Veronica Newman - Pottery in France

Exposition à L'Atelier des Berges du Gers, Auch

2012-02-28T15:00:00.002-08:00

Voici une des nouvelles pièces, des feuilles de vigne en porcelaine fusionnees dans le four, que j’ai réussi à faire à temps pour l’exposition à l’Atelier des Berges du Gers à Auch qui commence cette semaine avec le vernissage ce vendredi 2mars. J’expose avec Anna Gröber qui a fait des hammacs, des coquelicots, des oies et des pintades, tous en céramique – un très beau contraste avec mon travail. Pour d'autres photos veuiller voir mon blog de dimanche.
This is one of the new hanging pieces, porcelain vine leaves fused together, that I managed to finish for the exhibition, for further details in English see my previous post

J’ai passé beaucoup de temps à trouver comment utiliser les murs de l’espace et voici un des résultats, une plaque 'paysage' en gres mixte avec inclsions d'argent, mais si vous êtes dans le Gers venez voir l’exposition mais faites attention au heures d'ouverture, c'est ouvert seulement les apres-midis dans la semaine.

Here is one of the other new works, quite different from my usual work, a mixed stoneware piece with silver inlay, inspired by the landscape. If you are in the Gers come and see the exhibition which is on until the 6th April, but with limited opening hours so do check the times first.

Voici quelques uns des paysages qui ont inspiré mes pièces récentes, un lever de soleil sur une plage de la Costa Brava de l’Espagne en mai dernier et un champ labouré près de mon atelier

These are some of the landscapes that have inspired my recent works, a beach sunrise on the Costa Brava in Spain last May and a ploughed field near the workshop.

Exposition a l'Atelier des Berges du Gers Auch

2012-02-26T03:21:00.000-08:00

Exhibition at the Atelier des Berges du Gers Auch

2012-02-26T03:19:00.000-08:00

This is one of the new bowls I've managed to make in the last couple of weeks in time for the exhibition at the Atelier des Berges du Gers in Auch which opens tomorrow, although the Vernissage (private view isn't until Friday). I'm sharing the space with Anna Grober who is exhibiting several hammocks made up of pottery balls strung on wire and stoneware ducks and poppies - quite a contrast to my work! I seem to have spent ages trying to get work for this sorted, mainly beacuse I'm trying to find ways of using the wall space. Some of that won't be ready until tomorrow so other pictures to follow! This is one view of it:

The room is in an old school which is now used by an association for art classes and is where I teach a pottery class every Thursday. The fact that it's an old school and that the room often gets used for art courses may explain why tere's a sink in the corner - not something on usually finds in an exhibition space!

I still have one more firing to do as a kiln failure on Monday, which meant I had to change to elements, set me back, and then I found another way to display my leaves, which needs another firing!

Traduction en francais a suivre

Marche de Noel, Maison de Gascogne Auch 16 - 19 decembre

2011-12-15T11:13:00.000-08:00

Venez faire vos vos derniers courses pour les fetes au Marché de Noël a La Maison de Gascogne a Auch. Un grand choix d'artisanat et de produits de la region - foies gras, vins ... et porcelaines!

Marché de Noël - La Maison de Gascogne, Auch - vendredi 16 - lundi 19 décembre (vendredi 14h - 20.30, samedi - lundi 10h - 19.30)

The Marche de Noel (Christmas Market) starts on Friday at the Maison de Gascogne in Auch - Ceramics, hats, jewellery, woodwork etc and lots of excellent local food and wine for Christmas. And, of course, porcelain - plenty of ideas for last minute Christmas presents.

Minoan Pots in Crete

2011-12-08T01:58:00.000-08:00

I've always loved Minoan pottery - and last month I went back to Crete for the first time since becoming a potter. My daughter Elena is doing an internship in the museum at Knossoss where my mother (who was an archaeologist) worked for many years. I had spent several months there before going to university helping to find joins in sherds, sort bags of bones, and helping on a rescue dig, so there is a strong family link, now spanning three generations.

This close contact with Minoan pottery was a major influence on my work when I eventually started pottery a few years later.

I drew many pots and patterns from the books my mother had and it was incredible seeing some of my favourite pots in the flesh, so to speak. I was quite surprised at the size of some of them - some were smaller than I had imagined, others much larger.

