Bristol potters:Fired up and ready for action

BBC Two’s The Great Pottery Throw Down, described as “Bake Off’s messier cousin” and due to air on Tuesday, is getting potters across the city in a spin as they get ready for the next big thing on TV.

Pamela Parkes hits the wheel and meets some of Bristol’s potters and ceramists who are hoping potter mania will fire up the nation.

Tucked away in a Barton Hill industrial estate is Maze Studios, where some 20 artists, ceramists, sculptors and potters work together, under the support and guidance of the studio founders – pottery teacher Renee Betts-Secret, her son Jeremiah Allman and Wenda Vincent.

The Maze Studios in Barton Hill: (L_R) Renee Betts Secret, Wenda Vincent and Jeremiah Allman

With a huge open teaching space, studios and kiln area Maze is a hive of creative activity.

“We were very interested in developing skills and encouraging people to find their creativity,” says Jeremiah.

“It’s one of the joys of running a ceramics studio seeing all the variety and the enthusiasm of a group environment.

“There are such variety and possibilities of the art form – people are really surprised what you can do with the material,” he adds

Such is their success that several of their former students are now artists with their own studio space at the Maze.

“Anyone can do it – people are really surprised about their own ability when they come to the classes,” says Jeremiah.

“We teach in a very friendly and step-by-step way – helping bring out people’s ideas and creativity.”

Many of the Maze artists sell through Potters, a cooperative shop on Perry Road in the city centre. 

Now in its 19th year the shop sells handmade, locally produced pottery and ceramics and is run by David Chilton.

“Bristol has such a history of ceramics right back to the 18th century and it’s nice to see that continuing,” he says.

An artist himself he combines working at the Maze and running Potters.

“From a child I knew I really wanted to do this,” says David.

“Clay gets under your skin and you are hooked – it is such wonderful material.

“When it goes into the kiln you never really know what is going to happen until you open that door – you just don’t know until the heat does its thing and that for me is the magic of it.”

David says while he hopes the Great British Throw Down will transform the image of pottery, he also thinks it will show people the level of skill involved. “I hope people realise how hard it is and how it adds value to how things are made. The beauty of these pots is they have the touch of the hand and that sort of human quality.”

Someone who has spent her life perfecting that skill is Jen Hamilton who runs The Village Pottery in Clifton.

It’s no exaggeration to say she was brought up with pottery. At school she spent every spare minute practising before going onto study the art at Cardiff University.

“I used to create, get stuck in and get mucky – and that is where the passion for clay developed,” says Jen.

“I love creating something – I’m good at modelling things with my hands. There is something about constructing something from a lump of mud and turning it into something that lasts forever,” she says.

Now she runs a successful shop, studio and pottery school and she also supplies some of Bristol’s best known restaurants with bespoke handcrafted tableware.

“I never thought I’d get this far. I’ve tapped into avenues like teaching, wedding lists, baby feet imprinting which have kept me afloat but now I can be more creative.

“I create the village pottery pieces and the Jen Hamilton pieces for restaurants which are designed for them and are exclusive for them.”

Jen says the Bristol pottery scene is on the up with the rise in arts trials, pop-up shops and people buying into the handmade trend: “More people are getting back to the basics of how things are made and people are stopping their high-flying corporate jobs to try doing things that they love.”

Andrew Richardson, who runs Bristol Pottery Classes, in St Andrews did just that.

Working as an accountant in London he handed in his notice after he went on a week-long residential course and discovered a passion for pottery.

“I hit 50 and I didn’t want to be a slave to a suit any more,” he says.

He now runs classes out of a log cabin at the bottom of his garden.

Andrew teaches around eight classes a week and says he’s never been happier: “The biggest satisfaction is seeing pupils learn, develop and do things that they thought they could never achieve.

“I live day to day and I get to do something I like – it’s relaxed and low key.”

For many people, taking the first step into pottery is through adult education classes.

Isobel Morris has taught pottery at St Paul’s Learning Centre for the past 10 years. Offering arts and crafts classes which are affordable and open to everyone in the community is part of the centre’s raison d’être.

“We are there for everybody,” says Isobel. “I teach people from all ages, abilities and from all over the city.

“Our courses are a great confidence builder…Some people come and go but for others pottery becomes a lifelong passion.”