Anglian Potters Newsletter Autumn 2005 Inside
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Courses—what’s the point? Hatfield 2005 Helen Martino Seeing red
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COMMITTEE 2004/2005 PRESIDENT Lady Sainsbury CHAIRMAN Victor Knibbs 8 Nightingale Way, St Neots,Huntingdon, Cambs. PE19 1UQ. 01480 214741 VICE CHAIRMAN Frank Logan Burbage, Thetford Road Coney Weston, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP31 1DN. 01359 221323 SECRETARY Susan Cupitt 62 Humberstone Road, Cambridge CB4 1JF 01223 311937. susancupitt@waitrose.com TREASURER Liz Chipchase 46 Carlyle Road, Cambridge, CB4 3DH EDITOR Mark Boyd 24 School Close, Gamlingay, Sandy, Bedfordshire SG19 3JY. 01767 650904 mark.boyd@rspb.org.uk MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY Tony Pugh Vine Leigh Cottage, Main St, Wardy Hill, Ely, Cambs CB6 2DF. 01353 778462 tonypugh@onetel.com PUBLICITY SECRETARY Sally Macpherson Elm Cottage, 39 Upland Road, Thornwood, Essex CM16 6NJ 01992 560807 sallymach2@aol.com EXHIBITIONS ORGANISER Carolyn Postgate 5 Whitwell Way, Coton, Cambridge CB3 7PW 01954 211033. carolyn@clara.co.uk SELECTED MEMBERS SECRETARY Margaret Gardiner Glebe House, Great Hallingbury, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM22 7TY 01279 654025. magsgardi@yahoo.com GENERAL COMMITTEE MEMBER Brenda Green Hardys, School Lane, Gr Horkesley, Colchester Essex CO6 4BL. 01206 271019 WEBSITE Ian George 45 Brampton Road, Cambridge CB1 3HJ 01223 249676 stoneware@care4free.net
—–Chairman’s report—– AGM May 22nd The AGM was well attended, and I thank those who came for their support and interest. It is great for the Committee to have such encouragement and support. The meeting ratified our change of name and the modified Constitution: Henceforth we are Anglian Potters. Your Committee is still working on a new logo. Liz Chipchase was elected as our Treasurer, Sally Macpherson as Publicity Secretary, and Helen Humphreys offered to help the Editor with advertising in the Newsletter. Website lan George has taken over the Website and has been co-opted onto the Committee. The Website address is now www.anglianpotters.org.uk but the old address will still find us. Clay store Roger Phillipo is to continue running a clay store on our behalf. There has been some misunderstanding by me on this matter, but I thank Roger on your behalf. Subscriptions The AGM agreed that subscriptions for the year 2006/7 will remain at the current rates. Tony Pugh reported a current membership of 286, which he stated was high and most encouraging.
SummerExhibition, All Saints Church, Cambridge The Private View was well attended and the Exhibition looked good and was well received. Support by members was down which meant: that more work by individuals could be displayed. Of a total of 52 contributors, 15 were Selected Members. The decision to hold the Exhibition in July, to coincide with Cambridge Open Studios, will need analysing. I feel there are pros and cons. So far, takings seem to be low. I found it difficult to find enough help with setting up because many regulars were not available. This sounds a little negative, but I do thank, most sincerely, all those who did help so willingly, some of whom were not exhibiting. A special thank you is due to Carolyn Postgate, Janet Tebbitt, Margaret Gardiner, and "the Store Working Party". Our Publicity, posters and leaflets, designed and organised by Carolyn, were excellent. The leaflet covers all four of our 2005 shows, thereby reducing the unit cost. Exhibitions Secretary Carolyn Postgate has stated her intention to retire at the next AGM. It may well be difficult to replace her because she has set such high standard! Carolyn said that she would like a candidate for the post to shadow her for the coming year, and would be prepared to support them when appointed. Nominations or offers needed; could it be you!
