Ceramic Art London

Last Friday I spent the day with my fellow MA students down in London at the Craft Potters Association's ceramic fair. It was a fabulous day from start to finish. Lucy missed the train, so I ended up travelling down on my own (she got the next one - it was no big deal). Shenac met us at Euston, and Rob was on Lucy's train. We left Rob to go and visit the V&A Museum, having made arrangements to meet him at CAL after lunch.

I knew the list of artists before setting off and those who were relevant to me were Lucy Baxendale and Jaeeun Kim as both had helped me with my last assignment (I interviewed them). I intended to go and introduce myself, and I managed to do this with Jaeeun which was lovely, but Lucy was either at lunch or busy chatting to other people when I tried to speak to her. Other notable artists which Rich Miller, Jemma Gowland, Sharon Griffin, and Ashraf Hanna, amongst others.

Whether I knew the artist or not, the variety of work on display was great and the talent exceptional. It was very interesting to see all of the work. Obviously there were styles I liked and styles I didn't, but overall it was easy to appreciate it all.

I had a good look through the books and the tools in the pop-up shop and made a couple of purchases. A glaze book took my eye as I thought it would help with my studies. I also gave in to temptation and bought a wall cherub from Jemma Gowland. I've loved her work for a long time and as it was a wall piece, I knew I would have space for it.

A second trip round in the afternoon with Rob saw us getting further introductions to artists he knew which proved interesting. We also met up with some second year students and hearing their observations was pertinent as they had been to CAL previously.

I would definitely go to CAL again next year. I found it really useful to see the calibre of work all under one roof and to take a view on contemporary ceramics.. It's daunting to envisage entering a field with such luminaries, but all part of a learning process that I am thoroughly enjoying.

Jemma Gowland Cherub