Brunyfire’s Cardew Connection.

A recent visit to catch up with family in the UK circa June 2018 saw Brunyfire catching up with an old school buddy of her Beloveds’ (aka John Smith) – Ian Morris.

Morris is an antiques dealer in books, furniture, jewellery, clocks and ceramics – his shop is based in Chesterfield, Derbyshire above Libby’s cafe.8810075C-5E45-4161-9F31-8B54A088DC0DAmongst the figurines, jelly moulds, glasses, silverware, paintings, cups and saucers, Toby jugs and tobacco jars………1745928B-6BB4-407D-85FF-B07CAC2BFC57 …….were a couple of standout pieces. The first was a Pearsons sgraffito vase designed by John Spencer during the late 1940s. Comprising of a white body with what looks and feels like a vitreous slip – the decoration consists of a band of crisp sgraffito marks around the neck and middle of the piece done when the clay is leather hard. These pieces would most likely have been of a limited edition run, and this one in particular, as a family heirloom, Morris was definitely hanging onto. C5DE5A08-152D-4A1E-B002-19251D0F2D280227F236-ED2E-442D-B476-C30DD8970DE6Brunyfire has been collecting Pearson pottery from Chesterfield for many years – the ever growing collection of casseroles, jugs and storage pots housed at The Boathouse on Bruny Island testimony to a more a sentimental journey than a collection of value.

The second piece was of even greater interest with this intriguing stamp…….876263B8-2610-4D41-B3AD-2D4659D9F20F……..that resonates with links to the British studio pottery scene of the 1900s.FC2BC457-EF13-43B0-A527-A617F41CABE9British potter of renown, Michael Cardew (his stamp above) had trained with Bernard Leach at St Ives, Cornwall until 1926 when he left to take over a disused pottery near Winchcombe in Gloucestershire, five miles from Cheltenham. At Winchcombe Pottery over the years, Cardew was joined by Elijah Comfort, Sidney Tustin, and in the following few pre-war years by Charlie Tustin and Ray Finch.

In 1939 Cardew left Winchcombe in the capable hands of Ray Finch and set up a new pottery at Wenford Bridge, on the edge of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. It was here that Danlami Aliyu from Nigeria worked from 1976-1977 as a student of Cardews. Danlami Aliyu, (died 2012) was a gifted Nigerian potter whose life was radically shaped through encounters with the British studio pottery movement.

So it is a privilege that this piece………F424B9C4-D338-4F1D-A73E-BAAAF266DAA0…..now finds its way into Brunyfire’s collection.

 

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