These are the potters I found most interesting at Potfest. Looking forward to going to Potfest in the Park next weekend.
Stef Ottevanger is a sculptor living in Yorkshire.
I could see that she had an empathy with her subject and she certainly seemed to capture the spirit of the animal. She has quite a lot of hers made into bronze, and sells limited editions. The website was a bit disappointing though.
Her use of texture and oxides I liked and the work was very true to life.
I'm not sure who the above potter is...interesting use of wire (Paula Canney!).
Good form though and captured the essence of these wild animals.
Kath Bonson
I could identify with these as much of her work had horses and ponies on. My horse, Punch, was kept near the Dales and she certainly evoked memories of time and place. Also I grew up in the Lake District and we frequently, especially in later years, where I drove Mum and Dad, had excursions there.
I did talk to her for quite a long time, and she is a later graduate in Fine Arts where she discovered clay. She makes her own paperclay and works in porcelain or stoneware with multiple layers of glaze. Her website is very good and I also liked the intersting 'utensils' she has created in her forms. Very imaginative. I once made a 3 tier magazine rack from sketches made in western Scotland.
The above lady exhibited at Astley Hall the last few years. I am not particularly drawn to her pieces, though very clever and well constructed.
I liked these for their bright primary colours. There are a lot of bright primary colours in Aliyah Hussein's work.
Alison Peacock
Her work was very appealing. I liked the immediacy that it conveyed, and the not refined finish. She likes working in Raku. And of course, the subject, horses. Another Yorkshire artist.
Another animal artist
These two above are by the same artist. I like the ruggedness of the obviously heavily grogged clay ( with some probably added after perhaps ). Nice subject, hyena or prairie dog I think.
I liked the expression particulary on these whimsical dragons. A nice glaze too.
Another animal sculptor. These were a bit too small for me... A recent graduate though, who drew these on a trip to a zoo. I have started drawing from zoos. Its sometimes hard to see what can be unhappy animals, but the form is real and live.
These are very beautiful, unfortunately I didn't note down the artist.
I particularly like the use of unglazed surface on the bird and shiny rock. Puffins are a species which has seen its habitat decreasing. There was, maybe still is, in Iceland a puffin cull every year between two dates, I think it is a week. I think it is 10th April to 25th April. Iceland is the only country where you can still legally hunt puffins. They even offer hunting holidays in Iceland.
Guillemots can be hunted though.
This is Shiro Ceramics.
As I am continuing my sgraffito journey, I see work I am currently making starting to emerge with design more like these To start with I have some nice new sgraffito tools, which really are game changers.
My images too, are becoming less realistic and slightly more stylised. I still wish to keep more on the realistic side.
These images of animals remind me of folklore. I think sgraffito has its own special style!
Also I note the use of reoccurring patterns, and borders, which I am starting to use. I like the colours and the simple two colour plate or dish.
This was the work of Shona MacKensie from Birch Tree Studio. It was inspired by the Perthshire Valley. Some of the work is very graphically mountains - it uses sgraffito and textural shapes to mimic lichen. Very nature inspired.
Charles Brown works in red earthenware clay, mostly wheel thrown. He said
"I am interested in functional pots that demonstrate the plastic nature of the raw material and show the hand of the maker."
He aims to keep the spontineity of the making in the finished pot. His roots are in traditional English slipware taking medieval and post medieval forms of decoration as a starting point. He wants pots that are traditional in spirit. Some of his work is a lot like cream ware.
Sara Hood
I haven't really explored the concept behind her pieces, except I know that it has to do with neurodivergence and PTSD. I tried to find out more, but couldn't access her website on my phone.
It was nice to see one of her drawings.
The other two artists I looked at are Rosemary McGarr and David Cooper.
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