RE mark - Roy Evans, Severn Gorge and Edgmond Potteries, England

Via www.tankervillepottery.co.uk which is nolonger accessible:

Roy Evans was born in Pontesbury Shropshire.

His childhood was spent roaming the Shropshire hills where the love of open spaces made a deep impression on him. In 1947 his family moved to Birmingham.

He attended Moseley Road School of Arts and Crafts taking cabinet making and furniture design as his main subjects. He also became interested in music with an ambition to become a concert pianist, studying with Olive Perry, and in later years, the late Joseph Weingarten.
His musical tastes are wide, playing in rock and dance bands. also he is an experienced accompanist, playing for soloists and wind and string ensembles. Roy also plays the flute. which he enjoys playing immensely, Classical music however is still his first love with English music his favourite.

After completing his national service in REME as a tank mechanic, he continued in industry as a design engineer working in a wide range of industries, mostly in research and development.
Disillusioned with industry and needing to return to his native Shropshire; whilst on holiday in Porlock Somerset he met the potter Wassel Cooper. Completely hooked by what he saw, he took up pottery at an evening class run by local artist and potter Ann Warner. He was fascinated by the reaction of heat on minerals in the glazing process inspired, he gave up engineering, became self employed and started working in his garage. Using his engineering experience he built a wheel and kiln, teaching himself the skills needed to earn a living.
He opened Edgmond Pottery, in 1967 selling out to the retail sector covering the Midlands, Cumbria and Wales.
In 1970 he was invited to join the Ironbridge Gorge Museum, thenin its infancy, as a working potter, demonstrating to its visitors, whilst running a working pottery. With high grade clays readily available in the area he built a slip house, selling prepared clays to other potters and colleges.
During this time he also taught pottery at Shrewsbury Art College and lectured in ceramics at Wolverhampton Polytechnic Arts Department, also giving talks and demonstrations to various interested organisations.

1977 found him looking for peace and quiet, he left The Ironbridge Museum, found a disused property in the south Shropshire hills, he demolished the old buildings and built what is now Tankerville Pottery, opening at Easter the following year.

Roy prefers to produce items that have some useful purpose and with a price range to suit every pocket. He enjoys making bold strong forms, combined with rich earthy colours, In contrast also likes working with porcelain and produces delicate forms using glazes in with soft subtle shades. When time permits he produces some sculptural work.

Roy produces mostly oven to tableware, covering most ranges of items, casseroles, dinner services, jugs, teapots, etc. He also specializes in large pots and platters. He does large quantity runs as well as individual pieces. With his large kiln he produces very large pieces of work which he enjoys making as a challenge. He is constantly fascinated by the variations of colour and textures, produced by reduction firing.

His clays come from South Staffordshire, he produces his own glazes from his own recipes, using basic materials. Firing is done with a bisque at 960-1000 centigrade and with a reduction glost fire at 1300 centigrade.

He has one main kiln that he designed and built himself in 1971, one of the first pottery kilns fired by propane gas in the country with a capacity of one cubic yard, and some smaller ones electrically fired, for odd jobs. He uses a cone driven wheel with a large capacity for pots of 56 lbs clay weight.

His pottery at Tankerville operates in a partnership with his family under the name Tankerville Pottery & Gallery, with a craft shop, which sells paintings, and hand produced crafts made at Tankerville.
A large car park is available adjacent to the pottery, which is situated in the beautiful scenery of South Shropshire under the Stiperstones Nature Reserve. Many B&B facilities are available in the area together with good food and accomodation at the Stiperstones Inn nearby.

Roy is now semi retired living on the Welsh coast indulging in music and art, playing music with his friends returning to Tankerville to make his pots as and when the occasion demands