Richard Wilson: A UK potter who uses brilliant colours

[00:00:00] I sometimes have been using a very thin brush, like a pencil brush. Then I can use the colour

[00:00:07] meat sometimes and just flick around with it just on the surface so you get two or three variations

[00:00:15] of colour just within the same sort of batch. Hi, I'm Bob Acton and I'm happy to share my conversation

[00:00:24] with Richard Wilson, a potter in England who does just fantastic work with bright and vivid colors

[00:00:31] on his pots. He and I talk about his journey to his current style, how he approaches his use of

[00:00:38] coloured slips and his ideas for ceramic artists wanting to explore more colour in their surface design.

[00:00:46] You can check Richard's work on his website and Instagram page which you'll find referenced

[00:00:51] on the show notes. Welcome to Colour and Ceramics, the podcast for ceramic artists who want valuable

[00:01:04] ideas about using colour from leading artists and world-class experts. Here's your host, Bob

[00:01:10] Acton, a sculptor and ceramic artist who's fascinated with colour and how potters, sculptors and

[00:01:16] artists use colour in their work. Tune in as he talks with his guests about colour, techniques and

[00:01:22] the impact of colour on people and art itself. Welcome to the Colour and Ceramics podcast, Richard,

[00:01:30] really glad that you're here. You know I really love your work, I am really fascinated with the

[00:01:37] colour and the intensity and the boldness that that your work really portrays so I really appreciate

[00:01:43] you being here to talk a bit about that. I wonder if you could tell us a little bit about you

[00:01:49] in your work and when you started in Ceramics, how it evolved for you, those kind of things.

[00:01:56] Sure okay well my background is really coming out of our college for maybe two-year course which

[00:02:07] wasn't that sort of focus on Ceramics but it was a multimedia course. But then at the end of it

[00:02:12] I sort of focused on Ceramics as being my major sort of interest, I thought being practical,

[00:02:18] I thought I could actually make a living out of making things, you know, maybe fine art was

[00:02:26] a bit sort of out there and not really kind of able to sort of market it in the same way.

[00:02:32] Anyway so that was the focus I think but fortunately I was never together an apprenticeship with a

[00:02:39] local potter in Norwich which was in east of England. So I really worked with him for about four

[00:02:47] years, maybe five years as an apprentice man from there. I kind of met with other people,

[00:02:56] I was at a workshop that had a lot of transient potters coming through it for a short time. There

[00:03:02] was a New Zealand potter at the time and a bit later on there was another English potter who would

[00:03:09] actually set up his workshop in Tasmania. And so I sort of got to know these other potters and after

[00:03:19] about five years I said this was in the late 70s so I still had sort of my youth on my side to

[00:03:26] sort of go off and explore the world. So that was my kind of an emphasis of wanting to get out and do it.

[00:03:35] So I went to Australia and New Zealand for two or three years and worked with these guys

[00:03:44] and through that I was able to kind of build my apprenticeship.

[00:03:49] Oh very cool because it was very much kind of working with people.

[00:03:56] I've called them to apply an ear sort of making a studio, building a workshop, finding local

[00:04:04] clays, making glazes, sourcing wood from local suppliers and then sort of just actually constructing

[00:04:16] a workshop around local materials. I mean in some areas of Australia New Zealand it's not that

[00:04:24] easy to get stuff you know you don't go down to the local ceramic suppliers. There isn't one

[00:04:33] there. They have to import it in a law way or drive a long way to get it which you do that scene.

[00:04:42] So yeah so I learned a lot by just being with these potters and three and then I came back to

[00:04:49] Europe and wanted to spend more time exploring the European history of ceramics and I kind of

[00:04:58] had this idea of wanting to delve back into the wood fire, the salt glaze style of central France.