It's probably just as well the Muesum in Heraklion was closed with only a small temporary exhibition open - lots my favourite pots were there on display and I spent hours in just the one room. I'd probably still be there if the whole museum had been open! I was particularly taken by the free and inventive painting on many of the pots which often came out as much livelier than some of the ones I had seen in photos.

Lots of them have great birds of them - not unlike some of my friend Hannah McAndrew's birds?

Although I am more inspired by the pots I also loved the figurines, which are so lively and often so funny

This bull looks rather puzzled by the three figures climbing on its horns! And why do the dancing figures remind me of ceilidhs at Kindrogan?

What exactly is this one meant to be? There is
a figure inside the pot, and two figures and a dog (or cat?) on the lid!

Years ago I did quite a bit of work on how some of the Minoan and Mycenaean shapes might have been made and there are still some shapes, such as the kylix (goblet), that I would like to do more work on, so it was fascinating to be allowed to look at three boxes of kylix stems. Not many people, even potters, would get excited at a box full of dusty broken bits of pot, but as that was one the ways I was introduced to pottery I found it wonderful!

You can probably guess what shape some of my new pots are likely to be!

Art in Clay Farnham

2011-11-13T00:20:00.000-08:00

I will be exhibiting at Art in Clay next weekend - the 19th and 20th November at the Maltings, Farnham. I will have some of my new 'Starlight' translucent bowls and cups as well as my other work. The photo of my display at Ceramics in the City gives an idea of the range of pots I will have with me.

I was hoping to take some of my new landscape series , but I haven't yet managed to make many of them and as they are a bit heavier than my other ones I may not be able to take them over - yes, I take new pots over in my suitcase!

After that I'm going to Crete for a few days as Elena is working in the Museum at Knossoss. Looking back at the work I did ages ago about how Minoan pots were made, and having been asked by her to make a 'Minoan' mug has led me to experiment with a new 'Neo-Minoan' range. I have yet to see how they will fire, but before the first firing they looked like this:

Le weekend du 19 et 20 novembre j'expose a Farnham en Angleterre, mais je serai au marche de Noel a Belmont le 10 decembre et au Marche de Noel a la Maison de Gascogne a Auch du 16 au 19 decembre.

Ceramics in the City

2011-09-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

These bowls are tests using local clays and stonewares on porcelain. I made them in June and I made a batch of larger bowls using the same technique in July but I still haven’t been able to fire them. August was, I thought, going to be a quiet month when I would get lots of new work made. Sadly that is not what happened but I am now back in the workshop and making a few pieces that I hope will be ready in time for Ceramics in the City, a potters’ fair at the Geffrye Museum in London 23 -25 September. I hope to get some of the new work finished and photographed by then. I will not, however, be able to do the potters fair at La Romieu the weekend before as planned.

Ces bols sont des essais que j’ai fait au mois de juin utilisant des terres d’ici et des grès pour la décoration. J’avais aussi fait des bols plus grands au mois de juillet mais je n’ai pas encore réussi à les faire cuire. J’avais pensé que j’allais passer le mois d’aout à travailler tranquillement des nouvelles idées. Malheureusement j’ai du passer un mois tout à fait différent et je recommence seulement maintenant à faire des pieces pour un marché de potiers à Londres fin septembre. Je regrette ne pas pouvoir faire le marché de potiers a La Romieu comme prevu.

Summer fairs, foires de l'étè

2011-07-08T15:32:00.000-07:00

It's already a month since Potfest and over a month since I last managed to write anything. I did get the tall jugs finished in time and took two with me to Potfest - and yes, I do travel with them in my luggage, packed into individual boxes as if they were going to be posted and then the boxes go into a suitcase! Since then there's been plenty I meant to write about but I never seem to have time and then it no longer seems important, it takes even longer if I'm going to write in French as well! I've also taken lots more photographs of sunsets both here and in Scotland - one of these days I'll find a way of capturing them in my pots.

