Ceramic Art London

Two terrific talks at Ceramic Art London on Sunday - the first was Paul Scott on his work, Cumbrian Blue(s) -

and on his part in the Hanoi Mosaic Mural, which commemorates the city's 1000th anniversary - and covers 2km of grungy concrete along the highway (it's planned to extend to 6km). The mural includes Vietnamese designs -
and work by invited international artists. Paul's design is a traditional Chinese pattern, "prunus and cracked ice" (Vietnamese ceramics were influenced by Chinese ceramics), which in the UK has become known as "Calico" and is still available. So it passed through many iterations before it arrived beside that Hanoi highway -
The other talk was by Annie Turner, whose work I have long admired - she was talking about the Suffolk river and coast where she grew up and returns to often. Amid my notes are many quick scribblesto remind me of the photos she showed, of meanders in the mud, planks for crossing the marsh, things sticking up in the mud -- a very evocative world -- and of the sinkers, spoons, sluices, ladders she has made that embody this landscape and history.

Among the RCA ceramics students' work were these "sweater birds" by Katy Jennings
In the main show, I loved the animals - and especially the birds - by Susan O'Byrne -
the colours in the work of Elke Sada -
and Carol Farrow's recent works in paper clay -
But what came home with me was a tea caddy by Robert Cooper -
It sits between the storage jar, from Holmfirth days (mid-70s) and the vase by Maggie Byrne, my first purchase at a Chelsea Craft Fair (mid-80s).