[00:05:09] The area of central France have a really interesting style of making pots and make these big

[00:05:17] kilns that were sort of three draft kilns but they were very basic and they used to build these

[00:05:26] things and made pots that had lids on them were flat which were then the shells for the next pot

[00:05:32] so they built. They didn't have shells as such, they just cooked pots on top of pots and so

[00:05:40] that was a style that was sort of very familiar with that part of France and I love that because

[00:05:45] I knew at potter who was working in that area so I spent some time with him and so that sort of gave

[00:05:52] me a leap into Europe so I spent some more time. I had an opportunity to actually go to Germany

[00:06:02] to work with a German potter and actually ended up working with him for about five years

[00:06:08] so from that that was making salt glaze domestic ware in this big kiln, over 100 cubic foot kiln

[00:06:19] wood fired kiln and we just made lots of domestic ware and it was quite fun because there

[00:06:24] was lots of us in the workshop at the Bay of Divas and we used to sell on the markets every week.

[00:06:32] We used to go to local town markets and some of them were a lot further away but that was just

[00:06:40] the way it was over there and you kind of got to know lots of people.

[00:06:45] Yeah, sounds like that.

[00:06:48] Yeah it sounds like that not only did you get the experience of building a studio from the ground up

[00:06:55] as you did in New Zealand but also started to really touch on people from around the world and

[00:07:02] build those relationships with other potters. That's right because I think that's something

[00:07:07] important with I think it's one of those things with ceramics you can take it anywhere in the world.

[00:07:13] You might not speak the language but you speak the craft and you can actually go into a workshop

[00:07:19] and I'll say, can I make a pop and know what I understand what to talk about.

[00:07:26] There are some workshops that I find it quite difficult. I think you can

[00:07:30] went to some parts of India who had ever very sort of simple momentum wheel and thrown up a hump

[00:07:38] and that would be more challenging. Yes, I think that would be challenging. I've seen some people

[00:07:43] in Asia who sit on the ground and work a pot and so I think wow that would certainly be a challenge.

[00:07:50] So I was really interested in kind of the evolution of your work and as I said at the beginning,

[00:07:58] I love your bright, strong colors that you're using but you've also now talked about working

[00:08:04] in a salt kiln and working in France and was your work always this colorful?

[00:08:11] No, no it was very much working with I thought that I was a thrower. I was trained as a thrower

[00:08:20] in the workshop in knowledge so I never actually got to do any decorating. It was always the

[00:08:26] else that's off to do the decorator but I was all observed and towards the end I suppose at

[00:08:31] the time there I did it a little bit but it was very kind of a design that was repetitive you know

[00:08:38] you kind of it was a steady floral kind of idea that you put on a pot and it was

[00:08:45] I suppose that was there kind of seen their development and they had to kind of a repeat pattern

[00:08:52] that went around the pot and they were kind of okay but it was a bit boring. Yeah, that was already

[00:09:00] there popped into my mind when you said that. Yeah, yeah. And then I wanted to just get out and

[00:09:07] see what other potters were doing and different techniques because if you just brought up in one

[00:09:12] workshop and one style of work you miss out on so many areas of ceramics. I mean from like earth

[00:09:20] and wear right through to porcelain there's so many kind of variables and I'm a bit of a magpine

[00:09:26] aspect. I like picking up on ideas. Yeah, yeah. I like the sort of things that I still do.

[00:09:33] I still like to sort of pick and choose a bit so I'll try this and try that. So I guess that idea of

[00:09:41] wanting to sort of develop my style came out of having all these ideas. For the end of my head

[00:09:48] but when I was in Germany particularly that was when I picked up on another style of design

[00:09:55] because I went to Eastern Europe at the time. This is before the Berlin Wall and the communist

[00:10:03] blocks sort of collapse and it was more difficult to get into Hungary and Romania but I'm

[00:10:10] there with a potter I worked with an English chap in this workshop in Germany and he'd been

[00:10:16] over to Hungary quite a few times and he'd poke around in these old markets and places and he

[00:10:22] found some lovely old pots and dishes that were decorated in a very traditional Hungarian way

[00:10:30] and slip design. Yeah, that was that tradition as well.