I'm sure you guessed, that is Scotland! Now, however, I'm busy with the summer fairs here in France. Yesterday I set up my display in Auch at the Maison de Gascogne's Exposition-vente d'Artisanat d'Art where my work will be on display and for sale through till the 27th August and on Thursday - 14th July- I'll be at the local village foire in Belmont and hoping for a fine day as it is outside in the open. Later in the month I'm at the Domaine de Bile for their Marche a la Ferme and then at a fair in Bassoues on the 7th August. Looking ahead I'm hoping to get some new work made for Ceramics in the City in London in September.

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C’est déjà un mois depuis l’exposition Potfest en Ecosse et mon dernier blog. Voici des pichets que j’avais fait pour amener en Ecosse – et oui, je les amène dans ma valise, emballés comme si j’allais les mettre à la poste. Depuis ma rentrée de l’Ecosse je voulais continuer à ecrire le blog mais sans trouver le temps, le moment passe et ce que je voulais dire ne semble plus important, et si je vais aussi écrire en français il faut encore plus de temps! J’ai continué à prendre des photos de couchers de soleil, en Ecosse et en France – oui, celui-ci est en Ecosse! Un jour je vais trouver comment les capter dans mes pots.

Maintenant je prépare mes foires et marchés de l‘étè qui sont:

La Maison de Gascogne, Auch
8 juillet - 27 août Exposition-vente d'Artisanat d'Art. Ouvert tous les jours 10.30 - 19h - le dimanche 15h -19h

La Foire de Belmont
Jeudi 14 juillet, toute la journèe

Marche à la Ferme, Domaine de Bilé, 32320 Bassoues
Mardi 26 juillet 15h - repas le soir

"Escapade" à Bassoues - Marché d'Artisanat
Dimanche 7 août, toute la journèe

Les Artistes Anglais à Condom - Exposition
Espace St-Michel, Condom.
16 - 31 août (horaires à suivre)

Marché de Potiers, La Romieu
18 septembre

Ceramics in the City, London
23 - 25 septembre

Mon atelier est toujours ouvert sur rendez-vous si vous voulez le visiter.

2011-07-08T15:04:00.001-07:00

Tall jugs, more landscape pots and Potfest Scotland

2011-06-04T15:00:00.000-07:00

Pottery fairs, like many other events, have a nasty habit of creeping up unawares - Potfest Scotland at Scone Palace (10th, 11, 12th June) seemed like a reasonable way off a few weeks ago and now it's next weekend! I've been trying to get some more tall jugs made - throwing them with the wheel going the opposite way for part of the time didn't make much difference so I didn't bother this time. I set the handles on slightly crooked in the hope that they will straighten up in the kiln - now I just have to wait and see. I hope to have one or two good enough to take to Potfest.

Then I tried to make some bowls with stoneware or black clay thrown into the clay to create the same sort of landscape effect I used to get with coloured clays. I don't know if I'll get them fired in time - after a very long period of no rain there are quite a few storms around, and when that happens the electricity goes off quite often - not a good idea in the middle of a firing! I also ended up trying to throw some black clay which fires really black at stoneware temperature but is quite heavily grogged and very very messy. I don't like getting my wheel covered in dark brick red grogged clay! I will be interesting to see how it fires, and eventually I want to try it with some inlaid silver lustre.

In my last blog post I was busy with the exhibition in Auch which went well and we got lots of tiles made for the tiled panel. These are some of the ones made by visitors to the exhibition for the border:

Finally today I at last finished my herb garden - I strarted it nearly three years ago intending to have small area of herbs surrounded by gravel with vegetables at each end. Unfortunately I could never get gravel in the relatively small quantity I needed, but we've at last managed to get several binfuls and at last the herb garden is looking as it should.

Auch - exhibition all set up -en francais aussi

2011-05-20T01:33:00.000-07:00

The exhibition in Auch has now been open since Monday but this is the first chance I've had to write anything abut it. I did try to put some photos onto the blog on Tuesday but couldn't get my phone to talk to my computer and thought I had lost all the photos in the process - I haven't lost them but still can't transfer them! Give me a lump of clay to make something any day in preference to modern technology.

For anyone in the area planning to visit the exhibition I expect to be there this evening for the first half hour of the vernissage before going to sing in the concert with the Scola Auscitana and I will be there tomorrow and Sunday afternoons. I will eventually get photos of the tiled panel we are making uploaded - it's going well, we must have made at least 100 tiles so far - the mixed border needs 188 but there are lots of other part to do as well.

