Open and frank conversations with people in the pottery industry, including potters, curators, collectors, technicians, studio mangers, writers, teachers and students. Celebrating difference, sharing in frustrations and successes, and revelling in the tricky bits of the creative process.
Presented by Lara Lloyd.
Episode 15 / RICHENDA MACGREGOR - Sustainability, Spirit and Plants.
Richenda MacGregor has set up and run multiple pottery studios and been a production potter. She has since quit working in the field of pottery as her love for plants has taken over. In this episode we talk about her work, sustainability, the link she found between throwing and a spiritual practice and finally why she decided to stop making pots.
Episode 14 / LINDA BLOOMFIELD - Porcelain & sharing wisdom.
Linda designs and makes ceramic art and porcelain tableware. She uses a tactile satin matt glaze outside and colour on the inside. Linda makes her own range of glazes and is particularly interested in the translucent colours obtained using oxides rather than commercial stains. In this episode we talk about her love of porcelain, juggling childcare, work and pottery and why sharing your knowledge is a good thing.
Episode 13 / TOBY BRUNDIN - Past, present & future at the Craft Potters Association.
Toby Brundin is the Business Manager at the Craft Potters Association (CPA). The CPA is a membership organisation that runs, amongst other things, the Contemporary Ceramics Centre gallery opposite the British Museum in London, Ceramic Review Magazine & Ceramic Art London (CAL)
We meet during CAL to talk about the Fair and the work of the CPA, past, present and future.
Episode 12 / VERRAN TOWNSEND - A Certain Stillness
Verran Townsend is a potter living and working in Totnes. In this episode he talks about how he chooses to present his work and his approach and passion for teaching.
Episode 11 / DYLAN BOWEN - Finding The Way.
Dylan Bowen comes from a long line of potters working in the slipware tradition. In this episode we talk about how he got from there to making his radically contemporary work.
Episode 10 / RAPHAELA SECK - From Studio Manager to Developing your creative practice.
Raphaela aka Raphy is a full time potter living in Bristol. She started as a apprentice and went on to run a busy pottery studio in Devon. Now based in Bristol her practice is inspired by her connection to nature (Dartmoor in particular) Mythology and meaning making. Raphy teaches classes from her studio, workshops on the land using natural materials and primitive firing techniques and two courses at Coombe (one in intermediate throwing and one on Glazing) In this episode we talk about her pathway from studio manager to the development of her creative practice including production ware and receiving funding from Arts Council England.
Episode 9 / FRAN SANDOVER - From Degree to Studio Manager.
Fran Sandover is a potter running a studio at Outside, a multi-use space, home to a cafe, pottery studio, surfboard shaping bay, on-site growing space and concrete skate bowl in South West Devon.
Her work has a playful and industrial aesthetic and is evolving with her career as a studio manager, teacher and technician.
In this episode we talk about her pathway from degree to studio manager and about building resilience.
Episode 8 / SABINE NEMET - Wood Firing & Earning a Living.
Sabine is a wood firer that completed an apprenticeship as a thrower in East Germany in 1998 with Hans Joachim Grünert in Waldenburg(Sachsen) where she underwent a three year long training in producing domestic ware exclusively on the wheel and was then for the first time introduced to wood firing.
In 2000 she travelled to England to gain more experience in ceramics and in 2001 she moved to Moretonhamstead in Devon where she currently lives and works.
In this episode we talk about wood firing and how she juggles approach to making and earning whilst also being a mum and developing a unique voice in her work.
Episode 7 / ANNA LAMBERT - Change & Adaptation.
Anna Lambert is a nationally recognised full time maker. She makes hand-built earthenware ceramics using various techniques including slab-building, modelling and painted slips. She has been making and selling work over many years and is also the membership secretary at the Craft Potters Association (CPA).
In this episode we talk about Anna’s approach to making and how her work has changed, and the reasons behind those changes, over the past few decades. We also talk a bit about the CPA - a membership organisation for potters that also runs the Contemporary Ceramics Centre opposite the British Museum and Ceramic Review Magazine.
Episode 6 / GAY WATSON - Collecting Ceramics & Embodied Attention.
Gay Watson is a writer concerned with the dialogue between Buddhist thought, psychotherapy and the Mind Sciences. She also lives with a huge amount of craft in her home including ceramics.
She is the author of a number of books including A Philosophy of Emptiness (an exploration of ideas of emptiness from early Buddhism and Taoism and Greek thought through to contemporary philosophy, science and art practice) and Attention - Beyond Mindfulness (an exploration of attention through many disciplines and ways of life) Attention contains interviews with many scientists and artists skilled in practices of attention.
We talk about her ceramics collection and how she came to bake cakes from a Lucie Rie recipe, own a Picasso edition and why living with pots supports embodied attention.
Episode 5 / KEVIN ROUFF Studio ThusThat - Industry & Sustainability.
Studio ThusThat designs and makes with uncommon materials. They are currently exploring industrial wastes from mining and metallurgy.
In this Episode Kevin from Studio ThusThat talks about Red Mud, a project that questions our notion of ‘waste’, and shows the unexpected value of stigmatized materials in a world of finite resources. Working with factories and research labs, Bauxite Residue, a.k.a. Red Mud - a byproduct residue of the alumina industry - is transformed into ceramic bodies and glazes.
Episode 4 / JODIE CROOK-GILES Career choices & energy use.
Jodie makes “simple” tableware and owns the smallest pottery shop in the world(probably). This episode was recorded during the Mud & Water course at Coombe in July 2023. Jodie currently splits her time between a job in renewable energy and working in the pottery and during the conversation we talk about some of the challenges and considerations of making the leap to becoming a full-time potter.
Episode 3 / TIM ANDREWS Apprenticeships & Exhibitions.
Tim Andrews is a master potter working in Raku. He has an international reputation for his distinctive ceramics and his work has been exhibited in many group and solo exhibitions in the UK and around the world, including Australia, Japan, China, India, USA, The Netherlands, France, Korea, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden. This conversation takes place whilst he is teaching at Coombe.
Episode 2 / LAUREL KEELEY Creativity & hope.
Laurel Keeley is a potter working in stoneware.
I’ve been working with Laurel for over 13 years but this was the first visit to her new home and studio on the outskirts of the city. The conversation was a chance to talk about the things currently at the forefront of Laurel’s mind as she enters her 44th year of making pots. We talked about what’s changed in that time, what’s stayed the same, her approach to managing creative block and what she’s finding hopeful.
Episode 1 / JILL FANSHAWE-KATO Tallisman & Magic.
This first episode is with master potter Jill Fanshawe Kato, we talk about her experience working as potter in the UK and in Japan and the things that inspire her “I’m drawn to the magic in the natural world”. As well as preparing for exhibitions, and what is hopeful for the future.