Pollie & Garry Uttley

Our dear friend Pollie, much loved by us all, sadly passed away on the 22nd May.
When Margaret and I first became friends with Pollie and Garry in the early 2000's she had already had quite an illustrious life in the trendy days of the seventies and eighties supplying London fashion houses with items of hand made suede clothing ranging from coats to hotpants. This early photograph shows her modelling one of her hand made brown suede coats with orange appliqued flowers destined for Harrods or Saks in the late seventies.
She and Garry became our acquaintances (you know how it is on our pottery circuit - you meet people and maybe you get to know them more over a period of time) from around 2000 maybe but in 2005  Margaret and I had travelled to Rufford Ceramics Centre to view the joint exhibition of Hayes and Hanna. Pollie and Garry where there and we were asked if we would like to stay at their place instead of travelling the 2 and a half hours home. We accepted the invitation and we duly arrived at their home, 'Field Cottage' that evening. It was a complete revelation, like visiting a museum – teeming with beautifully displayed momentos and artifacts mainly from their travels to India. Cases of treen and interesting objet d'art stood in each room whilst intricate wooden wall panels and mirrors hung on the walls and an enormous Indian dowry chest imported from India by Pollie and Garry stood in pride of place.
Everything fell into place in me - we had known of Pollie's interest in India from seeing her ceramics - colourful, loud and intricate, revelling in the the sights seen on their multitude of trips. It was very obvious this wasn't just an interest or a passing phase of inspiration but a lifelong passion for everything Indian. Her commitment was absolute and dedicated.
As the years passed we became very deeply connected friends, we travelled to shows with them throughout Europe, rented apartments together and were guests at their house and they at ours also, too many times to remember. They say that the test of friendship is to go on holiday with someone and find out who they really are - we did just that, several times and it worked exceptionally well. Together the four of us travelled the UK, The Netherlands, France Germany and India multiple times. The trips to India were planned and organised by Pollie and they showed her skills and knowledge of that huge complex country.
Over the years we watched Field Cottage became a stopover, a hub for a very large cross section of professional ceramicists.  The number of potters/clay workers who were hosted there was remarkable – David and Margaret Frith; Rachel Wood;  Gwen Bainbridge; Peter Beard; Willy Van Bussel -Netherlands; Nigel Edmundson; Roger Cockram, Ahraf  & Sue Hanna; Suzanne Lukas Ringel – Germany;  Abbay Pandit -India;  Andrew Harding; Geoff and Christine Cox; Ange Peterson- India; Armin Skirde - Germany; Roger Lewis;  Fritz Rossman – Germany; Ziggy Boehem- Germany; Toon Thijs – Netherlands. Frequently there would be perhaps a dozen or more sat at Pollie's dining table and every room in the house would be given over to a sleeping space. On one occasion there was a shortage of rooms so the caravan was brought out – not for the guests but for Pollie and Garry who gave up their room. The importance of having such a wonderful place to gather was hugely beneficial to the extensive networking that potters revel in and the Uttleys, together would strive to open oportunities for others wherever they could. After so many years of involvement with India they facilitated our inclusion, along with others, in a major international ceramic event in The Habitat Centre Delhi where exhibitors from The Netherlands, Japan, Czech Republic, Australia, Russia, Ireland, Belgium,  and India all showed their ceramic creations.
Pollie's legacy to ceramics is way beyond the actual physical works that she made, themselves an absolute testimony to dedicated professionalism; it is felt by all those whose life path was altered and enhanced by her unwavering hospitality. If we look back through various periods in Art History we will hear stories of like minded artists gathering together to share ideas and ambitions; The Impressionists in the bars of Paris, The Bloomsbury Group  at the home of Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf - if I had any influence over the writing of history I'd let it be well known that Field Cottage was very much a favoured stopping place for a multitude of ceramic artists from all over thie UK and well beyond. It was the hub where we all got to know each other better, shared stories and ambitions and had lots of laughs.
Pollie will be missed by us all and I am quite sure that we are all very honoured that she knew who we all were.