Pauline Lee in the Heart of Dartmoor – Open Studio

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

How to get there

 

 

We got hopelessly lost trying to find Pauline’s open studio and ended up driving back to Ashburton using the ordinance survey map in the Green Ginger Cafe to help us get there. I have included the section of the map the studio/garden is just beyond the second car park. Drive over New Brige past the car park on your left up the hill for about 200 meters and then turn very sharp right over the brow of a very steep junction and its about 400 meters on your left. If only we known, about an hour of car wondering in the poring rain!

It was worth it, I love Pauline’s work. In rain and lush garden setting, it sets her work off perfectly. She has open garden next weekend,  its worth the journey. A mixture of figurative and organic sculptural forms in her studio and around the garden with the River Dart roaring in the back ground.  I particularly like the torso sculptures, worked from a press mould, with subtle use of oxides and coloured slips with a hint of glaze. You can see the small piece we bought, it’s to go with the mermaid.

http://www.paulineleeceramics.com

The Master Class Pot

 

These are the results of yesterdays raku firing. Dan’s pot is spectacular, but like so many pots I raku has a crack, its just below the neck, so the pot does not ring. In the end I had to fire the pots twice as the smoking effect from the oak leaves did not penetrate as effectively as I wanted. When I re-fired the kiln the pots were still hot and the kiln was warm. The result was that the slip just fell away exposing the porcelain body to the smoking which has become quite general and may have caused the crack. Too much thermal shock for one pot. The little lidded forms are very interesting the re-firing appears to have trapped pockets of smoke penetration underneath the glaze as it refluxed. They have gone a subtle shade of pink and very pocked, both effects I really quite like. Lessons learned from this firing, don’t use damp oak leaves and live with first results re-firing only confuses the issue.

A Master Potter

 

A master class during Advanced Throwing a Pot.

Composite Throwing Time Laps

Jack and I made this video during the Easter holiday.  It’s been gathering dust on my desktop since then. I cannot throw fast enough to get the whole process shot in one take, the memory card on my camera is just not big enough. Maybe I should practice speed throwing? You can see how wonky the pots are as he works on them, you can also see how the clay acts almost like a fluid as it is stretched and worked through its different shapes as the pot evolves. I have the final piece still in the garage and will take it into college next week to put it through the rest of the process. Interesting to see how it comes out.

Trevor Lillistone

Small bowl bought in Totnes today, Whitespace Gallery. I really like the volcanic glaze.