Askrigg Pottery
Askrigg Pottery,
Old School House,
Westend, Askrigg,
Leyburn,
North Yorkshire,
DL8 3HN
Tel: 01969-650548
Email address: askrigg.pottery@virgin.net
Directions: Askrigg is situated between Leyburn and Hawes in Upper Wensleydale just off and above the A684. Park your vehicle in the village, walk down the road which runs down the back of the church, where you will see in front of you a small square, with a house, arched gateway into a cobbled courtyard, garden and pottery. Watch out for the ankle nipping Border Collie – biscuits are a good bribe!
Availability: Visitors welcome but it is a good idea to phone first, to find out availability of stock and whereabouts of potter.
Personal Statement: I have lived and made pots in the Dales village of Askrigg for the past 25 years, and at last I am learning to balance life with pottery, enjoying both to the full.
My kiln, like me, is aging, mellowing and sagging a bit at the corners, but it often produces surprises. Together we struggle to reach stoneware temperatures (1300 deg. C.) in a reduction atmosphere. Sixty cubic feet of raw energy, contained in nine inch thick walls of brick and steel.
I work with stoneware and porcelain clays, for decoration I use on-glaze pigments, and sometimes hot wax, using both European and Chinese brushes. Once fired the results have a watercolour like translucency
I am currently experimenting with glaze formulations using wood-ash as a source of colour, texture and flux – an exciting though risky venture.
Current Work: An ever changing range of high-fired stoneware and porcelain. Oil fired stoneware, reduction to 1280 – 1300 deg. C. Functional ware, most work is decorated in cool Northern colours using both European and Oriental brushwork, from small powder pots to prodigious harvest jugs, from delicate porcelain bowls, to vigorous platters.
Other Information: May be available for lectures, demonstrations and workshops, subject to discussion. Happy to undertake commissions
Technical Information: Kiln is my own design, with 60cu. ft. capacity using two old brass Nu-way burners. work is glazed with a talc base glaze, colours used are my own on-glaze colours, applied with Oriental and European brushes. I am also involved with wood-ash glazes and dabble with porcelain.
History and Profile: Born in Sheffield in 1948. Trained at Chesterfield, Rochester and Loughborough Colleges of Art. Worked as an apprentice for Marianne de Trey for 6 years at Shinners Bridge Pottery, Dartington. Moved to Wensleydale in 1974 to a first workshop in rented premises. Set up Askrigg Pottery in 1978 at the Old School House, where I have worked ever since.
Exhibitions and Collections: I have exhibited widely and my work is included in museum collections at Gateshead, Bowes, and at the Gladstone Museum, Stoke on Trent.