This was the full moon rising last Tuesday over Cazaux d'Angles, the hamlet across the valley

I had said I would try and write this in French as well, but it won't be a direct translation. So here goes:

Je vous avais dit que j'allais commencer d'ecrire ce blog en francais aussi, mais aujourd'hui je n'ai pas le temps de tout ecrire. Juste de vous dire que je serai a La Masion de Gascogne A Auch ce soir pour le debut du vernissage et samedi et dimanche les apres-midi. Venez voir l'exposition et vous pourrez decorer un carreau pour le panneau ceramique qu'on travaille cette semaine. En plus je m'excuse pour le manque d'accents mais j'ecris sur un clavier anglais et sur ce programme je ne trouve pas comment ajouter les accents car ce n'est pas le meme que sur Word ou e-mail!

Exhibition in Auch - the preparations

2011-05-11T00:26:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be setting up part of an exhibition in Auch next week. The Association (L'Atelier des Berges du Gers) I teach classes for is celebrating its 20th anniversary so they are taking over a very large exhibition space (where last year's Christmas fair was held) and have invited artists who have exhibited with them in the past, and the current class teachers and workshop leaders to exhibit (that gives me 6.5 linear metres of display area but Idon't know if I'll have more than one table or if I will have to supply more). There is also exhibition space for all the people in the classes to exhibit - painting, sculpture, pottery etc. A group of children from Catalayud, the twin town in Spain have also been invited to exhibit and all the classes that week will be held there, culminating in a big dinner on the Friday night (which sadly I can't go to as it's the evening the choir I sing in has its concert!)

The exhibition is supposed to open on Monday 16th and we were told we would only get in to set up on the Monday morning. Now I hear, but no-one has confirmed this, that we can set up on Friday and be open on Sunday! (when I am singing in another concert in the afternoon and rehearsing all morning). As the pottery workshop has been asked to make a tiled panel for the Association's building we're going to start it there next week, so we'll have to transport all the clay, tools etc necessary for that as well as a wheel for demonstrations and a means of displaying work made by the classes during the year, and I have to decide how to exhibit my (small!) pots in a very large space without them looking too silly - a large display of porcelain vine leaves will be part of it.

It would therefore be helpful to know when we're setting up!!! Watch this space....

Sunshine, rain and plenty of wine

2011-04-29T15:50:00.000-07:00

Giroussens was the first large pottery fair I've done in France and it was a very interesting weekend. The market is held in the open air in a small village with an old tradition of pottery. With 80 potters exhibiting there was a great range of pottery on display and not just from France - Switzerland was the invited country and there were also potters form Spain, Germany, Belgium and the UK.

Amongst many pots I especially liked the reduced porcelain by Fritz Rossmann from Germany who uses a techinique similar to chinese rice ware with incised patterns filled with glaze

However Giroussens has a reputation for variable weather and this year was no exception as it rained for most of Saturday and was hot and sunny most of Sunday and Monday. When the rain set in about midday on Saturday a lot of potters collected in the space behind the stand opposite me and tucked into mussels and wine

The cost of the stand also included dinner both nights - with a great jazz band

Lunch in the space opposite turned out to be a regular feature of the fair and is, apparently usual in most fairs where a midday meal is not provided. Each day turned into a feast at lunchtime with a great array of food and drink brought and shared by all - but the wine made me want to sleep all afternoon, especially as I was in full sun all day!

I also got an opportunity to see the 'Terre Feconde' exhibiton. There is a great variety of work which is very well displayed and accompanied by a good illustrated catalogue.

Unfortunately a violent storm hit about an hour before we were due to pack up. Luckily most people were prepared and, in spite of the most appalling sound of crashing pots as the wind suddenly hit before the rain started, there was surprisingly little damage done. This was what the sky looked like shortly before the wind started

Overall it was a great weekend and everyone was very friendly. There were quite a few discussions about clays and techniques and I came away with quite a few new ideas including the suggestion that if I add sugar to the throwing water it might make porcelain easier to throw! I'm sure I've heard that before but I'd never tried it (I now have tried it and it does help). I also finally got some of the Royale porcelain I ordered in February as Ceradel kindly delivered two bags to me on Monday. I've already tried it and it is definitely easier to throw than most of the Limoges I have been using, now I have to wait and see how it fires.

