Miche Follano: A potter who uses brilliant colours and surface design in her work.

[00:00:00] I'm a big fan of old slipwear which I find really charming more than anything actually

[00:00:08] and I like the idea of using clay that isn't precious I think is the word that I would use.

[00:00:17] I kind of like its raw edges, I like the feel of terracotta, I love it when you fire

[00:00:23] it super high and it goes a really beautiful rich sort of dark brown and then you've got

[00:00:29] this, it's very difficult to add color onto that surface so I started sort of introducing

[00:00:37] basically its slip.

[00:00:40] Hi I'm Bob Acton and welcome to the Color and Ceramics podcast.

[00:00:45] Today we're lucky to have Mish Philano on the show.

[00:00:48] As an outstanding potter in the United Kingdom who does beautiful work with slips and color

[00:00:54] and images on terracotta clay.

[00:00:57] We talked about her journey in clay, her surface design methods, how she engages her spirit

[00:01:04] in her work and some advice she has for potters.

[00:01:08] You'll find links to her website and social media in the show notes so let's get to

[00:01:13] the interview.

[00:01:21] Welcome to Color and Ceramics, the podcast for ceramic artists who want valuable ideas about

[00:01:26] using color from leading artists and world class experts.

[00:01:30] Here's your host Bob Acton, a sculptor and ceramic artist who's fascinated with color

[00:01:36] and help potters, sculptors and artists use color in their work.

[00:01:40] Her name is E talks with this guest about color, techniques and the impact of color on

[00:01:45] people and art itself.

[00:01:47] Well Mish thank you for joining me today and welcome to the Color and Ceramics podcast

[00:01:53] to talk about color and surface design.

[00:01:56] I really love your work.

[00:01:58] I love the beautiful ceramic pieces that you have with the sketching, the colorful sketching

[00:02:04] that you have on it and the white slip.

[00:02:07] I assume it's white slip that you have on the dark clay because I think that really

[00:02:12] makes things pop.

[00:02:16] So welcome to the podcast.

[00:02:18] Thank you very much, he makes nice to be here.

[00:02:20] Yeah absolutely.

[00:02:21] You know the beauty we see and feel when we approach your pieces really represents years

[00:02:28] of hard work and I wonder if you could tell us a little bit about your journey in becoming

[00:02:34] the artist you are today?

[00:02:37] There's rather a long journey that has been broken up into you know fair few pieces but

[00:02:43] it kind of started at school so back in the early 80s I left school and because there were

[00:02:51] no jobs I decided that I would take on a college course where I fell in love with clay more than

[00:03:00] anything.

[00:03:01] And that took me onto a foundation course which then took me on to do a degree and

[00:03:07] I did my degree in woods, metals, ceramics and plastics in Brighton UK.

[00:03:15] But that got sort of stopped short after two years because funding changed in the UK

[00:03:21] so a lot of people couldn't actually finish their degrees which and I was one of them

[00:03:27] but I still knew that that was something I was definitely going to pursue at some point

[00:03:32] in my life.

[00:03:34] Well to fast forward a few years I took a job working in a graphics department for a small

[00:03:41] company which when everything was very analog there was no computers it was all daisy

[00:03:47] wheel printers and bromide cameras and was very hands on that suited me really well.

[00:03:55] But unfortunately after about six years working there the owner was tragically killed so I

[00:04:03] kind of lost my job there and then I went to work for another company called Xart which

[00:04:11] we had this sort of mobile phone revolution happening and I was employed by they were

[00:04:17] a subsidiary of Nokia.

[00:04:19] And so my graphics got very grounded at that point and I was working for all the Premier

[00:04:27] League football clubs designing their mobile phone faces.

[00:04:30] I'm sure you remember the old 3210s and 7110s where you clips the fronts and backs on

[00:04:37] the phones.

[00:04:38] Well a lot of those I was responsible for on a home hands up so I got involved with graphics

[00:04:46] in quite a big way actually and I really enjoyed doing it although it was very too dimensional

[00:04:51] it was something that I think my love of print and my love of colour because obviously especially

[00:04:58] with Premier League clubs and formerly one racing and not particularly the things that I

[00:05:04] was interested in but I did like playing around with all the text and the badges and

[00:05:09] there was like your collage in constantly on two dimensions which I sort of loved.

[00:05:15] And then in 2008 I had the opportunity to go back to college and leave work and so I found

[00:05:22] a course where I could rekindle my love and clay really and I found a part time course

[00:05:32] that was doing a foundation degree.

