Entertainment / Sea Mills
Sea Mills potter accepts Throw Down challenge
Bristol will be rooting for Hannah Walker as she competes in the new series of The Great Pottery Throw Down, starting Sunday, January 10 on Channel 4.
Sea Mills resident Hannah formed a bubble with the other contestants for the duration of the show, which was filmed last year. “It was an adventure,” she says, “a very controlled adventure.”
After being encouraged by friends to take her creativity more seriously, Hannah honed her skills as a potter on a part-time foundation course at Weston College.
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She also volunteered at Maze Studios in Barton Hill where she made glazes and helped in the studio. She’s learned mainly by watching others and then testing out the skills in her own work.
“The best piece of pottery I ever made was a massive pot for my mum. It is really big and wonky and heavy,” Hannah says. “It was so exciting to use that much clay; scale matters. It was the first time I started to understand and experiment with mixing glazes.”
Hannah, who uses a room in her parents’ house in Sea Mills as a studio, found Throw Down a great learning experience: “It’s literally been one of the best things I have ever done and it was so much fun.”
Sea Mills resident Hannah Walker competing in The Great Pottery Throw Down. Photo: Channel Four
Community-minded Hannah used to volunteer at the Sea Mills Cafe on the Square. Her day job now is as a project manager for a community-led housing scheme in Southmead. She says she does not yet know where pottery may take her in future, but she would like to create more sculptural work and have the opportunity to study fine art.
Naturally she will not be drawn on how far through the competition she progresses but she will have plenty of support. The publicity around the show has meant that lots of old friends have got in touch. “Yesterday was a bit of a frenzy and quite overwhelming with lots of messages,” she says.
Throw Down presenters Siobhan McSweeney, Keith Brymer Jones and Rich Miller. Photo – Channel Four
The Great Pottery Throw Down starts on Channel Four on Sunday, January 10 2021 at 7.45pm.
Mary Milton is reporting on Sea Mills as part of Bristol24/7’s community reporter scheme, a pilot project which aims to tell stories from areas of Bristol traditionally under-served by the mainstream media
Main photo supplied by Channel Four
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