[00:10:37] A floral tradition picking up on stories around villages you know they were like

[00:10:45] people getting married and celebration plates and things like that and scenes of things like that

[00:10:53] of birds and animals and things like that so they used to slip decorate bowls and chugs and

[00:11:01] things like that. I just loved the simplicity of that and slip design was something I hadn't really

[00:11:09] thought about too much so that was something that inspired me really and there was an English girl

[00:11:16] in this workshop in Germany that was doing a little bit of slipwear on stoneware pots. She used to

[00:11:24] make some lovely fish and bird designs on these pots but for herself it wasn't necessarily a part

[00:11:33] of the production but she just did it for herself. I loved the way she was decorating so that idea

[00:11:41] of the slipwear with a slip trailer sort of got me thinking and when I came back to England

[00:11:49] that was ready when I had to sort of pull all these things together and think,

[00:11:52] what would I do? You know, good good and salt glaze root or the stoneware root or go down the

[00:12:00] bathroom where root so it was finding a place where I could actually define what I do and that

[00:12:08] took several years, I mean I'm not saying that was sort of like overnight you know it's not an

[00:12:14] any evolutionary thing. So yeah I had that thing in my head thinking no this is where I want to go

[00:12:21] to it's finding the right techniques to achieve it. It's a lot of experimentation isn't it?

[00:12:28] I think you know you got to at least in my experience I have to try something I have like you

[00:12:35] a million ideas, a million things interest me but I've got to pull out something and then experiment

[00:12:41] with it. Is that what happened with you over the years of experimentation? Yeah yeah I mean there's

[00:12:46] a lot of things that I thought well I've got another idea and I'm not quite sure where that works so

[00:12:53] you come out to play with it. I think playing is an essence of what we do and we don't enjoy

[00:13:02] play in ceramics then you kind of losing the heart of it. Yeah absolutely. Yeah otherwise it becomes

[00:13:11] kind of too structured and too kind of formulaic, you know I think what I do is particularly is

[00:13:19] what lose that. In fact I want to lose more loose in that sense. Yeah well you've got to have

[00:13:28] it seems like your work has a lot of energy to it and it's almost like that energy is embedded

[00:13:35] in the pot itself and and that's what I hear you saying around play too that that plays got to

[00:13:42] have that positive energy to it. Yeah well I started off from making pots that were well defined in

[00:13:50] the sense that they were functional and then they had a strong form. Yeah quite simple I go

[00:13:58] like pots that are too embellished with other things you know no some potters don't make any

[00:14:06] handles on their pots to that reason and they decorate and that becomes as kind of an embellishment.

[00:14:14] When I suppose I incorporate a bit of both you know I do things that have function yet become

[00:14:22] one-off sort of work of art. I call it art on the table for that reason. Yeah absolutely.

[00:14:29] Yeah yeah. Now how did you learn about color and design? Like you watched other people were there

[00:14:39] other things that you learned like resources or books you went to or something that helped you

[00:14:45] refine that that focus. Not really I don't think I'll actually I think it's this idea of having

[00:14:59] subliminal ideas over the years you kind of pick up on these things I mean I'm very interested

[00:15:05] in fabric design and real paper design and just interiors and I suppose strongest

[00:15:16] influence is proper for color. But anyway it's this impressionist artist you know

[00:15:23] you know I'm my name and Suzanne and all those sort of painters that understood color.

[00:15:31] So I loved that because they were kind of they picked up on light and shade and spontaneity

[00:15:40] you know they worked outside so they weren't sort of in a studio all the time sort of cocking

[00:15:46] photographs or whatever. They're out there in the office and I quite like that idea of decorating

[00:15:53] I was like B.D. Quite direct. So I was making pots that I could decorate straight onto the surface

[00:16:02] so I don't bisque where and decorate I decorate on dryware. Oh okay and then fire once

[00:16:10] well I could do it's just because of the nature of how I work I bisque fire anyway

[00:16:17] okay because I can the glaze seems to fit better. Yeah yeah yeah. I mean where's something is

[00:16:25] I want fire things that I can get away with. I mean things like cheap pots I do

[00:16:33] cheap pots that I've got lots of I call them little sculptures. Little things going on and then

[00:16:40] you know teapots with feet yeah right so yeah and I quite like to have to bisque fire them because

[00:16:50] there's a little crack or a little thing that hasn't worked out. You know I can fix it.

