Join Clive Bowen in conversation with Mike Goldmark. Among other things, they talk about Clive’s early start as a painter, his apprenticeship with Michael Cardew, his love of music and improvisation and his success in Japan. We also see shots of his beautiful pots in situ at his Goldmark exhibition celebrating his 80th birthday.
Michael Cardew
Folk Roots, New Routes
Now in his 80th year, Clive Bowen ranks as the finest slipware potter working in Britain, feted in Japan and collected internationally. Alun Graves, senior curator at the V&A, takes stock of a career spanning over 50 years. For more than fifty years, Clive Bowen has made slipware at his pottery near Shebbear in north … Read more
Spontaneous Drawing
Geographically Clive Bowen seems more than appropriately sited as a potter – living and working at Shebbear, in the remoter Devon valleys near Great Torrington. He is close to where the great earthenware tradition of the North Devon coast once thrived, where he learnt to make pots at Michael Leach’s pottery at Yelland, and to … Read more
In Conversation | Doug Fitch
A Zoom chat during the 2020 Covid pandemic. Slipware potter Doug Fitch reveals the story behind the moulds for his beautiful large platters. When Michael Cardew’s Wenford Pottery closed in 2004, some twenty years after his death, Doug Fitch went to visit the dilapidated premises. Looking round the dust-filled attic he stumbled upon a pile of moulds, ‘abandoned and covered in guano’. Purchased from the new owner and relocated to Fitch’s studio, these moulds have been recommissioned – and with magnificent results. The conversation is interspersed with footage of Doug moulding and decorating these dishes plus a look at a few of his ad hoc tools.
An Interview with Clive Bowen | Slipware Potter
We spoke to slipware potter Clive Bowen about his love of clay… Looking around the studio, we’re surrounded by jugs and mugs, plates, dishes, platters, jars – all eminently usable. I’ve always made functional pots, pots for use in the kitchen or the home. This is my great love: how to present that meal, how … Read more
The Glow of Life | Mike Dodd
I was sufficiently moved to make the radical change from the worthy study of medicine to the making of pots. I’ve always had an interest in words: where they come from, how they are used and so on. So, back in the ‘80s, whilst driving into Carlisle to start my days teaching at the Art … Read more
Talking Pots | Svend Bayer | Pitchers or Jugs
Svend Bayer talks about the most important shape he makes, the pitcher or jug. Heavily influenced by Michael Cardew’s North Devonshire pitchers, Bayer talks about the necessity for the shape of the handle to follow that which the hand makes when it picks up a pitcher. He also talks briefly about celadon glaze and wood firing.
Featured Ceramics | Slipware Press-Mould Dishes by Doug Fitch
In these dishes, produced with Michael Cardew’s old press moulds, Doug Fitch distills an intimate bond with the local landscape with a modern touch.