11 June 2012

POTTERY TO BE LOOKED AT, NOT TO BE USED

Bow c.1755 Chelsea c.1755 Bristol c.1770
"What would I use this for?" people say as they pick up my work at shows. I make vessels that are not obviously useful for anything. "You can use it for anything you like," I say, and then, in desperation, "You could use it for a vase!" Yes, you can put flowers in any hollow object that holds water. But there is a huge amount of pottery, going back a very long way, that was not used for anything and was not meant to be used for anything.