Our stand at Art in Clay, Hatfield, August 2005
EVENTS ORGANISERS Jerry Finlayson Mill Farm Barn, Wades Lane, Shotley, Ipswich IP9 1EG 01473 788423 Frank Logan (address above)
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Rosemarie Cooke
Front cover: Square pot by Maureen Baker, exhibited at our summer show. Photo, Ian George
—Thrown by the Editor— This Newsletter catches us—in identity terms—with our pants down. We have changed the name, but not chosen the new logo. Such deliberations can spawn entire industries, but it is important to keep the whole thing in perspective. Our identity, our brand if you will, should simply identify us and our values to our members and to the outside world. As a member, when you see anything from Anglian Potters—be it this newsletter, our new membership leaflet or an exhibition—you know instantly what we are about. If you are not a member, our brand should reflect what we are and what we do and how we wish to be seen. In this digital age, entertainment is becoming increasingly observational and less participative. Interactivity, that watchword for our times, just seems to mean button pushing. So much now competes for our attention, and yet Anglian Potters, which is at heart a practical organisation, is thriving. We must be doing something right. Expect our new logo to reflect this energy.
Anglian Potters dates Jim Robison, author of Large Scale Ceramics and renowned for his workshops—Demonstration Day 16 October, Mundford. Christmas Show, All Saints Church, Cambridge, 19 November—11 December. For other pottery events, see www.studiopottery.co.uk/html/ events.html
—Letter—from Geoff Elmore— Membership Secretary's notes It's mid-July and my apologies for not sending out this year’s cards to the 212 of you who have so far renewed. June/July is not a good time for paperwork, what with Open Studios and Jesus Lane in July, then Hatfield in early August and potters camp immediately after. We ended the year with what is believed to be our highest membership number ever, 276. Three resignations have been received, two from members moving out of the country and one no longer potting. That leaves 61 still to renew. If you are intending to renew, please do so without delay. This will be the last newsletter sent to nonmembers. If you are not renewing, let me know if possible, please, particularly if there is something about Anglian Potters you are not happy about (or better still air your views in the newsletter). Finally all cheques should now be payable to "Anglian Potters". Tony
The article by Roger Kistruck in the Winter 2004 Newsletter presenting differences in achieving art and craftsmanship in pottery was enjoyable and interesting. I particularly liked the subtitle “made by hand—really?” The revival by William Morris of the Arts and Crafts Movement and later Bernard Leach with pottery was initiated in response to the removal of craftsmanship from our everyday objects and replacement by massproduced goods. What has happened since? The colleges over many years have influenced and produced a new generation of highly competent and technically excellent potters, and with the availability of a large range of high quality materials and technical aids they produce very high quality pottery (and ceramics). The highly finished pottery resulting from this development, I consider, can be seen when visiting Art in Clay and other exhibitions, including our own. Much of the work exhibited seems to me to lack the exciting impact of “hand made” which was previously to be seen in the work of potters using the less sophisticated methods of the previous generation. An artist friend of mine refers to being able to see the impact of the hand on the clay and the raw materials showing through in what she sees instinctively as good pots.
