Happy St. Patrick's Day

I bin out in Plymouth celebrating my irish background- my mother came from Tipperary so I am able to claim a strong irish background. I actually have an ancestor called Black jack Fogaerty who if he is googled comes up with stories and pictures of his castle in Dovea- in tipperary.

my friend Karen grew the Shamrock in her back garden as it is now endangered as a wild species as the bogs shrink.

Some Musings on Material Cultural theory.

We are surrounded by objects but either don't notice them, take them for granted. material culture theorists are starting to say that humans act and think through the objeects that they use. We have a special relationship with specific objects that we use. We have an interdependence with objects.As a result networks of meaning result.
Archaeologists are involved in building bodies of theory using interdiciplinary approaches cognitive science, anthrpology, social theory amongst others.

Ruthanne Tudballs confident, eloquent statement of the possiblites of clay, salt and fire make us notice this object. it is not possible to take a crafted object like this for granted. is this what craft can do? It also seems to bring the networks of meaning to the surface. When you see a teapot like this it is obvious that it is handmade, skill is evident. If I owned a teapot like this I would use it everyday and feel completely different using it in my morning tea rituals.

In Defence of the Handmade

"There are plenty of commercial venues for design and industrial products designed to reference craft are not craft, and are often misleading in our craft ignorant culture. Objects such as these have a wide reach in furniture shops and design venues. Galleries that can showcase the handmade should make an effort to do so with sensitivity towards makers and an understanding of the term "handmade".

So says Shannon Garson, who has also written a very comprehensive artivle-in defence of the handmade pottery-http://www.ceramicstoday.com/articles/home_cooking.htm

Also her blog -Strange Fragments.

She is an articulate and well considered critic against of consumer culture appropriating the handmade rather than actually promoting a real aesthetic of the handmade. www.etsy.com will not allow its shopownes to market something that is obviously not handmade.

Where are the Brown Betty's being Made?

Is the Brown Betty Teapot still made in this country?

Made in Stonehouse, Plymouth, Devon

Just another example of my mugs. They will retail at £25 in a gallery setting. This is a little more expensive than you might pay in Debenhams or Dingles for porcelain but it is possible to know the person who has made these mugs. And although it is possible to mass produce this mug, its very shape is formed by the rotation of the wheel and movement of the hand!!!!!!!!!!!

Made in Plymouth

The recent post by Emmanuel Cooper in Ceramic Review Blog has highlighted an issue about contemporary studio ceramics being undercut by very cheap ceramic imports from the developing economies of the world, sold in cut price shops such as Matalan, T K Max, and the supermarkets. Firstly designs are ripped off from western studio cermics as they are being made for largely western markets. Secondly they are the same as the rag trade, made in sweat shops, With all the division of labour described in a post below. The workers probably earn a dollar a day and would now with a wage like that with food prices having risen can no longer afford to eat. Thus cheap ceramic imports have either airmiles or container miles. Wedgewood as a company has not survived - even the Brish Ceramic companies can not compete against these imports. However, a point I like to make is that, a Winchcombe Teapot, made in Gloucestershire, is competetive in terms of price with the porcelain teapots made in the developping countries, and there are no airmiles on it.

A Plymouth Pottery

All these mugs are thrown turned when wet and moved sideways, off centre, on the wheel head and when it starts to collapse I remove it at that point.