[00:05:35] I went along there to get like a portfolio together and to sort of reinvest myself into

[00:05:42] that material but in the background there was all this stuff that I'd learnt from graphics

[00:05:48] and input you know was just going in and it was sort of coming out on the clay badly at

[00:05:53] that time I'll add but it was it was going in and out again and it was like okay this

[00:06:00] is this is something that I hadn't really considered but I really enjoyed trying to find ways

[00:06:07] of surfacing things which had multiple layers different colour combinations and also print

[00:06:17] which I really wanted to keep within the work.

[00:06:21] So I finished that two years and I went to St Martin's to finish my degree in Central London

[00:06:28] again learnt an awful lot at St Martin's fantastic course came out of there hit the road you

[00:06:36] know decided that's it I'm brilliant now I must be brilliant I'm just going to be able

[00:06:42] to do this forever but you kind of then lose the ability to use the facilities which I

[00:06:50] haven't really considered so where I was going in and making up screens to do print with

[00:06:56] all of a sudden I didn't have a screen printing option.

[00:07:00] So I started to sort of experiment with other ways of working on a surface in an analog

[00:07:07] kind of way which then took me onto a masters because I felt that I hadn't learnt everything

[00:07:16] I needed to learn so I went to the Royal College in 2014 and graduated in 2016 and I spent

[00:07:28] most of my two years there experimenting with print and surface.

[00:07:38] So that's sort of how I've come to this point so after I left there had a really good degree

[00:07:43] show got some great opportunities sort of continuing with those opportunities and it just

[00:07:49] snobles from there on and I'm still even now experimenting with colour and print and each

[00:07:57] week I try other things.

[00:08:00] So I'm always looking for ways to have that immediacy of working in a very immediate way so

[00:08:06] a little bit like when you're doing a two dimensional collage you kind of pull things from different

[00:08:12] places and add and take away it was very much like that so that's where my work really

[00:08:18] sits and that's the bit I enjoy the most really so that's sort of how I am where I am now.

[00:08:24] Very cool thanks so much for sharing that you know when I look at your work your clay work

[00:08:30] it really seems to be kind of as I mentioned earlier kind of a juxtaposition between this

[00:08:36] dark clay that you work with and then this smooth brightly coloured slips and colours

[00:08:43] and stuff can tell us a bit more about that process like how did you come up with that

[00:08:47] or what do you do with that?

[00:08:49] Well I'm a big fan of old slipwear which I find really charming more than anything actually

[00:08:57] and I like the idea of using clay that isn't precious I think is the word that I would

[00:09:05] use.

[00:09:06] I kind of like its raw edges I like the feel of terracotta I love it when you fire

[00:09:11] it super high and it goes a really beautiful rich sort of dark brown and then you've got

[00:09:18] this is so difficult to add colour onto that surface so I started sort of introducing

[00:09:26] basically it slip you know introducing slip onto terracotta and then colouring those

[00:09:32] slips creates this really vibrant I think a sort of juxtaposition I think of this very

[00:09:41] matte dirty surface with a super shiny glazed surface for me just always it reminds me of

[00:09:51] old buildings and when you're walking past the window it goes from dirty brick especially

[00:09:57] in London dirty brick into glass into dirty brick into glass and that sort of penetrates

[00:10:04] I think when you're living I don't live in the city but I've spent quite a lot of time

[00:10:09] there so you can't help that just filters in so for me having that complete opposite is

[00:10:21] quite exciting for me.

[00:10:23] I can see why how do you balance the use of colour with the other elements of design like

[00:10:30] form and texture and so on?

[00:10:33] I don't tend to use much texture I allow the clay to provide its own texture so sometimes

[00:10:40] I'll use a very groggy clay and sometimes it's a smooth clay I think it just depends on

[00:10:45] where I'm at at the moment sort of I'll switch between different clays and the colour is

[00:10:52] more about what I've seen yeah I'm a bit of a sort of flannery in that way and I'll

[00:10:58] sort of walk round streets wandering aimlessly and allow it to soak in and then I sort of

[00:11:05] come back and I avid sketchbooker I'm constantly drawing and painting a sketchbook and sketching

[00:11:13] in my sketchbook and so what I'll tend to do is I cut out a little window in a piece

[00:11:18] of cards and I kind of move it around the sketches that I've done and I'll sort of see

[00:11:25] different colours and it becomes more abstract and so it's rather than it being a drawing

[00:11:31] of something in particular it becomes a section of that drawing which I then kind of recreate

[00:11:37] onto the surfaces using those colours really.