This is not to dismiss the more finely made pots, but sees them as being more like the products that the craft revival responded against. I attended the two previous demonstrations with East Anglian Potters and saw two highly skilled potters who are products of the modern school. I must say that although I enjoyed the demo’s, I found the technically finely made pots were to my taste soulless and uninteresting. The overuse of tools and moulds to produce such a fine finish by Steve Harrison, in my opinion, resulted in a factory product, but produced in a one-off manner. When looking at pots in exhibitions I am always drawn to those exhibiting more soul, such as Clive Bowen, David Leach, Sven Bayer and Peter Hayes. These characterise the hand on the clay and the impact of chance (or lucky accident) from the methods and raw materials used. I wonder what Bernard Leach would think of these latter potters who have developed in response to a process he initiated early in the last century. He would surely be excited by the range of studio pottery now produced, but would he like me find it also—too perfect! But then, I am probably an old fogey! Letters are welcomed, but views expressed are not necessarily those of Anglian Potters. 3
—Anglian Potters Summer Exhibition— Geoff Lee appears for what I believe is the first time with some exciting teapot shapes. Not only are the shapes fun, but the glazes are good too - I particularly liked his red/brown oil-spot glaze. Another new entrant is Ray Auker, his work includes some impressively large pieces. Somehow he achieves subtle colour fades on his pieces, I assume by spraying. Rob Bibby, who in the last year changed theme from his familiar fruit and leaves to birds, seems to be growing in confidence with this new style. The birds often circle or emerge from imagined cityscapes I wonder if there is a message in this idea? I particularly liked the dolphins and fish which seem to be another new theme for Rob. Ron Bridge has contributed some striking animals in very pared-down forms while Rosemarie Cooke inhabits the other extreme of detail, her Pangolin being a rather charming case in point. Juliet Gorman has added framed tiles and wall-mounted candleholders to her range of ever more accomplished work. No surprise that the candleholders all sold quickly.
After a number of years at Ely Cathedral, the summer exhibition has been rather footloose. After Blackthorpe Barns and Emmanuel College, this year we are in our normal winter venue of All Saints, Jesus Lane, Cambridge. Unlike in winter, All Saints is refreshingly cool (rather than freezing). Opening hours are extended to 10am until 6pm in attempt to catch those returning after a day out, or at work in Cambridge. Once again, I arrived at the private view to be impressed by the standard of work on show and excited to see new work from several of our members. Susan Tutton was exhibiting a plate and vases with a very attractive semirandom pattern of colour splashes. 4
Maureen Baker has gone orange and white with splashes of blue. Susan van Valkenburg has added transfers to her "fat chicks".
There were so many highlights in the exhibition that I cannot list them all: Helen Martino had some beautiful seated ladies; Erica Mattingly once again came up trumps; I always love Roger Phillippo’s work (this time was no exception). I could go on.
Sadly, the private view sales were not up to the usual volume. As you will gather, this was certainly nothing to do with the quality of the work on display. However, the room did feel a little thin of both people and pots on the private view. There were certainly fewer exhibitors than usual, and many exhibitors had difficulty supplying pots for both the exhibition and their own open
studios. As I write this, after one week of sales, the sales are OK; not brilliant, but OK. Fingers crossed for the remaining two weeks!
Words and pictures, Ian George. Clockwise from top left: head by Roger Phillippo; raku vases with gold, Susan Tutton; bowl by Cathy D’Arcy; pangolin by Rosemarie Cooke; Polar Bear by Ron Bridge.
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Steve Harrison’s tool-making workshop turpentine and meths. Steve provided the basics - ready turned handles and blanks, and then we all set to, finishing our own toolkits based on his examples. Steve's work (existence?) seems based around tea and cakes. The only recipe he gave to us at the demo wasn't for a special glaze, it was for Welsh cakes, and his work revolves around fine mugs and teapots. So it was, when we stopped for a break, to sit in the shade and relax for a few minutes, we had wonderful fresh cakes made by Steve's wife, Julia, and a tasting of special teas, imported from France and brewed in the teapot that Steve had made at the demo at Easter. As with the pots, there is a certain 'rightness' about savouring something special for itself - not just 'let's have a quick cup of tea' from a dipped teabag!
