RED LION POTTERY

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 Welcome

to the 

Red Lion Pottery 

Website

 

 

 

About the pottery

I set up  pottery in 2004 in a purpose built extension at my home which also housed a small gym now changed into a showroom! All work is made and fired on-site.

 

About me

I became a 'potaholic' in my late teens whilst passing a ceramics department in a college where I was studying science. After two years of pottery evening classes I was seriously afflicted but then went on to fulfil my dream and study medicine. Some 35 years later I took early retirement from General Practice in order to pursue my love of ceramics.

 

In the intervening years I had developed an eclectic taste in pots initially stimulated by a patient whose house was re-mortgaged to fill it with a wide range of ceramics, sculpture and ethnic art, ranging from early English salt-glaze ware to Epstein bronzes and African effigies. Home visits were always essential to deal with his medical problems! The stimulus to collect and to make was firmly planted, but it wasn’t until retirement that time allowed the making to become a reality.

 

After obtaining a City & Guilds certificate and diploma and a University of Derby ceramics diploma I also studied aspects of Chinese calligraphy and painting. Attending a two week course under the guidance of the Japanese master, Matsuzaki Ken, was a major influence on my further development, as was a visit to China in March 2006. I have also gained considerably from attending courses run by David and Margaret Frith and Nic Collins.  

 

Artist’s Statement

Starting in ceramics at this stage of my life has given me the freedom to develop my pottery as I wish and I am able to indulge my interests in any direction that appeals to me. My inspiration is influenced by many sources but two remain most significant.

 

Elements of Oriental philosophy, especially Zen and Wabi-sabi in relation to ceramics has a resonance with that of my own. I have a preference for simplicity in ceramics and like the concept of finding “beauty in the impermanent, imperfect and the incomplete, in things modest and humble and in the unconventional”.

 

The other main inspirational influence is the natural world particularly geological formations and flora.

 

I make mainly thrown and some hand-built ceramics principally in stoneware, my glazes are based on traditional oriental recipes and often incorporate local wood ashes. Until recently most of my pots were reduction fired in a propane gas kiln but I have recently built my own wood-firing kiln and am enjoying the wonderful effects natural ash and the raw flame can produce. Each firing allows me to discover and explore new effects.

 

 

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Alan Birchall

Please get in touch to offer comments and join my mailing list for news of new work, exhibitions, fairs and sales

 
Red Lion Pottery, 228 High Road, Chilwell, Nottingham, NG9 5DB
tel:  0770 9509985