[00:11:41] I will take a little bit of artistic licence and change things around a little bit ultimately

[00:11:49] I will like the way the colours are positioned or the way that the composition is working

[00:11:56] and then I transfer that.

[00:11:57] It's quite difficult on to 3D because you can't see moving the vessel around to sort

[00:12:03] of make sure it works on all those angles if that makes sense.

[00:12:07] Yeah it does and I think when I've seen your work it's a two-dimensional photograph so

[00:12:13] we're only seeing a portion of it are your colours all the way around the piece or just

[00:12:18] on one's okay.

[00:12:19] Yeah, they're all the way around.

[00:12:21] That's a very interesting thing as you were talking about cutting out a hole out of a piece

[00:12:28] of paper that makes me think of landscape artists who may pull that kind of a process

[00:12:33] up in the landscape to find that piece that they want to paint.

[00:12:37] Yeah and I think it does make it quite abstract in that sense so it's very difficult to explain

[00:12:45] if I've been to York or somewhere and someone says why is this York?

[00:12:51] That's a good question because when I go through the process and tell them the process

[00:12:58] they all get it and they can see maybe the colours will reflect what I've seen in that

[00:13:05] city or in certain parts of the city.

[00:13:08] Absolutely so you've taken a piece of your sketch of the place and that becomes the sketch

[00:13:15] as I might say it on the work itself.

[00:13:19] Absolutely.

[00:13:20] So you use some really bright colours which I of course I love those but I wonder if you

[00:13:25] could tell us about any challenges that you faced in working with colour, in ceramics

[00:13:31] and how you overcame those challenges?

[00:13:34] A lot of the time I'm looking for which depends I think colour can be sort of two things.

[00:13:41] The first is there's a very flat colour, almost like a gouache where there's you know

[00:13:47] aura if you're working in paint.

[00:13:49] It's a very flat one solid colour which can have you know under glazes will work like

[00:13:56] that but for me that sometimes it's not enough so and I've just actually finished a piece

[00:14:04] that's in greens which I find very difficult to work with green and yet there's probably

[00:14:11] about six different greens that make up the block of the colour.

[00:14:17] That took me a long time to break out of just this flat colour so that was about finding

[00:14:24] you know what I might do is I'll start with a base slip green and then I learnt quite

[00:14:32] quickly that you've got to be careful how much stain you add to slips because I sometimes

[00:14:38] were early on, I was getting a lot of bubbling and a lot of crawling and because I was just

[00:14:43] overloading it so much but I think over time you learn to understand your palette and understand

[00:14:53] how to mix those palettes.

[00:14:55] So some I know that I can only add up to 5% of something whereas another colour I might

[00:15:01] be able to add 15% so you kind of learn those things actually go along and it is about

[00:15:06] experimenting I do a lot of experimenting and the same when it comes to drawing over

[00:15:13] the top of those as well so I may get all the flat colours if I call them that the big

[00:15:19] block colours and then I'll put subtle colour on top and some of those subtle colours don't

[00:15:25] like other colours and that's just you know one of those things you learnt and it destroys

[00:15:32] you a little bit especially if you really like the piece and it comes off and it's crawled

[00:15:36] off or it's peeled off but you kind of work around it you know all those every time you

[00:15:42] have a problem you can sort of work around it and I started off from where you were before

[00:15:49] and then adapting what you've done so there is a lot of testing there are a lot of sometimes

[00:15:56] some mistakes because you can get a bit over zealous when you're working in such a fluid

[00:16:01] way you kind of forget that didn't work with that last time so you know I do have some

[00:16:07] howlers.

[00:16:09] It is a lot of practice though isn't it and I think that you know we I listen to people

[00:16:16] in other worlds like musicians and so on who you know advise people to practice deliberately

[00:16:23] and to practice deeply I was thinking of Anna Vittovec she was a classical guitar player

[00:16:30] and she said that we have to work on our technique all our life and you know and given

[00:16:35] that you're at the top of your artistic game how do you practice your we've kind of been

[00:16:42] acting on that a little bit how do you practice colour and surface design.

[00:16:47] What I tend to do is whenever I put a kiln load on I will always take some of the palette

[00:16:53] that I've got and then I will meticulously paint them over the top of each other in

[00:16:59] different ways I might paint an orange over a green or a green over an orange and I'll

[00:17:04] mark what I've done you know I'll mark those those test tiles if you like and I fire

[00:17:09] them in exactly the same way as the work that I'm firing at that time so every time I fire

[00:17:16] something I've always got something in there that I'm testing.

