POTS IN

AT THE

GRANVILLE ISLAND HOTEL

(PS) eee Genie me. YeecouPie

7:00 PM

FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 2003

ESHIBITION AND DALE
INCLUDES WORK By 1 NORTH AMERICAN
SATU FEATURED IN JOE WALTERS BOOK.

Excerpis from an autobiography,

For about four years in the mid 1950s, be-
tween the ages of six and ten, I lived on a
farm in Warwickshire, The women at the
farm churned butter, plucked poultry, bot-
ted fruit and made jam and cooked a lot.
We ate rural delicacies like rook and pi-
geon pic, fried lambs’ tails, huge roasts,
fresh eggs, vegetables straight from the
garden and plums, damsons and apples
from the orchard. Visits to the grocers took
a great deal of time as strong cheddar and
creamy Stilton had to be sampled before
purchase and each item was fetched by the
shopkeeper and placed on the counter,
Bread was delivered by the baker, who
used to amive at the farm with a creaking
basket full of white crusty loaves, Meals
were large communal affairs, where eve-
ryone sat around a large pine table cov-
ered with a starched white tablecloth. In
the summer during haymaking or hurvest-
ing, we would take piles of tomato sand-
wiches, flasks of tea and hunks of rich
fruitcake down to the farm workers in the
fields where we would sit and eat together.
I stil] remember the conviviality of food
and aromas of daily cooking that used
home grown, fresh ingredients in season.

In the early 1970s, while studying anthro-
pology in London, I found jobs in restau-
rams to supplement my student grant, It
was when I worked in a Vegetarian restau-
rant called The Nuthouse and my flat mate
worked at Cranks, that I first encountered
studio pottery, Winchcombe pottery ta-
bleware. During my vacations I travelled

May 2003

Pots in the Kitchen Event
with Josie Walter

Gallery«
BCceranics

Presents

ae

in Spain and North Africa, where I en-
countered more pots, unassuming useful
earthenware made on a momentum wheel.
My holiday snaps reflect my awakening
interest in caguelas, ollas and huge olive
jars. | bought a copy of the Craft Potters
Association members’ directory called
Potters, and started an evening pottery
class. It was not long before the idea of
attending a full-time course in studio pat-
tery looked like the right path to follow!

The next three years were spent at Chester-
field College of Ant and Design on the
Studio Pottery Course, building kilns and
learming to throw on a Leach kick wheel.
Salt glaze had been the focus of my experi-
ments in the third year so that when I saw
an advertisement in Ceramic Review fora
thrower required at the Poterie du Don, in
the Auvergne, France, it seemed like a
good idea to apply. Suzie Atkins, who had
attended the Studio Pottery Course at Har-
row, taught me about the rigours of repeti-
tion throwing, economy of making and a
love for thick and creamy slips. Nigel
Atkins with a degree in Industrial Design
packed and fired the kiln as well as looking
after sales. His keen interest in the pots
made one pay close attention to detail
rather than attract his censure!

Tarrived in March, to find Suzie and Nigel
inthe middle of dealing with various parts
of a pig. Sausages hung from the beams,
hams were set to smoke in the chimney
and jars of tée de fromage and rilicttes
seemed to be everywhere. I remember
being somewhat startled to learn on my

Potters Guild of British Columbia Newsletter

THE KITCHEN

JOME WALTER . BOOK NIGNING . JUDE SHOW

FLine Sow
EXHIBITION
BOOK NGNISG
NO HOUT EAR

TICKET ~ $30
INCLUDES APPETIZERS
& A RAFFLE

arrival, that part of my job was to milk six
goats and use it to make cabecou, a small
round and paquant goat cheese. It really is
debatable whether | absorbed more infor-
mation about food and wine during my
meonths af Le Don or more about how to
make pots. Certainly, my French vocabu-
lary became extended in a Vanety of curi-
ous directions that year!

On returning from France, I shared a work-
shop in an old coaching inn in Matlock,
Derbyshire, with a fellow student from
Chesterfield, John Gibson. During this
time, I built on what | had learnt in France,
making pots for serving and cooking in
earthenware, which were sold from our
shop. When the ease ended after cight
years, John and his family moved to Den-
mark, while J took a workshop only three
miles away in a converted Viyella Mill
near Cromford, before having a workshop
built in my garden at home.

The soft and luscious qualities of earthen-
ware continue to intrigue and fascinate
me. My throwing is still done on the mo-
mentum wheel that I built at Chesterfield,
and the pots are decorated with thick slips
brushed on, or with thin slips applied to let
the colour of the body show through. I
enjoy the immediacy and economy of raw
glazing my pots, which are now decorated
at bone dry with coloured glazes in subtle
chrome greens and warm and rich iron
browns.

Josie Walter

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