Ceramics in Gran Canaria, 1

There are no many natural resources of clay in Gran Canaria. I am very fond about finding some local clay and to prepare it myself so to use in my work. But there is some clay which has been used to produce ceramic wares from the time of the first inhabitants of this island, some say they were of Berber origin. Their techniques and processes are still in use and well preserved by the practice of some of the Gran Canaria potters of today. Some play with the techniques and "bastardize" them producing amazing results, contemporary objects and artefacts. In other cases, the traditional practices and processes are religiously preserved. For example at "La Atalaya" there are a Museum and an open workshop dedicated to the memory of one of his famous master Panchito. It was not common in Gran Canaria for men to be involved in the production of ceramics. That did not stop Panchito, his house is today a museum and the visitor can see where and how he lived and worked as the workshop is contained within the house. Potteries used to be set up in manmade caves. The workshop was usually owned by the potter. The potters of La Atalaya were very poor they lived perched on the ravines near to the source of clay and other materials needed for their craft. There wes famine, war, isolation, as Gran Canaria besides being an island has a complicated topography.

I met really nice people at La Atalaya, and visited them a few times during firings and even helped in translating the information about the museum and workshop to a group of English visitors. My only problem to keep in touch and collaborate more often with them was their distance from Las Palmas where I was based. It was also difficult to fit my paid work schedule with that of the workshop opening times at La Atalaya.

Summary of my last ceramic days in London

It is been more than three years now since my last post. Somehow I have been delaying it and delaying it. My last post is from October 2015. That post is made mainly of images of tableware, at that moment I was producing work for the pre-Christmas' shows and markets. The dates and venues for some of these events appear in the post too. At that time I knew I was going to move out of London and back to Spain. In my mind was to make new work but also the need to sell and dispose of it quickly. Also, I had to pack and free my space at the Glebe road Studios by January. There was lots of work and things and memories to deal with. I was part of Glebe Road Studios since I finished my BA in Ceramics at Camberwell College of Art. The studio and my colleges were home to me. I had good memories from those last Fall-Christmas Shows and Events. The pots above are mainly made from London clay, I was very happy about them, the clay was from very deep below Bond Street. A good clay, it didn't need much additions nor preparation. I was very bold with the surface treatments, mostly I used engobes in blue, brown and green, kind of rusty colours, for the outer part of the pot. For the insides, I used a pale, watery green colour, like a river' water. The picture was taken at the end of 2015 in a Market in Chiswick London. The period before Christmas was very busy at my part-time job at Cheeky Tiki, we had lots of orders at the ceramic department, a different approach to production, ceramics and style; big orders of barware provided for cocktail's bars around the world. I loved to do the painting and didn't mind the repetition. It was hard to say goodbye to Cheeky Tiki, I was more than five years working for them, lots of memories and cocktails. I exhibited again at The London Potters Annual Show, always a busy show. And made some houses. . I was looking forward to my moving to warmer climates and went all crazy with the yellow. The image is from my last Winter 2015 Open Studios at Glebe Road. Before living in London I made more sales and had to pack some chosen pots, figures, materials and equipment to my mum's house in Galicia. There they would be kept stored for a while, most of them, as I was immediately moving to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where I had planed to reside for the next few years, and could not take them all with me.

Last Firings, Upcoming Markets and Shows

Pots from last firings: I am focusing lately on plates, bowls and cups, and more standard sizes. The pots are thrown in batches of 6/7 units, these batches I've subdivided again at the glazing stage. It is all focused on the variations. These last firings I have been glazing with blues, greens, and yellow hues, there are some pots with brushwork on glaze, stripes and subtle scribbling. Markets, fairs and exhibitions for this season. So far I will be taking part in: -W4STUDIO POTTERY 2015 Dates: 21st-22nd November -URBAN MAKERS EAST https://www.facebook.com/urbanmakerseast Venue: St. Paul’s Church, St. Stephen’s Road, Bow, London, E3 5JL Date: 5th December 2015 Trading Hours: 11:00am - 5:00pm -LONDON POTTERS ANNUAL SHOW http://www.londonpotters.com/ Morley Gallery, 61 Westminster Bridge Road, London, SE1 7HT Dates: From 9th November - GLEBE ROAD OPEN STUDIOS gleberoadceramics.blogspot.co.uk 18 Glebe Road E8 4BD Dates to be confirmed -THE LONDON ARTISAN http://www.thelondonartisan.com/ The Old Truman Brewery, London (Entrance on Elys Yard, Hanbury Street & Brick Lane) Date: 20 December