Those of you who were lucky enough to have been at the recent demonstration given by Steve Harrison will probably remember some of the tools that Steve had made to achieve some of his work seemingly as much a natural part of his practice as throwing. At the time, he mentioned casually that he'd run a tool making workshop in the past, and if anyone was interested....... So it was, on the hottest June day since the long hot summer of ‘76, several Anglian Potters members turned up at Steve's home and studio in North London, not quite knowing what to expect, but remembering the enthusiasm and focus shown by Steve in his
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demonstrations. We had an enthralling day, learning how to make our own tools for a 'basic' toolkit, and looking at some of the variations on tools for specific purposes. We looked at simple things like making a twisted wire, using the potter's wheel as a lathe or turning/twisting tool. We made throwing ribs from copper, knives from hacksaw blades and turning tools from metal packing strip. Whilst these tools are inherently simple, Steve adds beautifully turned handles of boxwood and ebony, hones the cutting edges with oilstones and seals the wood with 'the mixture', a woodworkers magic treatment of linseed oil,
At the end of the afternoon we all went away satisfied with a day from which you could take inspiration. Making your own tools isn't as difficult as it sounds and it doesn't need lots of expensive equipment. There is satisfaction in using something that is really fit for purpose, because you made it that way. That extra little bit of attention to a tool makes a tremendous difference to how it feels when you use it. Even taking a simple metal kidney and spending some time with emery paper and oilstone to hone the edges to a smooth finish, makes it feel so much better to use. It also gives a much finer finish to a pot! It's easy to get carried away with enthusiasm when you see Steve at work, but there's a serious layer beneath - serious dedication to getting things 'just right', and serious thought about how to do it right. If it needs a special shape of knife to cut spouts for jugs, make one - don't compromise. I think it's that extra bit of focus that turns work from ordinary to inspiring. A grand day out. Words and pictures, John Masterton
My favourite tool Victor Knibbs One of the incidental benefits of marrying a former pharmacist, is the fact that I acquired the use of a rather special spoon! This spoon has become my favourite pottery tool, and it has many attributes. It is made of some special kind of stainless steel that is both inert, non magnetic, corrosion free, and of unusual dimensions. I soon found that these qualities made it ideal for burnishing pots.
Clockwise from left: Steve Harrison at work; completed tools—a knife, copper throwing rib and a turning tool with boxwood handles; a group of Anglian Potters.
Virtual potting www.the-eapa.org
Apply to the Membership Secretary.
Jannie Knibbs
www.annamcarthur.co.uk www.animalceramics.co.uk www.helenmartino.co.uk www.jeremypeake.co.uk www.madeincley.co.uk www.phillippoceramics.co.uk www.potterycourses.net www.rebeccaharvey.com www.richardbaxter.co.uk What’s your website? Tell the Editor.
Membership of the EAPA is open to all Ordinary : £27 (half year, £15) Joint (for two people at the same address) : £45 (half year £25) Institution – for a college or workshop: £45 (half year (£27) (details on application to the Membership Secretary) Student – open to full time students studying ceramics (proof of status is required) : £10
It is 22cm. long, the handle being 16cm. means that I can reach deep into closed forms to scrape out and burnish otherwise unreachable internal surfaces. I use the back of the long handle to burnish the outer surfaces, and the inert stainless qualities means that I do not get unsightly iron oxide marks that would contaminate my glazes.
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—Fresh from Hatfield— Elizabeth Bond’s stand, photo Rosemarie Cooke
Set up day arrived and our intrepid chairman, Vic, was the first on site ready for action. The marquee lay waiting on a sloping grass field, tables massed together looking forlorn. Slowly the EAPA members arrived looking apprehensive but excited. Setting up an exhibition was something of a challenge— following guide lines that seemed to be the rule, working together for the benefit of all, and trying to ensure that we put on a good show. Slowly the members began to work in groups, covering tables with black material, sorting out the lights and assisting where necessary. Gradually the stand was ready for the all important individual shows. The group worked together, helping each other, sharing props and all the time considering the overall presentation. There was even time for some banter!
area. Working together we were able to built on each others experiences. Display of work became a combined effort, sales techniques tried out and techniques, ideas and philosophies discussed.
Juliet Gorman
Friday arrived and a feeling of pride—the EAPA stand looked good. There was a pleasing flow from one person’s work to the other and a good variety, showing much talent. We could hold our heads high knowing that the standard equalled that of other exhibitors.
