Wootton Exhibition
Wootton Exhibition #2
I'm having an exhibition in Wootton by Woodstock, the village where I grew up. It is hosted by my sister who now lives there in the same house we lived in as children. The show runs all next week, Sunday 11th-Friday 16th February, by appointment. Contact me if you'd like to go.
The exhibition, 'Wootton Landscapes, Solitude and Exile,' features pots by me on the three themes in the title. She has also included a couple of pots from And the Door Opened, the project I did with women@thewell.
There are also some lovely London landscapes including Trafalgar Twilight and Bright Summer Rain.
Hordley
The two pots featured here are Hordley Swamp, 2022 and Hordley Meadow Willow. Hordley is a fabled place for many who know Wootton, especially if you grew up there. It has a sense of gothic romantic mystery about it. It was a thriving village in the 14th century, positioned along the wool pack trail close to the market towns where wool was traded. Then came the Black Death and it was wiped out, as were so many villages in the area. As a result it feels ghostly and a little melancholy but it is also beautiful partly because it is so peaceful, with the river running past one side of it and Hordley Meadow over the river.
Hordley Manor
Now it is the stump of a village, with only Hordley Manor to represent its past (modest) glories. I guess most the manor is more recent than 14th Cent but the old chapel remains with its tiny window high up in the Western wall. I used to go there as a child because mum was friendly with the Campbells who lived there. Bruce Campbell was a world renowned ornitholigist, writer, broadcaster and researcher and something of a pioneer in his field. He taught me how to recognise birds and their distinct song patterns. He loved the swamp too. It provided a home to George and Maria, the resident swans for many years.
The Meadow
The meadow is a flood plain, filling with water and birds every winter. I say flood - it gets very boggy whereas the Wootton section of the Glyme floods properly and probably resembles an impressively large lake now. Hordley Meadow was home to sheep in the Summer. They were moved higher up in the Autumn when the meadow produced a generous mushroom crop.
Willow Trees
Both these dishes feature Willow Trees, of which there are many all along the river. They appear on my pots regularly being particularly lovely to draw. They are strongly associated with the pastoral valleys of the Cotswolds so they are also highly expressive of the land to which I feel so attached. They have a remarkable capacity for renewal, being almost indestructible: a fallen Willow continues to grow at whatever angle the space allows. If a tree is so ancient it has split it will find a way to sprout again, perhaps as two smaller trees. Pollarded Willows are almost an archetype in themselves, not least since the frequently appear in the work of Monet and Van Gough.
About the pots
These two are pinch pots, approx 40cm diam, so quite large for this method, and made using a black and terracotta clay mix, high fired to get the rich dark colour you see in the images. The sgraffito, etched through a layer of white slip, is done with fingers at first, while the slip is wet. As it dries I use a finer point - a steel etching tool or the sharpened end of a wood handled paint brush - to get the finer lines which helps to achieve form and perspective in the tree itself. Sgraffito is a wonderful, fluid, and highly versatile method of drawing on clay surfaces and seems to be returning to studio pottery at last.
I need to do a post on sgraffito and drawing in relation to clay. Coming soon.