Rufford and stuff

Back again. Since I last blogged, I've been away to Earth and Fire at Rufford. This is my favorite show of the year and this year it was the best that I've had. I think perhaps the pots have improved and I know for sure that the firing was really good. My friend Johnny photographed them before I left and I'll post them on here shortly. A lot of people who spoke, mentioned that they had visited the Honest Pots exhibition in York City Art Gallery. This show still runs until October and is well worth a trip if you are a lover of traditional pottery.



I managed to forget my camera, so I've cheekily pinched these images from my friend Jon's Facebook. My chum 'Frank' came with me. We've been doing a number of collaborative pieces in recent months, his beautiful illustrations on my pots. We took a couple of them with us which created quite a bit of interest and they both sold within the first couple of hours. I'm looking forward to doing more work with him.
We camped with Blogger Margaret
Paul Young
and Hannah, who I hadn't seen since our trip to the States. I think Frank's eyes glazed over on a few occasions as we talked of our adventures across the pond - there are still more tales to share on this blog about that trip and I'll share them in time. Blogger Paul and Marion came by too, It was good to see them. I met many lovely folk over the weekend, thank you to everybody who came to chat and to those who bought my pots.

Since I got home, life has continued to be hectic. On Monday I had a visit from the editor, and photographer of a very classy Japanese lifestyle magazine called Kateigaho, along with Koichiro Isaka, who owns the Gallery St Ives, in Tokyo. Koichiro is writing an article and a book about British potters in which I am to feature. We had a great day in the sunshine, taking photographs in and around the pottery and in the surrounding countryside. I didn't get a chance to take any pictures, but I'll no doubt show the magazine when I get a copy. Koichiro has asked me to provide fifty pieces for an exhibition in Tokyo in January, which is very exciting.

My next show is at Kigbere Manor and is with a group of very distinguished potters with whom I'm proud to be associated. It's an exhibition of teabowls (or drinking cups)and teapots - I'll post some images of my pieces soon, they've come out very nicely thankfully.

This evening I will be taking part in the dress rehearsal for the village play which opens tomorrow - I still don't know my lines - eek!! I play the part of a policeman, so tomorrow the twice annual haircut has to happen, so bye bye crazy curly locks. After this weekend, I get my life back to some kind of normality. It's been too much really, so it'll be good to get back into a sensible pattern. I realize how much I love this blog on the rare occasion that I've had time to update it recently. Facebook is very easy - I can just upload my photos into albums without having to do too much writing, so it's quick, but it isn't the same as blogging. I'm always really happy to hear your comments, but rarely get a chance to reply to them, for which I feel very rude, please forgive me. The last few months have been hardcore, late nights, working every weekend since February, but now America is done, Rufford is done, village play is nearly done, soon I will have my evenings back and blogging will be back if anybody is still out there to read it.

Hello

Hello - here's a voice from the past. I haven't blogged in a month. Life's been crazy. I've been working all hours, trying to catch up from the weeks away from the workshop while I was in the States. Throw in to the mix, rehearsals for the village play twice a week, the recording of a new demo with the Love Daddies, plus all the stuff that goes with family life and it's been hard to find the time and energy to focus on blogging. So there we are, excuses over.
I've made a lot of pots in the past few weeks and fired the kiln last week with Alex and Marky Mark

It was the best firing I've ever had
I'll be having some proper photographs taken this week by my photographer Johnny. I'll post them when I get them back.
These pots are for sale at Earth & Fire at Rufford next weekend.

There's lots more to write about, but I'm only just in from a long day's work, so that's it for now, back soon.

More from Cape Cod and stuff from today in the workshop.

Howdy Folks, here's the next installment.
Here are Hannah and Hollis, enjoying a brew in Hollis' favorite coffee shop. We went there most mornings - it was a lovely way to start the day. Hollis would meet up with a few of his friends, before they all headed off to work for the day. What a civilized start to the day.
This is lovely Janet, who brought in the most beautiful baked goods...........and this stinky durian, a fruit, so pungent, it's banned from hotels and hospitals in Bangkok. I tasted better that it smelled - but that's not saying much!