The three days passed by with three members being on duty at a time. However most members appeared constantly throughout the time anxious to be there, check their sales and reorganise their
Dismantling the exhibition was done extremely quickly and in no time the marquee was bare. Members departed with a little sadness. We had become a group that had shared a particular experience and gained a wealth of knowledge together. There are many memories that will remain. Thanks to Margaret Gardiner, who organised us and the stand, giving us all the opportunity to exhibit at this prestigious show. I can strongly recommend to everyone to take up this opportunity should it arise again.
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Juliet Gorman
Ron Bibby, photo Juliet Gorman
Juliet Gorman
Juliet Gorman
—Scratching the surface— Been on a course recently? Why? Or why not? What is it about ceramics courses that makes them so much better than learning in your own studio? Paul McAllister considers how courses connect students with a wider world of ceramic ideas.
these people have taken? My view is that in order to sustain a rich creative approach, one must remain curios. Curiosity, and maybe the occasional refreshment of ones outlook. Courses nourish curiosity, and they certainly refresh outlooks, even sometimes in an uncomfortable way (maybe we all like to think we are open to change until we are confronted by it). So perhaps any course does just scratch the surface, and yet it does enticingly reveal the core of a subject, the development of new ideas of how to negotiate those shifting sands, and leading happy, creative, productive lives.
There is, for example a recurring debate about the role of function in ceramics that is frequently raised in a challenge to perhaps what is the most familiar role of studio ceramics (see the latest issue of ‘The Studio Potter’ June 2005, volume 33, number 2, for a particularly rich set of discussions around just this issue).
The world is a changing place, tastes change, and economic influences wane and develop, lifestyles and choices become wider or even at times narrower. Ceramic practitioners are not immune to this experience of a world on constantly shifting sands.
A good course then should give you some history and context, so that you have a good understanding of art and design in its wider contexts. It should allow you to develop dexterity in your field and some supporting skills like drawing. It should perhaps open doors to possibility, not leaving you without the chance to develop and respond to the often tricky negotiation of becoming a studio artist. So, skills that are transferable: problem solving, research, design and development skills.
Two years study. Three days a week (full time), part time routes available. 18 units studied in total, equivalent to three ‘A’ levels. A well equipped studio including: dedicated glaze room, plaster casting room, wheels, gas and electric kilns, out door kiln yard for Raku, smoke firing and Salt/Soda. You are taught mould making, press mould and slip casting techniques, throwing, slab and coil building, decorating and glazing, firing, drawing and design skills, historical and contextual studies. Many students go on to set up workshops of their own, and also the course has a good record of getting students onto the best university courses.
Those of us who teach on these courses must also develop and learn in order that we can respond as effectively as possible to the demands of our times. Justifying a course like the ceramics course at COWA is not easy in a tough educational climate like the one we are in. It has, for example, taken four years to jettison units of jewellery and textiles so that we can concentrate on more ceramic work. All curricula have their parameters and all courses have their limitations. To some extent what happens when one does a course is that the questions change. Some answers will be fulfilled but of course many will not. When I look at the work of artists I find interesting, particularly those who have sustained a practice over many years, often changing and developing in surprising ways, I have often asked myself what is it that is so compelling about the path
Contact: Paul McAllister Phone – 01553 761144 ext. 2209 Email – pmcallister@colwestanglia.ac.uk
Tom Thompson, earthenware vase forms
For the last four years I have been course director of the Btec National Diploma in Ceramics at The College of West Anglia, King’s Lynn. There has been enough turbulence within education in this short period (perhaps generally in all our lives also) to provoke many searching questions about what a course like this is for, what it can provide for people wanting to become studio artists, indeed what they can expect to achieve. Some people may even ask why bother in the first place. It’s a good question to ask, as there are many ways in which you can develop knowledge and skills. However, there is a danger that in developing these new skills in isolation from a broad range of experiences that you end up with disconnected ‘islands of knowledge’. Connections lend specialist knowledge power, making it useful for more than a brief instant, linking it to future developments.
