Given the popularity of the Maker's Lunches
during 2017, it was particularly satisfying to have arranged, by popular
demand, a lunch with Tim Andrews
to end the year on a high note. We were most grateful for Tim making the
journey from his home near Exeter to be with us.
Tim was
apprenticed to David Leach in Devon before attending nearby Dartington Pottery
Training Workshop and eventually returning to share Leach’s studio. He is now
based in Woodbury. The issue for me is that this early experience was a major
contributor to the range of skills that Tim clearly possesses. Once again we
see a classic example of the
essential relationship between skills and creativity.
The latest work
from Tim represents so much of what we associate with this master potter -
quality skills, subtle decorative techniques and such elegant design. Tim
talked about a wide range of issues but emphasised from the outset that he saw
his and every other maker's work in the historical context of pottery making
over several millennia. There was considerable interest in found shards of
ancient Roman and Chinese pots which he had gathered over the years.
Tim talked about
and responded to a number of questions about his approach to raku firing. It
was clearly the physical intervention in the firing process that fascinated him
rather than the attenuated wait for extended conventional firing. He talked
about the design of his vessels and the need for them to stand well with an
evident presence.
Tim emphasised
the significance of his early years with David leach and at Dartington. This
was the crucial period when he developed the range of skills which he felt were
essential to express his creative thinking.
During the lunch
a wide range of topics came up including the changes that there had clearly
been in the ceramic market over the last decade, the equally significant
changes in the teaching infrastructure of ceramics and the limited
opportunities for acquiring the range of skills which he had clearly gained in
his early years in making professionally.
There was a very
positive feel at the end of the lunch with a shared view that the two hours
together had provided so much insight into the working ethos of this eminent
maker and the wider ceramic sector.
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