We visited a number of local potters. This is Ron Geering's showroom. Unfortunately we didn't get to meet Ron as he was in the UK at the time, but it was great to see his pots.
This is Gail Turner who had much to do with organizing our trip to the US, thank you so much Gail
Tessa Morgan.

And this is Kimberly Sheerin Madeiros.


The workshop was held in the local High School. It was interesting to see inside an American school - I was reminded of a show my boys used to watch, called Saved by the Bell. We were absolutely terrified! We were presented with Falmouth High School sweatshirts which we're wearing in this photo.

So to the demo. We each showed short films about our lives at home, then a brief slideshow of historical pots and then on to the clay. This is a puzzle jug I made, blasted with a gas burner to make it tough enough to assemble, then blasted again to a stage where it could be decorated.

Hannah did her magic with the slip trailer, which wowed the folks at each of the workshops.

I think that the finished piece is to be auctioned to raise funds to help the potters of Japan who were affected by the earthquake and tsunami.

The Cape Cod Potters. These were lovely people, really good fun to be with.

And afterwards, on to an 'English' pub, which was quite authentic - it could almost have been beside the sea in Exmouth - there was even English beer. Hannah and I were both greatly relieved at this stage - we'd been terrified, but we'd done it! Beeeeer :-)

The birds were amazing - huge Ospreys, nesting on a platform beside a lake.
And some kind of strange wading bird.

So more pictures of the trip to follow in subsequent posts, but now on to current stuff that's happening in the workshop. I'm making pots now for Earth & Fire at Rufford and trying to catch up on a number of orders that I meant to get made before I went away, but ran out of time.

Oak and ash, leaf resist jug
Some jugs with applied decoration upturned to dry their bases.
I didn't quite get my timing right on this large harvest jug - oops, try again.
8.5lb low-bellied 'medieval' jug. It's curious, I wondered how the trip would influence the pots I make. I think rather than showing American influence, they're more 'English' than ever - perhaps I have a much stronger sense of my own identity?
A crazy experiment
This is a collaborative pot, made by me, then stunningly decorated by my friend Andrew Grundon.
It's going to an exhibition in the Imagine Gallery, Long Melford, Suffolk, the subject, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
We're enjoying doing these pieces together. This is a puzzle jug commemorating the recent Royal Wedding.
He's a clever boy.....
...with a sweet smile

He came up from Cornwall to deliver the pots on Thursday, then stayed for the day and we cracked on with finishing construction of the workshop.
Here's the latest addition, belted together with big nails and made entirely from salvaged materials. It looks a bit of a mess at the moment, but a lick of paint and it'll look sweet.
That's all for the moment - are you still awake?! More soon, bye for now

Back!

Hello everybody

Well I made it home! It's been long time since I blogged, I've been feeling pretty odd since getting back to the UK and I've been laying low. I'm only just starting to get back into making pots again, it's a good feeling.

The States are amazing- so much space, so much beautiful countryside and so many great people that I didn't get to spend enough time with. I love the place and can't wait to go back there. I made some great friends out there, some of whom I've known for years in this virtual world, it was so cool to meet them for real. The USA was nothing like I'd imagined it would be - I grew up thinking that the whole of America was like it is on Starsky and Hutch - how wrong I was.

It's difficult to blog retrospectively, but I'll share a few pictures and see how it goes, starting at the very beginning

Here we are with Hollis and Dee,who were our first hosts in Cape Cod. It seems such a long time ago since we arrived there, tired and excited. Hollis introduced me to baseball and gave me his Boston Red Sox cap, so they are now my team. I try and follow them on the internet, although I don't entirely understand the game.
This is Hollis and Dee's house. Hollis' workshop is at the extreme left, my bedroom was above it. I'd forgotten how cold it was on the Cape when we arrived, the trees were bare and every night there was a frost. In the mornings I awoke early, to beautiful dawn chorus, the bird's songs, very different from those back at home. The unusual types of bird continued to be a fascination to me throughout the visit, Cardinals, Bluebirds and a Robin that is much, much bigger than ours. Dee is a great gardener, I was sorry not to see the garden in full bloom, it was still fairly dormant, a few shoots just beginning to show - maybe I'll get to see it next time.


