harvest jugs.
Also while in Bideford, we went to the Burton Art Gallery, which is full of many beautiful, old traditional West Country pots. This is a wonderful museum and has to be one of my favorite places.
Digging clay from the stream at Hollyford. Some of this lump of muddy Devon has gone back with Nancy to the States.
I'm afraid the pictures are a bit blurry, my camera is on its way out - too much clay dust. Here they are in my local pub, The Half Moon Inn......
....which boasts a fine skittle alley, typically found in Devon country pubs - it's a bit like ten pin bowling - but it's free and must be played with a belly full of cider.
We toured round various potters, I didn't get pictures of all of them. Here's Hil at Svend Bayer's pottery - she liked this big pot - we have one at home, but at the moment it lives in our garage as it's too huge to fit in our tiny house.
Svend's a great master, his forms are wonderful irrespective of scale, the hugest of jars like these, or the smallest of jugs, they're always bang on. What a great way to display big pots.
This is Nancy making a selection at Clive Bowen's pottery. I used to spend a lot of time at Clive's place, he's been a great influence on what I do.
And here with Harry Juniper, a slipware potter from Bideford, who specializes in making commemorative harvest jugs.
Also while in Bideford, we went to the Burton Art Gallery, which is full of many beautiful, old traditional West Country pots. This is a wonderful museum and has to be one of my favorite places.
Digging clay from the stream at Hollyford. Some of this lump of muddy Devon has gone back with Nancy to the States.
I'm back to work now, trying to get back into the swing. It always takes me a while to get going again, so I started with mugs....
and this crazy 9lb jug. The next firing is going to be contain a number of very large pieces, so I'm going to have to warm up my skills quickly this week and build up to making them.
That's all for now, back soon
11 comments:
...And what did you do on your vacation Nancy? "I went out in the rain to dig clay from a muddy creekbed. I even got to take some home!"
What fun. I'm sure Nancy will have such fond memories of the visit. So cool to see them there in the skittles alley where I too have stood!! Good to see Hil here on the blog too!! Hi Hil!!
you're back!
good to see Nancy there.
hx
taking clay home?? customs would not be happy here... they even sprayed my shoes when i got home!!!! great to see you back!!! you slack blogger :P
I was about to say I didnt think youd be allowed to take clay across countries! Anyway I've never seen skittles inside a pub before, just darts and dominoes round here!
nice to see you and family,Sorry about the tankard.
Tim
good to see you are back in action, my Devon slip is very slow drying in this damp weather.Looking forward to the firing.
Thanks again for a lovely visit and spectacular tour! Just catching up on things and it was fab seeing both you and Hilary. Hope you can make it to our 'neck of the woods'!
Oh, and no problem with the clay! :)
Ha, I thought it was perfectly normal behavior Dennis :)
I still have a piece of the USA in my workshop that was sent to me by Michael Kilne
Skittles is big in the West Country, most village pubs have a team and play home and away.
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