Bond Street London Clay Pieces

Last summer returning to London from Corunha I met while waiting as my flight was overbooked, two nice lads. As we were chatting they told me that they were working on the new Tube extensions on Bond street. They told me there were lots of clay, among other things... They also had very interesting and informative stories, from the places they have been working on. We decided to keep in touch and they offered to get a couple of bags of clay for me to sample. The clay comes from something like 35 meters below ground. This Bond street clay had a different touch and texture than the samples from my two previous experiences, Camberwell and Stoke Newington. The colour is a dark greenish ochre, it has a very earthy texture, no stones, gravel, impurities to be noticed by eye or hand. The clay seems dry but I would say is not, like it is retaining some water and never dries totally, not even now, 5 months later. It does not absorb water well nor does it dissolute as other clays, crumbles of clay kept together separated from the other clay. As I wanted to use the clay immediately I decided to mix it with other clays, to be sure of its workability. On itself is like is somehow water resistant, the crumbles may resemble grog, but they are not fired and they do not have the same texture. In any case, after wedging, most of it got finally mixed and its workability was good. In the mix, I added almost a third of an smooth red earthenware and another third from a stoneware body. I wanted this mix to be able to stand to be fired to 1140 degrees Celsius. The first batch of pots was produced exactly prior to Christmas. I had in mind some specific pieces and some specific engobes to use that require a firing of 1140 degrees Celsius. This was the reason for mixing the London clay with other clays. My previous experiences showed me that in any case, workability, drying, and firing results would improve considerably with the addition of some help from commercially prepared clays. The first items done with this new mix containing Bond street Clay: I have drawings from last summer, some are from my mum's bonsai looking like it is trying to escape from its pot, in another one, it is looking like bathing. These two creatures are influenced by those drawings. They are quite charming.

Bye Bye 2014

Excruciating November, and December, due to tight schedules and winter. I displayed work with the London Potters in their annual exhibition. The show was generous in styles, forms and shapes. Later on I came aware of the paradox of my liking for making figures while when wondering around in exhibitions I feel more attracted to pieces with glazes that camouflage the shapes that carry them. I still have many figurines waiting to materialize from my drawings. I started to make functional forms in order to play with glazes. But here too, the forms and repetition of pieces required for a sensible tableware production limits my glaze experimentation. During December I had many fairs and our annual Open Studios to set up. the cleaning, packaging, cataloging, setting up and down, the invigilating, accounting is finish now. It was like a long journey with ups and downs. I had time to think over the wares what to do next year, concerning tableware forms and colors. For the last firings I have started to brush on to the clear outside glazes, fluid almost patterns in a contrasting color. The last two forest came out, but just have a nice picture for one of them. Before continuing with the city/forest/island pieces series there is some things I want to do. I want to do another figure from the mixing of species series, the many shapes of matter, organically structured matter, metamorphosis, symbiosis.. I will add more to this in a future :)

Before winter.

The Christmas season is here. At the moment I am producing/finishing work, my last bisq firing is this week, after that I had two more glaze firings. One big for 1260 celsius, the other 1140celsius. The low temperature glaze is for the London Bond street, clay pots, mugs and bowls. The kilns are fully booked for this month, as it is 5 kilns for 15 or so people, all of us trying to get as much done as possible. I will be taking part this year in the following events: London Potters annual exhibition at the Morley Gallery the exhibition will take place at the Morley College, 61 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7HT. It will be open for two weeks starting on the 1st of December, private view 6-8pm, finishing the 16th of December. I will display three sculptural pieces, I have not totally decided which ones yet. One of the pieces a fossil forest is not completely finished, but i have not decided on that one yet.