Giroussens European Potters Market

2011-04-21T22:43:00.000-07:00

The Marche Europeen de Ceramique Contemporaine at Giroussens is on Saturday, Sunday and Monday over the Easter weekend starting tomorrow. It's an outdoor street market so fingers crossed that it stays dry and not too windy - the forecast is not brilliant and I have no cover for my stand! I set it up in the garden yesterday to see if it would survive the strong wind that has been blowing all week and it should be ok, I hope. I now just have to unload the kiln, finish packing the pots etc......
There is a list of exhibitors on the Terre et Terres website at www.terre-et-terres.com/marche.html

Exhibition pieces delivered

2011-04-13T23:31:00.000-07:00

I've finally finished and delivered the pieces for the 'Terre feconde' exhibition which opens on Saturday 16th April and runs until 19th June at the Centre Ceramique in Giroussens - about 40 km East of Toulouse.

In spite of the problems with firing the kiln I managed to get all the landscape slabs finished and had several to choose from. I was pleased that in the end I was able to place most of the vases directly onto the slabs instead of in front of them as in the first piece. I thought about fixing the leaves to a small slab but in the end I have sent them loose with museum Gel to fix them in place as they were in the SPA's 'Clay in Bloom ' exhibition. I just hope the French organisers don't find it too hard to set them up correctly. We had in any case been asked to send photos of how the pieces should be displayed. All this meant that labelling, pricing, photographing and packing everything took even longer than usual. We had been asked to send the work in wooden boxes and I had hoped to use wine boxes but in the end the slabs were too big to fit into them and I just had to use cardboard ones and hope for the best.

I set off to deliver the pots on Tuesday taking a very large ceramic sculpture by a local Belgian potter Maarten Stuer and a large wooden crate with work by Nathalie Barbet in Auch as well. When I eventually got to Giroussens, which is about a two and a half drive from here, I found the centre closed. Realising it was 1.30 I guessed they'd all be having lunch so I went and got a coffee and went back at 2 , and waited, and waited... I was just beginning to get really worried when at 2.30 the lady in charge of the centre drove up and was quite surprised to see me even when I explained why I was there and that I had understood it was the only and last day for work to be delivered. She helped me take the large sculpture in and said only one other potter had so far delivered any work! As I was leaving two other potters turned up so I felt somewhat relieved that I wasn't the only one delivering that day.

My next event is the European Potters Market over the Easter weekend 23 - 25 April, also at Giroussens. it will be the biggest one I've done here so I'm busy getting more stock amde for it - I'm still trying to understand what sells better here than in the UK - possibly bowls and candleholders but I'm not sure. In the meantime my kiln is still turning off when I have the pottery lights on and possibly also when the hot water is on so I'm having to be very careful when I fire! I haven't yet managed to get the electrician back to sort it out and as I'm away again this weekend it may have to wait until next week.

Kiln or lights?

2011-04-09T00:12:00.000-07:00

After the electrician had spent two days installing extra plugs and lights in the workshop and elsewhere I turned my kiln on last night and all the electricity promply cut off! My kiln is only a tiny 3kw one that plugs into a socket but I had previously discovered that with the pool filter, the dishwasher and an electric heater on the power did trip off. Now it appears that the kiln won't work when the new light in the pottery is on, and it is on the same switch as all the others! So once the kiln is on I can't turn the lights on in the pottery. I will have to call the electrician back and hope I don't have to wait another six months for him to appear, even though he only lives across the valley.

I can't belive it's only two weeks till the Giroussens potters fair - in between having the electrician in the workshop I managed to make a batch of bowls including some to match my new white dimpled teapots and mugs.

Surprise!

