This week I visited Potfest in the park, it was such a pleasure to be able to study contemporary studio ceramics close up, after such a long time, 'freedom day' was perfectly set for this event. I have been trying to improve my making skills, so I was keen to see the high levels of craft expertise on show.
As I have been trying to improve my slab-building, I enjoyed looking at Anna Lambert's stand. The slabs undulated like the rural landscapes that inspire her, the form and decoration matching beautifully. Lambert uses earthenware, so the colours were light and clear. The top edges of the slabs looked very thin, and delicate. Some of the pots had a raised base, Micaela had mentioned this previously, so I was keen to see these. The benefit is that the joint between the vertical and horizontal slab is invisible, so there is no join line near the bottom of the pot. Since returning I have found a video showing Lambert building onto a round base. I am happy with the base footprint I have ended up with for my Cathedral Gardens project. Whilst the footprint is quite complex, it should not be too difficult to make one of these in wood or maybe plaster. I would like to try this soon.
One other area of expert making I looked for at Potfest, was the use of colour, specifically a color palette that might fit with my urban architectural pieces. This was quite difficult to find. The nearest to the stone and browns were Paul Wearing and Richard Robinson, who work in Cardiff and Liverpool respectively. Wearing uses layers of slips and glazes, to produce a thick rough surface. Whilst the roughness might be a bit heavy for my form, some of the greys and stone colours would suit my buildings theme. Richard Robinson is a thrower, so would appear to be making very different pots to my current vessel forms. However I loved the colours he used, the greys, whites, blacks and browns. He spattered the pots with glazes and I liked this expressive effect too. I bought a bowl from him with the grey colour palette I am aiming for (see below), hopefully I can continue to work towards incorporating colours like these in my glaze testing for my Cathedral Gardens project.
There were two artists that I liked, quite unexpectedly. I was aware of the work of Christie Keeney, but to see the work close up was a delight. The pieces packed an emotional punch, I loved them, see Adam and Eve below. The second was Ian Rylatt, who I was not familiar with prior to this show. I liked the very high level of skill and the clever designs, the musical instrument below is his. The chemistry set at the top of this post was the piece of his work, that first drew my attention to his stand at Potfest.
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