[00:16:56] Yeah yeah yeah. So we'll talk about your technique in a minute because it sounds like you're

[00:17:04] using a slipwear is it you do you slip or under glazes just slipwear right? Just color plates.

[00:17:11] Yeah how does your selection of the color affect the mood of the piece or the impact on the person

[00:17:22] who's got the piece in their hand or using it? I think that's quite difficult to sort of

[00:17:33] answers sort of easily because it's very stuffy. I have a sort of balance of ideas

[00:17:42] the design has to work with the shape of the pot so I started off really making designs that

[00:17:51] filled the shape of the pot. I didn't want to just end up in a design that just fitted within

[00:18:00] the shape like if you were making a dish and you just decorated the central part of it you know

[00:18:09] I wanted a design that just went right through to the edge. Yeah yeah that's it but it's knowing

[00:18:16] how to do that without making it look as if it's fallen off. Yeah no exactly what you mean yeah

[00:18:24] so I picked shapes of pots and built the design that complemented it now so wherever it was a curve

[00:18:34] then I started off with the curve in the design so it kind of echoed the shape of the pot

[00:18:42] there was a design that looks like something of the shape in there or if it's as straight

[00:18:50] sided like a mug or a vase or something that's got straight sides then I can actually be a bit more

[00:19:00] angular about it and then using straight lines and I think I'm working more towards that

[00:19:08] because it's I suppose it's more the letting the pot dictate the design rather than the other

[00:19:18] way around and what I kind of like the idea of them working together. I don't want them sort of

[00:19:25] should be sort of fighting against each other you know yeah the pot then the design has to be a

[00:19:34] kind of a complementary thing. So it's yeah it sounds like that what you then use is your brush strokes

[00:19:41] need to match the form itself. Yeah yeah so I start off with darker colors as a sort of an entry point

[00:19:53] of the design and that kind of lays it down quite heavily but then I sort of overplay it over

[00:20:02] design it with other patterns that kind of complement the design like I feel is the black

[00:20:09] then I complement that with red and black and red work quite well together. If I start off with a

[00:20:15] dark blue then I often go with a lighter blue or green because those colors work well together

[00:20:23] so it's understanding what colors work together and when they're sitting together

[00:20:28] um do they complement each other? Some colors that don't work so well um think well I suppose if it was

[00:20:37] a this time yeah I suppose red and green kind of work quite well together. Yeah yeah yeah

[00:20:44] a lot's because we're doing this interview around Christmas right so that's what you think it

[00:20:48] of yeah for sure. Yeah um some colors are fine we won't get it. I think um what I

[00:20:58] mentioned in our range bangs into a blue or something it. Sometimes a bit of a clash but it's um I

[00:21:09] don't know it's it's hard to sort of get it right always and um and I don't always think about it

[00:21:17] I kind of idea of this is the palette of colors that I'm working with let's try these two together

[00:21:24] see what happens and it's thinking of colors and patterns together and you know I find

[00:21:32] to have to get into the rhythm and the flow of it um and that's why I often decorate on small pieces

[00:21:41] like mugs or something. I have lots of them great so it really kind of loosens up my design work

[00:21:49] hmm after about 20 mugs you know I can sort of feel relaxed and after then move on to repeat it.

[00:21:58] Oh that's really interesting so rather than doing just one big piece and leaving it

[00:22:03] you have a process it sounds like where you you get into a flow and you do that with some smaller

[00:22:09] pieces like mugs and you do multiple ones using the same palette and then that worked you up to a

[00:22:16] bigger piece that's awaiting you um you know when you're ready yeah because I use a smaller pieces

[00:22:25] as trials yeah little expense and leaving gaps and playing around with the patterns and thinking oh

[00:22:33] I haven't tried that bit before or it you know it doesn't matter so much on a small piece

[00:22:37] I get away with it yes but then after a while I think oh I'll remember that and and use that

[00:22:45] on a bigger piece. Very cool and do you set your palette out your selection of slips I guess

