clay owl made with a bag of clay by jon from eastnor pottery and the flying potter

albert the albatross stuffed bird at worcester art gallery and museum

We always enjoy a clay sesh at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum, especially as we get to see our old friend Albert the Albatross!

Albert was presented to the city’s museum collection in 1902 by a Mr Percy Pryce Brown, a refrigerator engineer aboard RMS Waimate! The museum curator and top notch taxidermist Mr W. Edwards preserved the bird while a custom-made display case was built by local carpenter W. W. Hunt. Albert has been admired by museum visitors for over a hundred years and is currently displayed in the activities room….which is where we get to work with pottery participants of all ages and abilities.

This time, Jon worked with a group of youngsters from a local nursery school exploring clay on the tables and potter’s wheel. Everybody had a fantastic time and the session just flew by, almost as quickly as a wondering albatross!

albert the albatross at worcester city art gallery and museumclay owl made with a bag of clay by jon from eastnor pottery and the flying potterclay pot made on potter's wheel by early years childrenclay spider made by child at worcester city art gallerywet pot made on potter's wheel by a very young child at worcester museum

Collaborative Coil Pot made with Eastnor Pottery and St. Joseph's Primary School

 

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A lot of our educational work takes place in schools. We travel all over the West Midlands and beyond working with children and young people, sharing the myriad of benefits of working with clay and pottery.

Once in a while a school is able and motivated to visit us here in Herefordshire. We love a home fixture, particularly when the learners are as enthusiastic and turned onto clay as Winterfold House School.

Yr1 made terracotta coil pots which will be fired in time for Mother’s Day.

There was also a bit of time at the end of the session for a potter’s wheel demonstration.

 

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white hand thrown tea pot with black spotted spout, surrounded by hand modeled red dragon

It’s mostly adults who enjoy our Weekend Potter’s Wheel Courses here at Eastnor Pottery but every once in a while we’ll entertain a teenager or young person. We love the dynamism and creative flair the junior potters bring to the table.

GCSE art student Ellie was no exception.

Ellie was gifted one of our weekend courses as a Christmas present last year and attended a fully booked event in the Spring 2021. On day two, you can  assemble the pots from the previous day into a single work of ceramic art. Ellie was keen to make a Dragon Tea Pot and threw all the components (spout, lid etc) on Saturday. On Sunday all the bits and pieces were leather hard and perfect for scratch and slipping together. We think she made an amazing job of her mission – Well done Ellie!
white hand thrown tea pot with black spotted spout, surrounded by hand modeled red dragon

white hand thrown tea pot with black spotted spout, surrounded by hand modeled red dragon

white hand thrown tea pot with black spotted spout, surrounded by hand modeled red dragon

white hand thrown tea pot with black spotted spout, surrounded by hand modeled red dragon taken from a birds eye view

pear tree tile panel made by bromsgrove first school in worcestershire with the help of herefordshire artist jon the potter williams

jon the potter assembling school project tile panel made with the orchards school in worcestershire

The Flying Potter Jon Williams from Eastnor Pottery worked with every single child at The Orchards School, Bromsgrove to make this fantastic pear tree tile panel.

On it’s website the school aims to: “develop a love of learning and the opportunity for each individual to achieve their full potential and to develop and explore their own interests in a secure and challenging environment” We reckon the clay project certainly fulfilled this aim!  Every child hand modeled either a fruit, leaf or branch covered in clay decoration depicting an aspect of school life they enjoyed or excelled at.

The tiles, all 268 of them were mounted on to painted and cut MDF boards and delivered to School ready for installation in the Autumn term. The panel will be hung near the reception area to be admired by children, staff and visitors forever more – a permanent reminder of what can be achieved when we all work together.

close up of orchards school project will herefordshire artist jon the potter williams

 

lady with a mask on sat at a potters wheel holding up wooden board containing 2 pots she has thrown

Lauren, a student at Hereford Art College (HCA) joined us for a week of work experience.

As well as joining one of our Introduction to the Potter’s Wheel classes, she assisted with glazing, packaging customers work and re-claiming clay.

Lauren is considering a career in ceramics and was considering applying to Cardiff Metropolitan University to study the craft. Here’s her art Instagram account.

lady with a mask on sat at a potters wheel holding up wooden board containing 2 pots she has thrown

a green jug, green and purple pot and an unpainted ceramic dish on a wooden board