The Nuts and Bolts of the Ceramics course at COWA
Photo Paul McAllister
Kate Mendham by Paul McAllister
Those practitioners who are open to change, developing new approaches, not wallowing in nostalgia, embracing debates and responding to the challenges of life as it is lived and not some fantasy, I feel these are the practitioners who will survive and develop rich and rewarding creative lives.
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—Helen Martino—AGM demonstrator Rosemarie Cooke
Helen’s forms pay homage to John Maltby, which whom she did an influential course. Other influences include the painters Chagall, Gaugin and Modigliani. Echoes of their work are strong in her pieces. Craftmanship is important to Helen, so her pieces are all well-finished, and stable. One of several handbuilding tips that she passed on was to depress the base of some of her pots. If it then sags in the kiln, the pot is still likely to stand firm. I was minded of the famous Zen master’s advice to students “above all, don’t wobble”.
Ian George
Helen Martino, pictured above at her stand at Hatfield’s Art in Clay this year, displays a quiet disobedience in her work that belies its apparent simplicity.
By “quiet” I mean that she works at a domestic, ornamental scale on subjects such as birds and lounging women. Many are pleasing, comforting and serene, however bright the colours.
The apparent easy placement of the hands betrays many years of life drawing, which has given Helen the confidence to leave things out 10
Similarly, Helen is keen on birds, but hasn’t been drawn into trying to reproduce birds faithfully—her bird pots are unquestionably a reflection of their playfulness and character rather than their biology or individual markings. The resulting pots speak of Helen’s joy in birds— and to strip nature down to this simple level of response demands a great many decisions from the artist. Helen works in series—birds, boats, relaxing women—and currently she is interested in pieces that portray conversation. Some of her pots have poetic or other quotations on, but often the conversation is suggested in a pose. Helen’s slab works are joined by overlapping rather than scoring, slipping and butting. This helps reduce cracking of seams and gives them a greater wet strength. This in turn gives her scope to distort them while wet—to arch an angel’s body, for example. This joining technique and some of
All of our demonstrators are serious about clay, but when someone’s work displays such a sense of fun it would be easy to dismiss their interest as trivial. Helen’s opening lecture certainly rebuffed any such notion. She described, for example, how the meditational aspect of throwing had given her strength after the death of her son, Tom. It seems that whatever tragedy or joy falls into Helen’s life it ends up preserved in clay. And with six exhibitions this year alone, that life has plenty of energy. Mark Boyd Ian George
But perhaps it is the disobedience and wisdom that needs teasing out. Take her lounging ladies, for example: Helen has produced series where the figures include hands but not arms, and yet they look entirely at ease, natural— disarming, even (ouch!).
where they do not contribute to the whole ambience of the piece—and frankly elbows aren’t always necessary.
Almost every demonstrator we have seen at our events delights in either the chemistry of glazes or the magic of fire and ash for their surface effects. There is almost an unwritten rule that real potters buy nothing from a jar that can’t be dug from the soil or sifted from a river bed. This is another area where Helen Martino differs from the norm. She is happy to use lustres and stains from bottles, such as the Amaco Reward glazes. And why not? It was good to see a demonstrator using colour.
Miscellany
EAPA clay stores
Open Studio/Exhibition with John Masterton I’m participating in an open studio/ exhibition with a number of other artists – painting, printmaking, multi-media, metal sculpture and basket sculptures (plus ceramics of course), the weekend of 17th/18th September at Gravelly Barn in Braughing, just off the A10 near Puckeridge. We’re open 12-5pm and proceeds from afternoon teas on Saturday will go to the Isobel Hospice.
Clay from Valentines, Staffordshire. An inexpensive source of clay for Association members. Phone to confirm availability.
Events with Sonia Lewis Raku and Tea Ceremony Day Event—25th September Understanding Glazes— September18th, 19th & 26th A three day intensive course dealing with the basics of making and firing glazes, mixing and applying glazes, firing earthenware, stoneware in both reduction and oxidation and raku. For further details contact; Sonia Lewis, 01353 688316 I enclose a picture of a porcelain bowl (below) from my exhibition in July at the Ronald Pile Gallery— diameter 22 cm.