[00:22:53] that you've got in your buckets are they always the same colors you have in front of you when

[00:22:58] you start your your coloring process or do you pre-select them? Yeah well I have yeah I have about eight

[00:23:06] colors I work with and often I used to be very kind of precise about it you know like mixing

[00:23:18] I don't know 25% of color to 75% of of Swiss you know that was kind of just the sort of mix

[00:23:28] because I didn't want the color to fall off you know P last but that has to be a

[00:23:33] portion clay in the mix so I thought oh this is a that should work and then after one I thought

[00:23:42] oh I don't really need to work it out I have to percentage wise I just use as a color match you know

[00:23:48] so I just I get my colors often from a supplier that have strong colors anyway so it's about

[00:23:57] about half a dozen I guess good colors that I use from a supplier and within that I can get two

[00:24:08] or three variations of it just using stronger or less of it in the mix and often I just

[00:24:17] I sometimes if I'm using a very thin brush like a pencil brush then I can use the color

[00:24:25] neat sometimes and just sort of flick around with it just on the surface so you get two or three

[00:24:32] variations of color just within the same um um sort of batch of yeah like a blue or green or red

[00:24:43] yeah I can go from almost pink through to poppy red yeah so depending on the saturation

[00:24:49] of the of the pick in the slip so how I mix it up you know something I'm not I'm sort of less careful

[00:24:56] these days about how I mix it up so I can be quite messy so there's sort of things going on

[00:25:04] on my decorating bench with sort of sponges and bits of um slip trailers and think like so often

[00:25:13] I kind of mix one brush with the other yeah yeah sometimes you sort of a double mix and you get sort

[00:25:19] of two colors on the brush you know that kind of kind of works quite nicely sometimes so it sounds

[00:25:25] sounds like that you're not really rigid about that you're not cleaning your brush and making sure

[00:25:31] that it's exactly this color you're you're in a much more flow state I might think about sort of

[00:25:38] being spontaneous about moving that color onto the piece yeah well I suppose I've looked at artists

[00:25:46] yeah they work and they have seem to have more paint on the floor and they don't have

[00:25:54] yeah yeah um whereas some painters can be very kind of precise you know and they have everything

[00:26:03] lined up on the wall they all the brushes lined up and then all I find yeah just loosen up

[00:26:13] it's a well I guess that's just personality right and style about how you you're more of a

[00:26:19] loose guy and and that really works for you and because I think that's what you said all along is

[00:26:24] that I want this energy I want this spontaneity I want this energy attached to my pieces and

[00:26:32] it would be pretty hard to do that if you are super precise about about the application I guess

[00:26:40] of the slip yeah well I appreciate the the crossmanship of being precise because there's a

[00:26:48] a controller that I've kind of moved away from um I suppose because I've done it in the past

[00:26:56] I think yeah well I want to do something different that um I'm just going to see how do you get

[00:27:03] the sort of the more relaxed you get about certain things yeah yeah I think so but when I look at

[00:27:09] your forms though I see a lot of precision in the form itself so you're being very precise about

[00:27:16] how you make your teapots and bowls and forms and vases and so on as opposed to the free flowing nature

[00:27:26] of the color application yeah I'm kind of thinking I should maybe look at the forms in a similar

[00:27:36] way as I do the decorating um so some of the pots been making lately I've been a bit looser you know

[00:27:44] though I sort of add things to them in terms of slip for the more texture on the surface yeah I know

[00:27:52] you know if you go too much that way then there's too much going on you know it's like what

[00:27:58] we're trying to say you know yeah yeah sure you you sort of throwing the bucket absolutely absolutely

[00:28:07] so if you could if we could switch for a second and because you've talked very eloquently about your

[00:28:13] style and how you've learned it and what would you suggest for a young ceramic artist what would

[00:28:21] what advice might you give them about developing their unique style um I think it's very important to

[00:28:34] sit and watch other craftsmen and get involved in it in an apprenticeship or at least

[00:28:42] being able to work with other potters because I've I've met a lot of crafts people that have

[00:28:48] come out in college and they don't know a lot about the actual material that they're working with