2011-04-07T01:02:00.000-07:00

I was barely awake this morning when the electrician arrived completely unannounced. I've been using my workshop with only two lights and a double socket ever since I moved in there as we hadn't been able to get the electrician to put in the extra wiring at the same time as doing the rest of the work. We spoke to him about it before Christmas, got an estimate and he said he would do the work in February.... Well it's now early April and he didn't even phone to say he was ready to start! I was planning to start throwing bowls etc this morning for the Giroussens fair at Easter and I'm still trying to get my entries for the 'TerreFeconde' exhibition fired - they need to be ready to deliver on Tuesday and I've got possible vases and landscape slabs on most surfaces while I decide which I'm going to send. Now I've had to move everything to make way for the wiring etc and he's just disappeared, leaving his tools everywhere so I guess he'll be back today. Not the best timing but I'm certainly not sending him away after waiting so long! I suppose it'll be the same for the new shutters - originally due to be done last September.

2011-03-31T05:32:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's over a month since I last wrote anything, although I have been away a lot - two visits to London, skiing, and a week in Scotland in order to go to the Scottish Potters Association weekend at Kindrogan so now it's hard to know where to start!

I did get to vist the New Ashgate Gallery and saw my pots there, well displayed in an exhinition which continues until the 23rd April, with some quite illustrious company. I particularly liked the pots by Linda Bloomfield - very simple shapes with fresh spring-like coloured glazes. I also managed to get a copy of her book 'Advanced Pottery' and was interested to see that the two photographs of my work that she used were of work I haven't made for ages (a wavy rim vase with green glaze and a landscape vase). Both are shapes I want to go back to. I also liked Amanda Simmons' glass bowls and was fascinated to see on her blog how they are made. Glass is so different to pottery - we both need heat but potters need it to stop the clay from changing whereas glass workers need it to make the glass malleable - such a contrast in how we work.

The following weekend I managed to get to see Clay in Art - such a feast of ideas with so many different ways of using clay. I loved the simple shapes of Adam Buick's Moon jars and was interested to see quite a lot of porcelain and, I thought, less earthenware than in recent years.

Last week I was back in Scotland for Kindrogan - the Scottish Potters Association annual weekend. Always a great event, this year was no exception with a wonderful demonstration on throwing and slip-trailing by Hannah McAndrew, a demonstration by Jim Robison which gave plenty of useful tips and good ideas and John Dix making and talking about Japanese teabowls and other shapes, not to mention the ceilidh, a bottle kiln and a chance to catch up with lots of old friends and send work off to various galleries in Scotland.

In between all these trips and the week skiing I kept having only a few days at home, and it was frustrating to get work out of the kiln and not be able to continue with the ideas - of the jugs I made in February only one came out of the kiln without a twisted handle (the others look ok from the side, although I need to make the handles smaller next time) and I don't seem to have a photo of it as I took it to be photographed at Kindrogan. It should now be in the SPA Spring 2011 exhibition at the Milton of Crathes Gallery. I suppose when I threw the tall jugs with the wheel going the opposite way round for part of the time I didn't do it enough, because it doesn't seem to have made any difference. I did make and fire another batch of the mixed stoneware and porcelain landscape vases, but they all warped and cracked quite badly - I suspect they need to be dried much more slowly so I'll try that with the ones I've just made. Of the teapots the dimpled ones came out ok and I've already sold one of them, but I'm still not happy about the shape of the ones with the cane handles - I'll need to make more and make more jugs, but in the meantime I have to finish my pieces for 'La Terre Feconde' which opens in April, and for the Giroussens Potters market over Easter.

In the meantime, of course, spring has arrived and the garden is growing fast and needing attention, I have a growing pile of accounts and paperwork to deal with, the house needs sorting..... the list goes on!

Spring Contemporary Craft Collection

2011-02-17T14:52:00.000-08:00

The Spring Contemporary Craft Collection exhibition at the New Ashgate Gallery in Farnham has some of my pots in it, including teabowls similar to the ones above, and a few of them can be seen on their website. The exhibition runs until the 23rd April. I don't often get to see my work on display in galleries or exhibitions as I usually have to post it and rarely get a chance to visit, but I hope I may get to visit the New Ashgate Gallery this weekend when I am in England for a very brief visit.
http://www.newashgate.org.uk/pages/exhibitions.html
http://www.newashgate.org.uk/pages/exhibitors/thumbnails/7320.html