All now will be sold in 12.5 Kg bags with the exception of paper clay.
Special Fleck stoneware £5.15 Firing 1150oc -1300oc Red earthenware £3.20 Firing 1080oc - 1140oc White B17C stoneware £4.50 P2 Porcelain £6.65 Firing 1220oc - 1250oc Royal porcelain £8.75 ES5 Stoneware Original £6.70 ES130 White earthenware £6.00 Audrey Blackman porcelain £10.00 ES40 Handbuilding material £8.75 ES50 Crank £6.00 TS Flaxpaper clay ES200 £6.00 per 5 Kg bag V9G £3.65 ROGER PHILLIPPO The Old Bakehouse, Harston, Cambridge, CB2 5NP Tel: (01223) 870277 DEBORAH BAYNES Nether Hall, Shotley, Ipswich, Suffolk IP9 19W Tel. 0473 788300
Sonia Lewis
LEN KNOWLES 4 Fairview Avenue, Stanford-le-Hope, Essex SS17 0DW Tel: 01375 404031 Please remember that the Clay Stores are run by volunteers. Kindly phone or collect during normal office hours. Telephone to arrange a convenient time to call. Collect with a cheque payable to Anglian Potters with cheque card number and membership number.
Ceramic Helpline Having a bit of bother that your supplier can’t resolve? Why not contact one of these members who have agreed to share their expertise? Allan Foxley - handbuilding & reduction firing—01799 522631 Colin Saunders - plaster mouldmaking—01379 588 278 Victor Knibbs - oxidised stoneware, electric kilns, modifying clay bodies—
01480 214741 Deborah Baynes - Raku, stone/ earthenware (reduction & oxidised), salt glaze—01473 788300 Beryl Hines - general, earthenware, Raku—01473 735437 Usch Spettigue - raw glazing/single firing—01473 787587 Tony Eeles – paperclay—01366
382586 Erica Mattingly – some woodfired kilns—01223 353765 Margaret Gardiner – salt glaze—01279
654025 Sonia Lewis—high-fired ware including porcelain—01353 688316
If you are willing to give advice, and are willing to be added to this list, please contact the Editor: Mark Boyd 01767 650904.
Directory Fine art books Rodney Hunt Long Row Cottage, Sudbourne Suffolk IP12 2AT 01394 450238 10% reduction to EAPA Members
Brick House Ceramic Supplies Ltd The Barns, Sheepcote Farm, Sheepcote Lane, Silver End, Witham, Essex CM8 3PJ Tel: 01376 585655 Fax: 01376 585656 retail, trade, mail order materials and equipment 10% discount to EAPA members with membership card
Coming in the next issue, Potters’ Camp 2005—if this lot can ever get the tent up. Pictures by Beryl Hines
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—A red herring?—
Red is a far more attainable colour in pottery than blue, so long as you aren’t too fussy what type of red you are aiming for. We have all seen 1970’s brown masquerading as the red of sex, heat, embarrassment and strawberries. Artists think of red as warm, but for potters it is our coolest firing colour —a dull cherry red can be more reliable indication of biscuit temperature than a pyrometer. But all our firings, whether from glowing kiln elements or the frenzied flames of wood or gas—need at least red heat. It’s also the cool colour of bricks and red earthenware, rather than the white heat of high-temperature porcelain. Red is often thought of as the most immediately noticeable colour, but in most circumstances, yellow stands out more—the fact that red is still used for fire engines and extinguishers alike is a historical quirk rather than based on association with heat. In pottery, red comes from two main sources: iron and copper. The red of terracotta, chemically, is that of rust, blood, carbon monoxide poisoning, chicken pox and robins—iron. Although it can be coaxed into other colours, iron tends to gravitate towards reds and greens.
