This is actually more like a postscript to the previous post. One part of this event that I haven't covered is their competition, which all exhibiting potters are asked to join in. Some make work specifically to the brief and some just present existing work and try to put it into context. The visitors are encouraged to vote for their three favourite. Here are some of the entries that stood out for me. Unfortunately I didn't get the name of each maker as I took the photos so early in the day before they were properly labelled. This year's theme was "Ancestral Voices - echoes of another time, another place". This sculpture by Somerset potter Russell Coates was my favourite. It made me laugh an

After years wanting to go to this pottery event but never being at home at the beginning of the summer holidays I've finally made it! Long overdue especially considering that it takes place not that far away from home. Pam was our trusted chauffeur (yet again) and co-students Sara and Celia completed our set. Luckily the weather cleared up during the day and we only had to put up with rain first and last thing of the day. So, the grounds which accommodated the Potfest at the stately home Hutton-in-the-Forest just north of Penrith, weren't too muddy or slippery underfoot. It was great to be able to mill about and see the work of about 140 different ceramic artists and potters displayed in a v

My initial inspiration is taken from the black pots produced by Maria Martinez. She lived and worked in San Ildefonso, New Mexico, and is probably the best-known Pueblo potter. Along with her husband, Julian, she developed and refined a way of turning red burnished clay pots into shiny black pots through the clever use of smoke firing. The initial smoke fired pots in 1910 were plain however by 1918 Julian and Maria Martinez started to add black-on-black decorated pots. The decorations were created by skilful burnishing techniques creating patterns through contrasting mat and highly shiny surface areas. The mat patterns were painted on top of the burnished surfaces using a refractory slip. Th

As part of my research into the decorations for my next set of larger figures I've started to mix and test different celadon glazes. A celadon glaze is a traditional greenish stoneware glaze produced in China, Korea, Thailand and Japan. The earliest celadon pottery, Yue ware, was produced in China during the Han dynasty (206BCE-220CE) and was olive or a brownish green colour. With the innovation of different kiln technology which offered much more controlled reduction processes the glaze colours changed to much cleaner and brighter greens. Celadon glazed pots were particularly valued in China because of its strong resemblance to Jade. During the Song dynasty (960-1279) the first Chinese cela

This is just a snapshot of some of the other things that caught my interest during my stay over the weekend: Who could not have been impressed by Annabel Diaz? Just the scale of her large self-portrait figures were not rivalled by anything else at this festival. I was especially taken by the way the handled the clay during the coiling process. I could have watched for hours the way her hands shaped and patted the large coils and the smoothing and scraping with the inner husk of a corn-on-the-cob. Her figures remind of a three-dimensional fusion of a large buddha and one of Fernando Botero's women, except that her's are much more sympathetic depictions of the female form. However, I didn't re

This was my first time attending the ICF which is a biannual event held in the university grounds in Aberystwyth. It caters from Friday until late Sunday everything pottery related from workshops, symposiums, sales, exhibitions, talks, demonstrations, kiln firings, awards, trade stands and lots of gossip, talk and bonding over pottery-related issues. I hitched a lift with Adele and Katie, both 2nd year MA students, to the venue. I guess that was my luck as on the way I could join them in the visit to Meri Wells' studio. It was great that the majority of the current MA students managed to attend this fab event and that most of us managed to get rooms in the same building in university halls.

Today's tutorial started off with Dave giving me some feedback on the recent two assessments: a) Design Research 2 - a written piece of work and b) Design Practice - based on my practical work and accompanying documentation. a) Design Research 2: I did okay on the essay even though my mark was considerably lower than my first essay. I thought that was a valid assessment. Though I could see the value of the required research involved, I was put off even before writing this essay by the (in my opinion) unrealistic demands of trying to make meaningful comparisons between ten different artist and their working practices and linking them to my own work and embedding these in an essay with introdu

On the way to Aberystwyth some of us had the great opportunity to stop by Meri Wells, who lives and works not far from the lovely town of Machynlleth. The house is nestled in a valley surrounded by fields with sheep. But before you get to her house you have to go through a ruined house which acts as a sort of walled garden. Mari was incredibly welcoming and let us roam about her house which is her home, her work place and her gallery. The first thing you noticed when entering the house was the smell of wood fire. The rooms are dark and cosy withe low dark beams and wooden floors and architecturally everything inside is a bit wonky. Wherever you look you find pieces of artwork and pots made b