Landscape vases, teapots and clay memory

2011-02-14T01:10:00.000-08:00

The 'cafe-Liegeois' landscape vase is now fired and looks quite interesting in spite of some cracking where the porcelain meets the stoneware. It was inspired by and inside there are some gorgeous glaze effects where the porcelain has overlaid the stoneware so I've made a few more, and will try and dry them a bit slower this time to see if that helps with the cracking. The rough stoneware was inspired by the fields around us which are all being plughed at the moment and have beautiful patterns made by the furrows

It's been a busy week with lots of new work as I've been making new teapots and two part jugs - finally getting round to making things I was inspired to make by Bridget Drakeford's demonstration last year at Kindrogan (the Scottish Potters Association annual weekend), just in time to get more inspiration from the next Kindrogan at the end of March. I'm looking forward to seeing Hannah McAndrew's demonstration, although I don't think it will make me go back to working with red earthenware!

I've also been trying to work out how to eliminate the problem of narrow jugs twisting and making the handles go crooked because of clay memory. I always knew you had to offset the handle to counter it, but at first I thought the clay untwisted in firing so the handles came out of the kiln even more crooked than when I put them on. In fact then clay carries on twisiting in the direction it was thrown so this time I've tried the technique described in the November -December issue of Ceramic Review where you do some of the throwing with the wheel going round the opposite way - not easy! but a very interesting experience as it makes you think hard about what your fingers are actually doing while throwing! It remains to be seen what effect it has on the handles.

As regards the glaze fit problems in my last post I think the clay is incorrectly labelled -although described as a white earthenware it seems to fire ok at 1260 but I'm waiting for the kiln to cool to seee if the glaze works ok or if I have a nasty mess on a kiln shelf!

Clay, slip and glaze fit problems

2011-02-04T09:53:00.000-08:00

Since September I've been teaching evening classes in Auch, where I took over running the courses jointly with two other potters. As well as taking on all the remaining clay,slips and glazes etc we ordered new clay and glaze and one of the potters made some slips before going off to New Zealand for four months.
We think she used a porcelain as a base and coloured them using stains saying it worked fine on the red earthenware we'd ordered with a low temperature glaze, and she recommended firing the biscuit to 920 and the glaze to 980. The slip and glaze do seem to work ok on the red earthenware at those temperatures, but it has also been used on white earthenware where the glaze is crazing badly, even without a slip. Ceradel, who sold us the clay and the glaze, recommended a biscuit at 1020 and a glaze at 980. At first it seemed to work but when fully cooled it crazed again.
Can anyone suggest any firing alternatives? I know the obvious solutuion would be to change the slip but we now have a number of things waiting to be fired made by a children's class before realising the problem. It seems to be particularly bad when the slip has been applied to rims or too thickly, where sometimes it is the slip and glaze flaking off rather than the glaze just crazing.

January deadlines

2011-01-31T02:36:00.000-08:00

Last day of January at last! It's never my favourite month - I always feel lacking in inspiration and just want to hibernate, but in spite of that I have, this year, managed to get quite a bit of work done because of having two major deadlines. First therea were the 'landscape pieces' that started out looking like cowpats: I did get a pair that looked ok with a flower-like vase to be photographed for the Terre et Terres association's 'La Terre Feconde' exhibition catalogue. I had to take my entry to the association's AGM near Albi: it was an interesting day and an opportunity to meet other potters in the area. The AGM started at 10 (closer to 11am actually) and ended at about 4, but I'm not sure we really covered much more than the SPA AGM does in about two hours. Admittedly there was a very long break for lunch in the middle when we all got a chance to talk to each other and sample the delicions spread of homemade pates, quiches, cakes etc that members had made and brought to share. .he French are very keen on this sort of meal and there's always a wonderful range of food!
I had been asked to take a very large piece over to be photographed (during the meeting) and as we had to take our pieces back with us I then had to return the work to the ceramist who made it as it was too large for me to take out of the car on my own. It was made by a Belgian potter Marteen Stuer who makes the most amazing spiral pieces made up of elements of extruded clay. The one I had in the car was one of the smaller ones as most seemed to be on palettes and had to be moved by forklift truck! You can find out more about his work on his website www.maartenstuer.net but unfortunately there are no photos there of his wife Marthe's lovely stoneware and porcelain. I had lunch with them and saw the kiln he had made - a gas-fired trolley kiln larger, I think, than my first tiny workshop.
My next deadline was to send pieces to the New Ashgate Gallery in Farnham for their Spring Contemporary Craft Collection which opens on the 11 February. I had to post them and luckily they arrived very quickly. Now I want to get back to work on new jugs and teapots and more pieces for the Terre Feconde exhibition but as the workshop never gets above 7 degrees in the morning and I have no heating..... I keep finding other things to do instead! And here's a sunrise and another sunset, this time you can just make out the Pyrenees - unfortunately the local saying that if you can see the Pyrenees it will rain the next day usually proves to be accurate.

