Museum Pieces

       

The Pottery Museum at Stoke-on-Trent is a must see for anyone interested in the history of pottery, especially English pottery.  The owl is a piece by the Martin Brothers and was truly wonderful.  The slip decorated platter is by Thomas Toft and was among a number of his and other slip decorated pieces. 

The Barn Gallery, Southwell, UK.

The Barn Gallery in Southwell, Nottinghamshire is small but has a wonderful collection of both old and new ceramics as well as paintings and other art works.  It is a lovely building set in a lane of beautifully built brick buildings.  The bowls are early examples of the work of Lucie Rie shown at the gallery.

Patterns

Patterns are always fascinating although I have never tried doing them.  The top picture is of a Spanish majolica platter in the collection of David and Janet Wright while the other picture is of a man-hole cover in Yokuzuka, Japan.

Two Tenmoku Pieces

These pieces are again from the David Binch collection.  The top picture is one by David Leach with a lovely splash of iron.  The lower image is a vase by Johnny Leach with rusty colours breaking through the black.  Both very collectible pots.

A Change from Snow

The first week I had in England was either snowy or foggy.  I loved the country fence made with found posts and rails.  The fog made the traffic congestion many times more of a problem.

Two Interesting Pieces from the David Binch Collection

David has a wonderful collection of pottery.  I was given permission to photograph many pieces two of which appear here.  The "Black Vase" is by Janet Leach: the white lidded pot is by Edmand de Waal and is much more recent.  If you have not read his book "The Hare with the Amber Eyes" I can assure you that it is a very interesting read.

Three Svend Bayer Pots

These large pieces of Svend Bayer I saw and photographed while I was in England.  The top one was at Rufford and the other two in Wakefield.  Svend's kilns and firing methods are different than the ones we used but the colours and quality shown in his work are very satisfying.

I'm Glad Our Winters Are Not Like This

I'm very glad that our winters are not like this.  I know that many places in the Northern hemisphere are sometimes much worse but, in over eighty years I have never been in snow so it was a new experience for me.