Jan 28th – an online conversation between potters as part of the Leach 100 celebrations. I was really looking forward to the conversation between Aaron Angell and Steven Claydon as their work is influenced by Japanese ceramics techniques. Whilst fascinating, it really only served to remind me how much I don’t know. They talked about their use of the Oxford Anagama kiln (I’d love to take part in a firing there and it was amazing to see pictures of the kiln in action) but the discussion kicked off with an account of the properties of different kinds of feldspar. Now in my other life, I like to think I’m some kind of a scientist but this was way too technical for me! Back to the geology drawing board…
You can see the work of the Leach artists here: Commissioned Artists — The Leach Pottery
Anagama aside, I was most drawn to the work of Amy Hughes and when I visited her website I was really delighted with the way her drawings were hidden behind the images of the finished works. She talked about being ‘two dimensional’ as an artist and you can see what she means by this particular piece (entitled After Alhambra).
The relationship of the final piece to her earlier drawing is made so clear and there seems to be something lovely in that. I find the underlying drawings particularly charming and it gives me inspiration, even though I always doubt my own drawing skills – I often draw tiny images when planning my own work as though I’ve not got the right to visualise something at scale! So note to self: keep on with the drawings and maybe even upload the odd one to this blog?
Anyway – why don’t you visit Amy’s website, hover over the images of her pots and see what I mean? You can check them out here: Amy Jayne Hughes.