Simon Fletcher

I don't know a great deal about this potter other than he trained at Farnham at the same time as Patrick Sargent and there they became friends.

The main reason for starting the thread is that his mark could well be confused with that of Sheila Fournier, so here is an image of the mug by him that I own plus the mark.

After doing a search I assume that he might well be the artist and writer that now lives in the South of France.

Another version of his mark -







Doug Fitch says he was at Bishopsteinton in Devon and used to work with him at the art college in Exeter. But he no longer pots. His website lists him as an artist

Interesting that his mark seemed to change more often than his work. I saw the website too.

My mug has become one of my favourites - I always have a Powdermill Nic Collins one first thing and the one above for the rest of the day......................... unless I have tea and then it's a Derek Emms porcelain one.

I bought this a while ago as Sheila Fournier but the Mark has extra dots & I don’t know whether she dated pieces. In my mark book it indicates She & Robert finished their work at Leacock in 1987.
6” bowl, green glaze outside, Speckled brown inside. What would these glazes be? Well modelled feet with what look like she’ll impressions. SF 93 marks.

Simon Fletcher,

https://www.20thcenturyforum.com/t19530-simon-fletcher

Great link and really clear. It’s great definitely knowing a maker. Thank you Philpot.

Yes, this was made at my workshop at Langdon Barton, near Dawlish in South Devon. I am an ex Farnham student, there between 1979-81. A very good friend of Patrick Sargent and studying under Paul Barron and Henry Hammond, with many good visiting tutors, e.g. Takeshi Yasuda.
The pot itself was wood-fired to about 1300’c, ash-glazed externally with an iron bearing clay glaze inside.
The pottery was only producing for about 2 years before I had to relocate, and then the next one folded before I could even get going. Such is life. I lost impetus and steered off in another direction. The death of Patrick was a hard blow and I couldn’t find the incentive I needed to get going. Nevertheless, it’s good to see there are still a few pieces out there in people’s collections; thanks for posting!

Good to see you have one of my pots and it’s likely to actually still in use! As I have just posted elsewhere, this work was made at my erstwhile workshop at Langdon Barton, near Dawlish in South Devon. I am an ex Farnham student, there between 1979-81. A very good friend of Patrick Sargent and studying under Paul Barron and Henry Hammond, with many great visiting tutors, e.g. Takeshi Yasuda.
The pot itself was wood-fired to about 1300’c, ash-glazed externally with an iron bearing clay glaze inside and a Chun glaze applied to the impressions that were made with a snail shell.
The pottery was only producing for about 2 years before I had to relocate, and then the next one folded before I could even get going. Such is life. I lost impetus and steered off in another direction. The death of Patrick was a hard blow and I couldn’t find the incentive I needed to get going. Nevertheless, it’s good to see there are still a few pieces out there in people’s collections and furthermore, in use.

PS - not the watercolourist Simon Fletcher working in France - it’s a relatively common name, I guess.

Simon, that’s really helpful of you to send in details about your pottery. I guess the loss to potting was a gain for painting. Thanks again and I will look out for more of your work.

Thanks Ben, though, as I said in the linked post, I’d like to reiterate that I’m not the other Simon Fletcher, working in France...

Oh that’s not you!

Great info, thank you The pots are wonderful

The mug that started this thread came to me via Trevor Coldrey, who started and ran the Harlequin Gallery back in the 1990s. I think it was one of several that you, Simon, brought along to the PV of one of Patrick's solo exhibitions there.


Since acquiring it, it has become one of the mugs that I use on a regular, if not, daily basis.

Exactly! You have a better memory than I do, but that’s right, I remember we came up for the exhibition. Pleasing to hear about an item I made that is still in use. Thanks.