[00:17:20] So I'm for example I've made up a printing ink that is a little bit risque because it's

[00:17:30] made with oil and I you know that could throw everything out.

[00:17:38] So I'm sort of a bit careful now so I did a lot of tests on different things printed

[00:17:44] onto slip printed onto under glaze printed onto stains printed onto pretty much every

[00:17:50] permutation that I use to create those colours and then glaze them all and you sort of

[00:17:58] very quickly learn which you can do that with.

[00:18:02] So you know I can't for example print onto the top of a very highly stained slip because

[00:18:11] for some reason the oil base of the ink doesn't like the thick slip underneath and it

[00:18:18] will go a very mucky greeny sort of nasty colour but it won't you know it will also blister

[00:18:26] the glaze.

[00:18:27] So you kind of each time I've introduced something new I will test it methodically which

[00:18:36] we think a lot of professional potters do as a matter of course anyway because you spend

[00:18:43] a lot of time making objects and the last thing you want to do is just chance it you know

[00:18:48] and throw it in the bin when it comes out the kiln because that's happened a lot.

[00:18:52] Yeah me too me too.

[00:18:53] In fact that was one of the things that stimulated my desire to do this podcast was because

[00:19:00] often we make the form and then we've got to apply the finish to it and that can create

[00:19:05] lots of stress and anxiety about the whole thing and you know one of the things that crossed

[00:19:11] my mind as I was listening to you was how our customers or our audience often doesn't

[00:19:18] understand because they don't see it all of the hours and the hardache that goes into

[00:19:24] testing and trying and all of those things that you're talking about.

[00:19:30] Oh they know that's one of the questions if I'm doing a show you know public show then

[00:19:38] that is probably one of the things that people ask me the most how do you do that and

[00:19:45] it isn't so much as that.

[00:19:47] It's not just one thing you know there's probably seven or eight different processes involved

[00:19:54] in creating this surface so you know you can go online and you can find potters that love

[00:20:03] showing how they do stuff and they're not camera shy and they're quite happy to tell

[00:20:10] you what they do and I think all potters are very generous with their you know how they

[00:20:16] do things because I remember as a student I would be asking those questions as I was

[00:20:22] going around the show so most potters have been in that position and it's not just an

[00:20:28] art form it's a science as well so that science side crops up quite a lot and that's

[00:20:34] the bit when is all very well if you're working in 2D with paper and pencils you can easily

[00:20:40] rub things out and scribble them off but when you're working in 3D dimensions and it's having

[00:20:45] to go through like volcanic temperatures there's a lot of science there.

[00:20:51] Yep, yep, yep, okay.

[00:20:52] And you start explaining to people that by your work and they do have very appreciative

[00:20:57] of you giving the information they've you know very I tend to find that most people that

[00:21:02] talk to me really want to know it's not it's not sort of lip service they really are interested

[00:21:10] in how you do stuff and I think the more complicated things are the more interested they are too

[00:21:17] so I'm always forthcoming about how I do things.

[00:21:21] Cool, you know you've talked about you learning particularly around the chemistry and science

[00:21:27] of food play and ceramics I wonder if there are any specific artists either in the ceramics world

[00:21:34] or other artistic disciplines whose use of color has really had a profound impact on your work

[00:21:42] that they've been.

[00:21:43] One artist in particular that I really admired you know when I first started using color was

[00:21:50] I don't know if you've heard of Laura Maybury, she's an American artist.

[00:21:56] And I've watched her sort of career and her new you know as her work evolves

[00:22:02] and I do sit in awe of her work because she's also you know not just block color now everything

[00:22:09] the colors moving and you know some of the work that she produces now like sculptural pieces where

[00:22:17] the clay is actually the sculpture and the glaze becomes this part of this great sculpture.

[00:22:24] So I do look at her work and also the scale of her work sometimes can be really impressive

[00:22:31] and I'd love to work on that scale I just don't have the room to work on that scale

[00:22:36] you know everyone's sort of a bit bound by what space they've got you know I'm bound by what

[00:22:42] kilns I've got so I can only work to a certain scale but her work in particular has really kind of

[00:22:51] really has profoundly affected me but the other person as well is Picasso

[00:22:56] bizarrely Picasso's ceramic work is outstanding.

