Twiddly-Bits

First let me say that it was exciting to see three women up on stage at the NC potters conference. More and more I am noticing all the females who are doing workshops and jurying shows all around in the pottery world. I think with in the last maybe 15 years of pottery women have really started popping up everywhere.
I have to say it was very impressive to see

Jane Hamlyn up close after seeing her work in so many books. She was the funniest, honest and heart felt women I've heard speak in a long time. I truly enjoyed her, which I think most of the audience did as well. She was very funny and real. Since she is from the UK she had great sayings that I wrote down but of course have lost since my sketch book is weeping somewhere lost in Ashboro. The two that stuck and nerve with me spoke about all the decoration on her most recognized work. She told a story about a art critique saying that her pots looked like "she was trying to hard". When she said this, I got a huge moment of feeling embarrassed and flushed because I felt like that same is true about my work. She also called all the ornamentation on her work "twiddly-bits", which once again spoke to me. What a great description for all my sprigs, stamps and drawings...twiddly-bits. Incidentally she is making forms with absolutely nothing but slip on the surface and her forms are just straight up and down. I'm not sure how I felt about these vessels, although I did find them soothing to the eye. Maybe this should tell me something?


Mary Law, whom I have seen before is also full of wisdom and great to watch work. She is always no nonsense, which I admire and will answer all questions about why she is making something either this way or that. She is also a women of great longevity in the clay world.
The last potter ( I think she considers herself more an artist) was

Robin Best from Australia and she did all slip cast pieces. I had a hard time following what she was doing because it was slow and I felt like it would of been better suited as a hands-on workshop. She seemed very confidant in what she did and very successful as well.
So...finally with no photo's that was my wrap of last weekend.


To end the post, here is a mug by Silvie Granitelli. I got this back at Penland in 1998 when I was her studio assistant at a concentration. I love this amber celadon glaze and the way her "grapefruit slicer" has made these marks on the mug. The coffee at the potters conference was very weak so I was glad to get home to my own mugs and coffee selection.

( low and behold my images will not come up...I'll edit tomarrow) Jen