Not Cowpats after all

2011-01-19T01:51:00.000-08:00

Having fired my 'cowpats' I'm quite pleased with the results. They're not quite the patterns I had intended but close to what I had I mind and at least one will be right for a photo with a flower vase and leaves on Thursday. I only had space for one vase in the kiln but I might make more using that idea later, though not necessarily in stoneware. In fact they're similar to the landscape range I used to make in porcelain. I haven't yet fired the one that looked, before firing, like a cafe liegeois combining stoneware and porcelain, which could be interesting. Admittedly, adding rough clay straight from the garden to give the really dark rough textures didn't do much for my kiln shelves!

New Directions? or just cowpats?

2011-01-11T10:25:00.000-08:00

I know my workshop's not usually particuarly clean or tidy (the photos in the previous post really are a rarity!) but at least everything 's usually covered in pure white porcelain (apart from the very occasional buff stoneware pots for a restaurant when I was in Scotland) but now the workshop looks as if the neighbours cows have got in and left cowpats all over the place - slabs of thick gritty stoneware and even grittier yellow clay from the garden and fields (not easy to dig for growing vegetables but it can be fired straight from the ground and seems to fire even to 1280 without melting, unlike the black clay I bought to try which looks like very luscious chocolate sauce after going to 1280). For those of you who know my usual work - translucent fine thrown porcelain - you'll know this is a serious aberation, but I'm trying to make 'landscape pieces' to go with some thrown flower-like vases for the exhibition in France. I'm still not sure about it. This is how they look so far, and yes, I couldn't resist trying to throw the heavy stuff, even adding a layer of porcelain to the top of one of the pieces.

More workshop photos and sunsets

2011-01-09T06:05:00.000-08:00

Here at last are some photos of the workshop, taken last month when it was all clean and tidy for my Christmas opening

My kiln is a tiny top-loader hiding behind the table in the middle - it plugs into an ordinary socket and was all I could use before the workshop was finished as we had problems with the electricity supply. I hope soon to get a gas kiln which will go the corner of what is now the display area.

It's not going to be looking that tidy for much longer as I have to finish some pieces for an exhibition with the local French potters association Terre et Terres , whose annual exhibition is going to be 'La Terre, Les Terres, Le Tellurisme' and I've more or less committed myself to making some stoneware pieces to go with my thrown porcelain. I had to write a piece for the catalogue in French about my work, which a friend helped me with. I was happy about what I sent in but then they re-wrote it (along with all the other entries) in a semi-poetical style! I will try and put up photos of the work as it progresses as I would like some feedback. I know a few potters here but none whom I'm going to see before I have to take a piece to the association's AGM to be photographed for the catalogue.

Finally a couple of the views from round the workshop, one taken on a rare frosty morning and the others two evenings ago during a wonderful sunset with magical colours. I just wish I could capture the colours and patterns of the skies here in my work. In the meantime I have to try and get the patterns from the fields around in different shades of stoneware.

New Workshop

2010-12-04T08:58:00.000-08:00

This is what the new workshop looks like from the outside - it was originally a barn and is part of the main house - in this part of France the barns and cowsheds are often all under the same roof as the house. I think the animals used to help keep the house warm, but one lazy cat who lives in the roof doesn't help much! The big shutters on the right need to be replaced and the carpenter said he would have them finished by the end of September... I was expecting the windows and doors to be finished by the end of April but they weren't ready till mid-July so I suppose the shutters might be done by mid-January. I also still need some kind of heating, essential even here in the South-West of France where it can get very cold in winter, although we haven't had any snow here this week. Photos of inside the workshop to follow soon.