I don't consider any element of my ceramics practice as being worthy of classification as 'secret'. It is an accretion of education, observation, conversation, trial, error, failure and success. A secret? You only have to ask. The piece I have chosen for this article is a bowl from a firing in May 2021 that contained pots I made for a solo ceramic show at the New Craftsman in St Ives. Bowls have always been part of my making... I think they came after mugs and jugs but before teapots. Even before I started making pots, the footed bowls of Lucie Rie had crossed my radar - I am thinking of a stunning uranium yellow bowl as I type. I also bought an oxidised celadon bowl from Edmund de Waal that has given so much pleasure just by sitting on a shelf: the sinuous fluidity of the line from foot to rim, the lift, the delicate balance, a satisfying internal depth to the foot. All qualities I aim for in my bowls. The form has been, at times, elusive for me, but this recent batch made a very satisfying group.
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