[00:28:55] they don't understand clay they don't understand glazes um killings tend to be

[00:29:03] clogged in put on the the timer and let the kill them do the work um whereas

[00:29:11] I think if you kind of in an environment where you have to do things from the bottom up then you

[00:29:19] really understand how to overcome mistakes so what things gone wrong you know why glazes don't

[00:29:28] work or why that firing doesn't work you know they're sort of understanding the chemistry and the

[00:29:36] physics yeah what goes on it yeah but clay I make a lot of sense I I know with I used to do a lot

[00:29:43] of woodworking and and in lots of ways I found it fairly simple compared to clay because it's so

[00:29:50] complex and there's so many things that can go wrong you do really need to have that depth of

[00:29:55] understanding so I I hear what you're saying there yeah well it's so important to have the right

[00:30:03] teacher as well to guide you through otherwise you you flounder around I mean I know one

[00:30:12] two young potters that stick to what they've been trained to do I suppose at college so they've

[00:30:21] worked with either white porcelain or white white earth away which is like porcelain um all they're

[00:30:29] they just love to do the other direction they go often work with someone help them

[00:30:37] fire wood kiln for a week you know do that sort of thing so that's that's probably the best way

[00:30:44] to learn being in an environment where you're meeting and working with other potters yeah but I

[00:30:52] travel is another great way to um discover things um especially in parts of Europe they're still

[00:31:01] making some fantastic pots in very traditional ways um there's lots of good workshops out there

[00:31:09] that we love to have a younger apprentices for a short while so so traveling which was really key

[00:31:16] for you I think as I've heard you talk about all over the world connecting with people seeing how

[00:31:23] they did their work helped you really come up with what you love to do today and I can see why that

[00:31:30] would be a really helpful thing for people to do to learn their craft well yeah because it is a

[00:31:39] worldwide craft you know you can go from southern south america right through to um it's easier

[00:31:52] like that we're you know all making pots you know been doing for thousands of years yeah absolutely

[00:31:59] I was I was just in turkey and so had an opportunity to see some of the work there

[00:32:05] and and it's really good to see the different cultural aspects of things and how they work with

[00:32:10] things uh I know I had a teacher of mine who was from Romania and so he brought a different angle to

[00:32:17] the conversation which was really helpful did you find that um uh you understood the sort

[00:32:26] of the cultural background to as well because all these styles come from functionality you know they

[00:32:33] they built um either they're killed in the round of the pots or they built the pots around how

[00:32:40] they were used you know they were made for particularly used in the kitchen yeah and then

[00:32:46] putting food in and think about that so yeah that was the way they were designed you know

[00:32:52] beautiful pots we bought they were built for a reason yeah really based that design

[00:33:00] yeah for sure really based in the functional uh aspect of things for sure right that was

[00:33:05] really I think the history of of pots and pottery was really uh in that in that specific realm

[00:33:13] um can you tell us about a challenge that you had in your work you know

[00:33:20] a problem that you had or an area where you struggled and how you overcame that

[00:33:29] um I suppose it's it's taking your designs or your techniques to certain limits

[00:33:40] of um a rational design so I'm thinking of my platform pots that I do which are basically

[00:33:50] look like pots but they're very narrow they're built only about sort of

[00:33:56] four inches wide I suppose at the at the base but they could be um overfoot thick you know wide

[00:34:10] they're spurs and always like silhouettes or shadow pots that's for sure yeah but I designed them

[00:34:18] really for two reasons um because I moved the workshop and I decommissioned this a big kill

[00:34:24] in my head and so I moved a smaller kiln which I could transport quite easily and um

[00:34:32] when I set up again I wanted to make big-ish pots in a small kiln so I thought

[00:34:40] making them flat sort of sought that one out yeah um I had this slab roller given to me

[00:34:49] and uh so I wanted to experiment with that really and it made me some slab pots

[00:34:57] so that's kind of where problem started was sort of having the right sort of a clay

[00:35:03] for that technique because once you start making big pots sort of flat um then the stress