[00:23:04] I was really fortunate when I was at the RCA to have I think it was Christie's the auction house

[00:23:14] came to the RCA and wanted to photograph the work of Picasso that they'd got for auction in our studios

[00:23:25] and so I was really fortunate to be able to see these things and handle them you know close up

[00:23:32] and they are so simple and beautiful and the line making and the mark making is spectacular

[00:23:40] and probably some of the most simplest things that I've ever seen but the most effective

[00:23:48] so sometimes I do feel like I just want to do one line and that's it and that is something that I

[00:23:56] I'm sort of I'm getting better at now pulling back a little bit because I can sometimes

[00:24:04] bit to exuberant and I do you know I do know that. Yeah it sounds like you're seeing doing less

[00:24:12] is sometimes more. I think the quality of the line is super important

[00:24:19] and you know it's it's about that expression that you get in just one brush mark or two brush marks

[00:24:28] a bit like Cytwombly as well whose color palette amazing paintings so I think I'm probably more inspired by

[00:24:35] painters and you know some of the St. Ives group and I particularly like some of their landscape work

[00:24:45] and Patrick Heron so I think most of the work that I really admire their use of color was probably

[00:24:55] the abstract expressionist periods where they were using block color but somehow the line quality

[00:25:03] was exceptional for me. It was exceptional yeah. Yeah that really makes it pop doesn't it?

[00:25:10] the you know you can have that as you call it that flat color surface but the line that you might

[00:25:17] put in the piece really draws the eye to it. It does and again when you're working with clay

[00:25:25] it's much more difficult to create those lines. I see kind of find you end up with certain tools

[00:25:32] that you've found or you've worked with for example I use a porky pine quell quite a lot

[00:25:39] to draw those lines because it's slightly bendy and I tend to do I'm right handed but I tend to

[00:25:46] make the marks from a left hand so I'm a little bit more out of control and the lines create

[00:25:51] themselves then so I'm not controlling it you know which can be really really interesting when

[00:25:58] that happens. You do get some marks that you go I could never have done that because I think the

[00:26:05] pressure's too much when you're trying to create this certain line so if you take the pressure away

[00:26:11] close your eyes or do it with your left hand you always get something much more exciting.

[00:26:17] Yeah for sure for sure I agree completely I was thinking about in my world sometimes if I'm using

[00:26:23] my right hand I'll get what I call tight and I don't want to be tight so that I really relate

[00:26:29] to what you're talking. Yeah and I do that quite a lot actually actually I'd say more so because

[00:26:36] I can draw very you know normally like an artist can draw but I don't particularly like those

[00:26:43] drawings the ones I like the most are my sketches the ones that I haven't had that pressure's

[00:26:48] moment with they're they're very loose they're very free and they're more me I think

[00:26:55] that sub-conscious side of you that just comes out when you're not really looking or concentrating

[00:27:01] they're the ones I like the most. Yeah very cool the spirit comes out in that way. I think so.

[00:27:06] Yeah very cool hey you know I was thinking but we've talked a lot here today already about

[00:27:13] your technique and how you do things and how you approach your work and I wonder what advice

[00:27:19] you might have for a young ceramic artist or maybe an older one who's starting out but some

[00:27:27] what advice have you got for a budding ceramic artist will call it that who's just starting to

[00:27:32] develop their own unique style. I think one of my tutors once said to me that it was important

[00:27:41] that I was having fun and I never really thought about that very much until I started making for myself

[00:27:52] properly for myself as an artist and you have to have fun while you're doing it because I think

[00:28:00] it becomes a job otherwise and I don't really want a job if that's something well that makes

[00:28:07] me sound like but I know exactly what I mean. I kind of love doing what I'm doing and the freedom

[00:28:14] of doing it and I mean from a psychological point of view when I come into my studio and I shut

[00:28:22] the door and I switch on the heater and I put my radio on I'm in my own space I mean my head

[00:28:29] goes into you know the space I need it to go in it just does and the worrying side of my brain

[00:28:37] and the daily side of my brain just switches off and then and then the other side of my brain I

[00:28:42] think just switches on and concentrates on what I'm doing and so I don't get bogged down by everyday

[00:28:49] stuff. So if you're a ceramicist or you want to be ceramicist or just a hobby potter or

[00:28:59] you know working with clay I think there's an innate knowledge that happens when you pick up clay

[00:29:08] it just is there it's born with you there's a sense that you get when you work with it

[00:29:15] and it unlocks a part of your brain and it gives you rather side of the brain of rest so any potter

[00:29:22] that's out there thinking it's not for me even if they just play with a ball of clay I think that's

