by Jon Williams | Feb 4, 2022 | Artist, Experiments, Outside, Surface Quality, Work in Progress
My slow burning, smoke firing journey continues… One of the most satisfying outcomes has been the incidental surfaces and effects that appear when I’ve been getting creative applying a slip resist to the surface of my bisque fired ware. In an attempt to echo the...
by Jon Williams | Apr 11, 2021 | Experiments, Surface Quality
by Jon Williams | Mar 21, 2021 | Artist, Experiments, Work in Progress
Somewhere in this blackened sagger is a little burnt offering in need of wire wool & wax tlc!
by Jon Williams | Mar 14, 2021 | Artist, Outside, Work in Progress
I love making these!!! – so much fun to produce! ?? They start life on the potters wheel as thin, solid cones. Texture is added whilst the clay spins and each one finally curled from the tip down. They’re insect antennae, added to the bodies of sculptural bees,...
by Jon Williams | Mar 4, 2021 | Artist, Exhibitions
Contemporary Ceramics asked me to provide a short piece of writing to accompany the work I sent them. It was suggested I comment on how I got into working with clay: As a child I loved drawing and messing about with mud. We lived on the edge of a large housing estate...
by Jon Williams | Feb 21, 2021 | Experiments, Work in Progress
Although I’m a thrower, I do enjoy the challenge of working with other pottery techniques. These slabbed constructions are ceramic bases, designed to support a sculpture on a metal rod. That said, I reckon they look pretty cool as stand alone pieces. I...
by Jon Williams | Jan 21, 2021 | Experiments, Outside, Work in Progress
Whilst experimenting with smoke fired pottery on the BBQ last Spring, I found a lot of my pots developed hair-line cracks and fissures due to the thermal shock of the flames licking the ware. There was only one course of action – make myself some saggers! Those...
by Jon Williams | Jun 30, 2020 | Experiments, Outside
In an attempt to add further depth to my ceramic surfaces, I’ve been messing about with fire in the Pottery garden. I had dabbled with smoke firing once before in my role as an artist in residence at Evesham Nursery School. I have very fond memories of working...
by Jon Williams | Jun 15, 2020 | Experiments, Work in Progress
These poor little fellas have been thrown, slipped, cut, stretched and pulled apart on the potter’s wheel! I’m enjoying seeing how far I can push the material with the aim to capture or preserve the point of disintegration. It’s a tricky balance to...
by Jon Williams | Jun 12, 2020 | Artist, Work in Progress
Sometimes it’s just nice to see what the stuff can do!
by Jon Williams | May 14, 2020 | Interactive Art, Social Engagement
Throwback Thursday: Making Together at Birmingham Settlement 2018 This was a year-long programme of inter-generational making based activity initiated by Craftspace and took place at Birmingham Settlement. I was one of six makers who got to work with early-years...