[00:35:12] tension across the surface area um in a kiln you know the shrinkages and the tensions that go on

[00:35:19] in the firing um so I used to lose a lot by tracking that went on so and that was to do with

[00:35:28] be the firing them too fast or um just making sure I had the right um type of clay for that

[00:35:36] sort of a shape then also the size of a good when over at certain width then I started out

[00:35:43] problems but so I kind of rained them in a bit so I'm making them a bite I suppose about um

[00:35:50] oh I mean the same measure I suppose there about 40 centimeters wide um

[00:36:03] about 50 high and then I'm looking at 10 centimeters wide at the base

[00:36:11] um but the actual pot can be less than that you know could be like a or nine

[00:36:19] in in actual width floorways at the top but they have a base to make it more stable

[00:36:26] so it's just just making pots like that create problems um it sounds like you

[00:36:33] solve that problem by experimenting with different sizes different clays different temperatures

[00:36:40] different firing speeds uh until you got it just right yeah yeah I chose the other problem I've

[00:36:49] found is putting big pots in a small kiln that is always a big one that creates problems

[00:36:57] because it's to do with um the unevenness of a kiln and a big issue pot in I've found one pot in a

[00:37:08] kiln yeah that size um always has problems of um cracking or something you know

[00:37:19] we've put a big pot in a big kiln it kind of sits well in it

[00:37:26] that's what I've found yeah thanks very much Richard I really appreciated you taking the time here

[00:37:33] today with us and for our audience I think this has been super helpful for people to understand

[00:37:38] a bit more about how to get to the beautiful work that you're doing and how people themselves can

[00:37:45] find a way to uh create their own design and their own colors and images that they use

[00:37:54] yeah well I hope um people start to appreciate um a bit more color in ceramics because I think

[00:38:04] it's been overlooked I think by potters in some ways you know I think a lot of potters are a bit

[00:38:09] afraid of color they're not quite sure what to do with it you know they either go down the

[00:38:13] garage route and that kind of gets too um too embellished to sort of in your face um

[00:38:24] and I suppose because I'm using terracotta the colors are a bit more muted

[00:38:32] hmm they're not that sort of industrial color look yeah it's sort of a natural

[00:38:39] terracotta or coming through the surface a bit yeah it's in the surface yeah I do like that dark

[00:38:47] clay coming through myself so I appreciate what you're saying for sure yeah well thank you thank

[00:38:54] you very much we'll put in our notes uh links to your website and uh to your Instagram page and

[00:39:01] so on so people can find out about you um is there any other uh place online that you'd like

[00:39:08] people to find out about you I know you also do courses don't you so you teach in your studio

[00:39:15] yeah I've got um well it tends to be a very much a one-to-one at the moment because

[00:39:20] people's kind of ring out boy email me and say um can I do a course and I say yeah but I haven't

[00:39:27] got many people lined up let's come come on by yeah yeah yeah yeah they drop in we'll make it

[00:39:34] pop together yeah um yeah I do that um I'm not geared up for lots of people I suppose two or three

[00:39:43] um would be more comfortable than a whole workshop because uh it's very good the way I work

[00:39:50] I like to sort of get on and do a bit of work myself while they're practicing so yeah that's good

[00:39:55] so that's another angle that people can connect with you on is you find out on my website yeah

[00:40:02] absolutely cool um but also um I'm thinking if the other areas that you can find will work

[00:40:12] I don't know um I suppose Instagram or Facebook I don't do much on Facebook more Instagram yeah

[00:40:20] yeah well I use Instagram as like a brochure sort of keeps people up to date and

[00:40:26] I have some things like that perfect yeah thank you very much for spending your time with us

[00:40:31] really appreciated the conversation here today yeah well if we if you get lots of from

[00:40:36] interest let's do it again absolutely absolutely and uh next time I'm in the UK I'll uh make

[00:40:43] sure I come by and we'll have a conversation I would love to see your studio yeah you too that's

[00:40:49] good thank you all okay bye bye

[00:40:54] thanks for listening to the color and ceramics podcast with Bob Ackton and his guests

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[00:41:11] review we'll see you next time