how I got started with ceramics At my school there was no 3D art, so the first time I touched clay was at Great Yarmouth art college on their foundation course, with Barbara Balls. Having left school wanting to write and illustrate historical novels I made a complete about-turn and spent the next three years studying ceramics at Bath Academy of Art, or Corsham, as it was mostly known then. an early piece, made in 2006 Clay touched off some deeper practical need, that of making things in a medium which is so receptive and versatile, it can use all of the skills you might have learnt in other media or disciplines – drawing, sculpture, design, printmaking, painting, chemistry, engineering, geology – and combine them, using your intuition, into your own burgeoning ceramic practice. And it is a medium which keeps you humble, there are always new and old things to learn, mistakes to make, fruitful and not so much! 2007, I’m getting some good results with this shino Although, with huge regret, I was not able to continue with ceramics as a career, what I had learnt allowed me to make a living designing knitwear for forty odd years, and doing this also meant that I could pursue other interests and threads, (such as painting), but in my fifties I came back to ceramics, largely through my friendship with Stephen Parry whom I met when I returned to Norfolk in 2000. 2008, the shino again. Doing a raku workshop with Stephen opened my eyes to the possibility of building a gas kiln for stoneware, and having a workshop in the ramshackle old pig sheds in my garden, and with his help I built a small gas kiln which I still use. He continues to be a generous help and I find potters in general open and unstinting in their advice and willingness to share. It is a wonderful world to be part of. 2009 extreme slab-building and my dry (poisonous) barium glaze Returning to pottery I had very little idea of what had been going on in the world of ceramics since I was at college, but I had the resources of a life spent working in the field of textiles, and fine art, and the experience of selling my work abroad, travelling to fashion fairs, meeting designers from all over the world, and this has stood me in good stead, both in terms of influences and concepts and being able to expose my pots to different markets. 2009, experimenting with porcelain layers over grogged stoneware However making pots again has enabled me to find my deepest roots here in Norfolk, in terms of the living landscape and its archaeology. This has become very important to all the things I do, including photography and writing. 2007, a large piece which lives in a collection in Japan I would say that working with clay again has changed my life and my art/design practice radically, from the bottom up; it has not been a superficial application of design to another medium. 2014, experimenting with layers of oxide and slip under the pale chun glaze. this is in the same collection in Japan  The nitty gritty of attempting to find my own way of making, shaping, my own shapes, surfaces, combinations of clays, glaze and decoration, obstinately outside the dictates of functional ware, and throwing, though influenced by, and referring to these forms, informs what I do and make. 2014, the chun glaze can produce these lovely optical blues I have settled on this hand built bottle shape in many sizes and proportions 2015, winged clematis imprint pearly grey chun bottle sometimes adding extra bits, and recently I have got more interested in drawing and painting again, 2015, pearly rain clematis impressed bottle so the pots are taking on a more painterly aspect. This year will see me slowing down on the knitwear front and I hope, finding more outlets for, and making more, pots. Post navigation back to the Loweschristmas in Scotland – where else ….. 6 Comments Interesting blog,Jane. I am intrigued by the surface application on your pots. Sometimes the surface seems to be an integral part of the pot but sometimes it appears to exist independently and not, in my opinion, relate to the form of the pot at all. Is that intentional? Paul Reply I don’t know which ones you mean, Paul. on the early ones the surface is just what happens when you add glaze to a clay full of impurities, sometimes there are added layers and marks are scratched through them, sometimes oxides and slip are added. sometimes the marks are made on the flat clay before the piece is built, sometimes they are added afterwards. Reply I really love your pots. They are so peaceful and they are deeply satisfying to look at even over the internet. Thank you Reply thank you for that lovely comment Sarah Reply I love your pots. Both the form and the glazes are wonderful. I am a mature student just beginning with clay and making and I am inspired. Reply I love your work, and this blog. Have you ever considered doing courses for people wanting to learn about glazes / handbuilding? I’m just starting out in ceramics (also going back to what I wanted o do after art college – having spent the last 25 years or so as a art director and then copywriter in advertisng.) Reply Leave a ReplyCancel reply This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Interesting blog,Jane. I am intrigued by the surface application on your pots. Sometimes the surface seems to be an integral part of the pot but sometimes it appears to exist independently and not, in my opinion, relate to the form of the pot at all. Is that intentional? Paul Reply
I don’t know which ones you mean, Paul. on the early ones the surface is just what happens when you add glaze to a clay full of impurities, sometimes there are added layers and marks are scratched through them, sometimes oxides and slip are added. sometimes the marks are made on the flat clay before the piece is built, sometimes they are added afterwards. Reply
I really love your pots. They are so peaceful and they are deeply satisfying to look at even over the internet. Thank you Reply
I love your pots. Both the form and the glazes are wonderful. I am a mature student just beginning with clay and making and I am inspired. Reply
I love your work, and this blog. Have you ever considered doing courses for people wanting to learn about glazes / handbuilding? I’m just starting out in ceramics (also going back to what I wanted o do after art college – having spent the last 25 years or so as a art director and then copywriter in advertisng.) Reply