In April of next year I am having an Exhibition at The New Craftsman, St.Ives. For this Exhibition I wanted to make some pieces with a cornish connection. Cornwall is renowned for its rich natural resources and clays, so it was an exciting opportunity to go and see what I could find. Before I left I had three main materials that I was hoping to find. China Clay was an obvious choice, although what I didn’t realise is that there are small deposits all over cornwall not just in St.Austle. I went to two old clay works one called Bakers Pit and the other near Tresowen. Both places I found clay but the clay I found at Tresowen was better.
Next I wanted some Granite to use in glazing and this I got from Castle an Dinas Quarry. Mountains of granite dust I could help myself to, a waste product from crushing and grading aggregate.
From there I went to Doble’s clay pit near St.Agnes, a working pit started in 1910 and supplied clay to Bernard Leach in St.Ives.
Finally, I really wanted to find some metal ore and for this I visited the Porthtowan area and after searched through various spoil heaps I started to spot little bright green pieces of copper ore. A very successful bit of prospecting. I am now looking forward to testing my samples and seeing what I can come up with.
My Cornish Series will be exhibited at The New Craftsman from the 12th April – 17th May 2014