This sweet little building is Hollis's showroom


And this is the inside

These are the pots that Hannah and I brought home. It was a brilliant time. Here's Hollis' account.

And this is back home. The lanes have filled out with wonderful spring flora.
The trees in the orchard are full of blossom
And the workshop is hidden behind roses and hollyhocks, which look like they're going to provide a wonderful display this year.

And some pots at long last.


A bit of a disjointed blog post, but it's a start and now I've got started again, I intend to carry on, so please don't give up on me and check back soon.

Bye for now

Home time

We're heading home today. Thank you so much the wonderful people of the USA.

There's so much to write about, many pictures to show and stories to tell. I'll get them uploaded in the next day or two - we've been so busy living it all that there's been little time to write about it.

We head to the airport shortly and a long, long journey back to England. Ang left for Australia yesterday. We arrive back in London at 7.30 am tomorrow.

Our time here has been amazing, completely mind-blowing. Thank you to all the sweet people we have met on our travels, everybody has made us feel so welcome. It's all quite overwhelming.

Huge, immense, big-time thanks to our fantastic friends and hosts, Hollis and Dee, Dan, Ron and Sarah, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Ang's video from Liberty Town

Thanks Ang

A message from North Carolina

Our great American adventure continues. We're in North Carolina now, sitting in the sunshine outside Ron's house. We didn't have internet access for a few days , so I'm only just getting caught up. Our Virginia experience was fantastic, with many sweet people, who made it a special time. Not least our wonderful host, Dan Finnegan, who looked after us so well. We're missing his company - hopefully he'll be in the UK in the summer and our paths will cross again. Thank you Dan, so much.


Here's Dan during our workshop, after we set him the challenge of making some red clay pots (the properties of the clay are very different from the stoneware body that he is used to throwing). I don't think we converted him.
These are some of the lovely group of people who were at the workshop, a number of whom are bloggers too. I'll put links to their blogs in a later post.
Dan drove us two hours further south east, along the blue ridge mountains of Virginia, to Kevin Crowe's pottery, nestled in the woods at Amherst.

Kevin makes beautiful pots.
Here we met up with Ron and after a tasty chowder, a tour and a pot swap, we said our sad farewells to Dan and headed onwards to a warm welcome at Meredith Heywood's home and pottery in Whynot, North Carolina, where a group of local potters were gathered for a social evening. It was another great pleasure to meet an old friend of blog and Facebook.



This is Meredith and her husband Mark. We stayed overnight, Ang and Hannah stayed with Meredith, Ron and myself with Ron's friend, potter and pizza maker, Tom Gray.

The next day, we were joined by blogger Tracey Broom(next to Ron) - it was a delight to meet her. This tour is full of wonderful surprises, meeting people for real, that we have communicated with for years in the virtual world through blog or Facebook - some people call it all a waste of time, but I think it's amazing that the internet creates the opportunity to meet so easily with like-minded people.

Tracey and Meredith took us on a tour of some of the many potters in North Carolina. There are hundreds, rows and rows of pottery shops, lining the roads. It was a great day. I'll post pictures later - I need to sleep now, as tomorrow morning we will be presenting our final workshop in Shelby, North Carolina. This blog post has taken several days to finish as we've been pretty busy - it started three days ago in the sunshine and now it's the middle of the night.
This is tomorrow's venue. We're nervous again tonight, it'll be good to get underway in the morning.




This poster made me laugh! I'm sorry to be missing it(click on the image to enlarge)

Goodnight all