[00:29:29] beneficial to their mental state as well I just think it's the best thing for them to do keep picking

[00:29:37] up the clay keep making and allowing yourself to keep making and allowing yourself to keep making

[00:29:41] mistakes because you will find what it is you're looking for at some point and it's great fun when

[00:29:48] you do it's like revelation me yeah and it's really a balance I think between knowing the

[00:29:55] technical side enough so that it works like you're talking about what temperature do I put it out

[00:30:02] and and what how much stain do I put in this I'll call it kind of the technical piece

[00:30:09] with this freedom that you're talking about this this this joy this sense of allowing the spirit

[00:30:16] to come out and it's about allowing balls to happen at the same time ultimately yeah I think so

[00:30:26] when I've done run classes in the past I have people from all walks of life in their classes

[00:30:33] and you know from nurses to teachers to pretty much any retired right across the board I mean

[00:30:41] I've got a year down 18 year old and they sort of come to you with their daily troubles

[00:30:49] and by the time they've left three hours later you can see that spirit has been allowed

[00:30:55] to come alive in the classroom and they will sit and make and some will sit very quietly and

[00:31:02] they're happy in their little making zone and others create this they've got an aura about them

[00:31:08] where it's excitement and as a tutor that is something that really excites me and they come to me

[00:31:17] for the technical advice so the technical advice can be learned by books and you know I think everybody

[00:31:26] can learn that technical side um me personally I was the pain in the backside for all the technicians

[00:31:34] at the university is because I just followed them around like what are you doing how are you loading

[00:31:39] that down what temperatures that you know and I think I drive them a little bit nuts to be fair but

[00:31:46] all that knowledge goes in and now I'm giving that knowledge out to the students so you can

[00:31:52] learn it out of a book but not it's much better when you practice practice it I think yeah very

[00:31:59] and by those mistakes yeah absolutely I you know we'll put a notification of your website and so on

[00:32:07] up in the podcast but I guess I'd given you what you just said some people might say hey does she

[00:32:13] teach and can I go and take classes with her so that's my question do you teach can people come

[00:32:19] and take classes with you I did up until about two years ago I was running classes from my studio and

[00:32:25] um I was keeping people's sain during COVID when we were allowed to mingle so I basically opened up

[00:32:32] the class for three at a time and said that they could socially distance and for them meant to have

[00:32:39] a lot more than anything um and I taught those for quite some time and I gave them basically

[00:32:48] I had to stop the teaching about I think just over a year ago now because I got too busy and

[00:32:56] I was you know um running out of kiln space not getting any of my work done and so it became

[00:33:04] a point where I was at a balancing point and I was like my work's being affected now so I have

[00:33:11] to like put that on hold so I mean I'm doing a talk demonstration talk and about three weeks time

[00:33:20] where I do demonstrate some of the processes that I use and talk about my work and that's in

[00:33:27] place in England called St Orbans at the decorum and Chutton Potter's group so we have quite a lot

[00:33:33] of those groups in England scattered sort of over the country so I'll very often go and do one of

[00:33:38] those for them so that those people that know me that want to learn how to you know do the work can

[00:33:45] actually go to those those demonstrations so at the moment I am not teaching. Okay so nobody call

[00:33:55] you except look out for your workshops because you might be putting on a workshop nearby. Well it's

[00:34:01] more like a sort of talk so you sort of do a talk demonstration really so I sort of talk about

[00:34:10] some of the you know I'll take my sketchbooks along and I take how I get inspired, how I work out

[00:34:17] what I'm going to do on to a vessel and then I'll show them some of the techniques on a half-built

[00:34:21] vessel so they can sort of see how to do them at what stage you add slip to the pot or how you would

[00:34:32] paint onto some newspaper and use that like a carbon paper and you know using sort of stencil

[00:34:39] techniques so I kind of go through that for about an hour with them as well so they sort of go away

[00:34:45] going oh I'm gonna try that which you know I've done my job if people go away thinking that so yeah

[00:34:52] Well I think people are gonna go away from listening to you speak today on our podcast

[00:34:58] really excited about some of the work that you're doing and I want to just say a big thank you for

[00:35:04] participating here today it's been wonderful meeting you and learning more about your work and

[00:35:11] how you think and how you let your spirit out so that's pretty cool. So thank you Bob it was

[00:35:18] a pleasure to be here thank you very much good luck with the rest of your podcasts thanks so much

[00:35:25] Thanks for listening to the color and ceramics podcast with Bob Acton and his guests please help

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