The Port Hacking
Potters Group was established in 1962 and I sometimes go to its regular
meetings, learning a lot, contributing not much but getting inspiration from
its select and superb collection of pots.
Among its activities—providing firing facilities, giving access to a
library, arranging for talks, demonstrations, and visits and raising money for
charity, has been a National Exhibition and Competition held bi-annually. It is
now an important event at the The Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, with which the
Group has a good relationship—including use of a studio on Sunday afternoons.
The Competition is well sponsored and attracts a range of works in a diversity
of styles and materials from across the country. There are prizes, some
substantial for both professionals and students, in hand-building, sculpture
and wheel work; and it is as a student that I have exhibited.
I joined the Group
because having moved into the area, I wanted to start potting again after a long
lay-off. My old wheels had gone the way of all rust and my wife suggested I
contact the group to seek a replacement. An elderly Shimpo was available at
little cost. For the exorbitant cost of a couple of bottles of ginger beer, it
was brought round to my house and up the precipitous pathways to where it has
since lived, purring away obediently, when required. Well mostly obediently, some days it just
wastes the clay, out of spite for being neglected; or it makes pots that are
too heavy, just to prove how strong it is. With such a prize I thought I should
join the Group that made its presence in my life, its clay all over the house,
possible. I became an exhibiting member and take regular classes at Hazelhurst
for access to the gas reduction firing and the company of experts and
professionals. Around 2013 I started experimenting with a wood ash glaze, based
on Guan, and with natural clays; and used the glaze for a set of three small
wheel-thrown pears as test pieces. They came out surprisingly well, so with
nothing to lose I entered them in the 2014 Competition.
A lot of time, by
others, is spent setting up the exhibition, displaying well over one hundred ceramics
to best advantage in related groups. The whole is arranged in a fine, light and
well-proportioned space, between the studios and the café, that itself leads
onto the extensive gardens. Under such circumstances the set of pears and two
other pots, not for sale, looked better than I thought they could. They won no
prizes, but the pears sold and I was commissioned to make 2 more sets. The
gallery attracts a lot of visitors to its café and its exhibitions (three can
be held simultaneously), so there is both dedicated and casual interest in the
whole display. The awards were announced at the formal opening, it was a
buoyant and very crowded occasion.
At a fairly early
stage, the Group selects a distinguished potter as a judge, and he or she is
the only person allowed to cruise round and pick up and invert everything moveable
before the Exhibition opens, so to some extent the decisions have to be taken
on faith, and there is unlikely to be unanimous agreement with all of them. There
is certainly plenty of time for post-mortems at the meeting that follows the
Competition; but judging is, if not a thankless, a tricky task, and as I was
not allowed to do what every pot demands, handle it, who am I to say whether
justice is or can always be done? I do remember some inspiringly good pieces,
not all of which were given awards, and went away feeling enhanced by the
company my work had kept, but in no way envious of the potter charged with
making the final decisions. I’ll happily enter some pots this year and hope
that many others do.
Conal Condren
2016
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