Copy date for Winter 2005 Newsletter—October 15th All contributions are welcome, be they, typed, emailed, hand-drawn, phoned, slip-trailed or sgraffitoed (go on, I dare you!). Prints, slides or fine-quality picture files (over 100kb) either to accompany articles or with a caption are also welcome. If you want to see something in the Newsletter, write it! All contributions help reduce your Editor’s stress levels. 12
to find food products without red on the label. Red roses are the ultimate symbol of romance and emotion, so how does it make you feel to know that the spy Mata Hari carried a bunch of red roses as she faced the firing squad?
Culturally, red has greater significance than any other colour. After black and white it is the first colour word in all languages. Adam means not only a man, but also red. Even Inuit reputedly has more words for red than for snow. It permeates the language (as it did to Diggery Venn, Thomas Hardy’s reddleman). We can paint the town red, see red, catch a red bus or have a red-letter day and lay out the red carpet (incidentally also a rather dull moth).
Red is so strong a colour that we even see it when it isn’t there—do you remember the blood in the famous Psycho shower scene? Chocolate sauce! And what’s red and invisible? No tomatoes. But paradoxically, we can ignore it—the famous Golden Gate Bridge is not gold-coloured, but red from rust, and how many accidental aftermaths include “I just didn’t see the red light?”. Not only is red-green colour blindness far more common in men than in women, but some women can distinguish classes of red that remain invisible to men. The gene for this lies on the X chromosome, and if ever a letter of the alphabet deserved the colour red, it is X.
Red indicates direction: left in boats, planes and politics, west to Tibetans, but east to some American (red Indian) cultures— and also geography: red China, the red flag of Russia and even the swathes of territory imperial Britain claimed were pink on many maps of the world to make them impress. In Korea, it was regarded as bad luck to sign in red, but red signature stamps are part of Chinese art, and does sealing wax come in any other colour? Lewis Carrol’s Red Queen had to keep running to keep in the same place and so has become a metaphor for the arms race of evolution.
Red is common in nature compared with blue—soil, feathers, blood, algae, even snow can all be red, but it is also the most artificial of colours. Compare food colourant Red Dye no 3 in glace cherries with their insipid, uncoloured health Moulds for sale: Mugs (9); five very shop brethren. old, one tall and fancy. Bowl and
For sale
lid. Cup, saucer and jug. Tall ginger And back pottery—the fact that jar with lidto (12” inc. the lid). Teapot red glaze recipes cite stains rather with lid. Large plate. Fancy chess than more often set inraw twoingredients moulds. £40 for the lot, than any other colour is surely perhaps of use in a class. Mollya measure how854732. special and elusive Tring 01621 red really is. PS Molly advertised a kiln in a previous Mark* Boyd
Red remains mysterious yet familiar. It is invisible to badgers, bulls–even in a china shop—and bees (bees can still distinguish different red flowers by their UV emissions), and herrings, but presumably not to red-buttocked mandrills. Every pixie wears a red hat atop its red fly agaric toadstool, and what about Edward Lear’s the Dong with the Luminous Nose—”A Nose as strange as a Nose could be! Of vast proportions and painted red, And tied with cords to the back of his head.” Other associations for red are with women, warning, attraction, boldness, sin, Hell and Rome’s cardinals, and it is widely used in advertising and packaging—just try
*Yes, even my name derives from Mars, the Red Planet.
Newsletter, had several enquiries, and sold it to someone who lived nearby—advertising in our Newsletter works! Ad details from MB
Red jug from Potters’ Camp 2004.
Copper, by contrast, has to be cajoled into forming reds rather than
ghastly browns, or even blues and greens. A reduced stoneware copper red, as our Membership Secretary Tony Pugh has perfected, is an elusive mix of chemistry, experience and luck, that many would call magic.
Photo Peter Spital, potter unknown—sorry!
If shameless fillers can ever become a series, then taking a closer look at the colour red in pottery and culture is asking for trouble—only more contributions to the Newsletter will prevent yellow next time.