Sheila Fournier

Sheila Fournier was born Sheila Cook in 1930 and trained as a teacher at Goldsmiths College in London (1950-1) where she met her second husband, Robert Fournier, who had just set up the pottery department there. She was originally taught to pot by Robert, who she married in 1961, and together they made functional tableware initially in a studio space they rented from Alan Wallwork in Greenwich. From there they moved to Kent and then to Lacock, Wiltshire in 1971 where she remained until her death in 2000. She actually stopped potting in 1987 so her career was relatively short.

See also: https://www.20thcenturyforum.com/t9819-robert-sheila-fournier-various-locations

Undoubtedly, Sheila was the most talented of the couple and alongside the functional wares she made individual pieces in oxidised stoneware and porcelain that showed her originality and expertise.

The bowl below was made around 1980.  

Another image of the bowl and one of the mark: -

She is one of the few British studio potters whose work can be found in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) collection in New York

http://www.moma.org/collection/artists/1960

I really like this pot , ticks all the boxes for me .

One of the main reasons I went to the auction .

Lovely tactile stoneware pod like vase, I think it's a piece by Sheila Fournier, 1970's ish.
The mark isn't 100% right, missing a dot.
Any help with ID welcomed.

Looking at the item overall, I don't think that I would be able to argue with a Sheila Fournier attribution.

I say that because:-

1. The mark is very close to examples and the seals used for marking get lost and changed.
2. It fits in with the style of her work as it developed.
3. The stoneware body looks similar to that used by Alan Wallwork in the 1960s/70s and Sheila rented space from Alan in Greenwich in the early 1960s, along with her husband. It's where the change in style of their work changed from solely functional pottery.
4. The base decoration mirrors other pots of hers that I've seen.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge studio, really useful information to have.
Much appreciated

There was a relatively short lived fashion for this type of naturalistic seed pot type of work in the early 70's or thereabouts. Early Mary Rodgers, Eileen Lewenstein in particular. Sheila Fournier being a very interesting and under estimated potter. She did a lot of more unusual work.

Alan Wallwork always said that Sheila was far more talented than her husband and I am sure that wasn't just because he fancied her.

studio-pots wrote:Alan Wallwork always said that Sheila was far more talented than her husband and I am sure that wasn't just because he fancied her.

Sounds like there's the makings for a studio pottery soap there.
Joking asides, I think I'd have no trouble fancying anyone that creates pieces like this.

philpot wrote:There was a relatively short lived fashion for this type of naturalistic seed pot type of work in the early 70's or thereabouts. Early Mary Rodgers, Eileen Lewenstein in particular. Sheila Fournier being a very interesting and under estimated potter. She did a lot of more unusual work.

I'll be keeping an eye out for more pieces by SF, it's the first of her pots that I've owned and it has left me with a taste to find more.
I've found a nice lamp base online, but I'm not prepared to pay what the seller is asking.

I've got one of those somewhere! Big tall white thing.

I have always loved this Sheila Fournier Bowl. It must have taken such skill to make it. It is 40 cms in diameter, and made in the early 80's, when she was at the peak of her talent. She stopped potting in 1987. Such an underestimated potter. There is a similar slightly larger one in the V&A collection.

A very talented potter and very underrated in my opinion, her double and triple rimmed pieces are particularly fascinating, i understand that both of the Fournier's were committed atheist's and had woodland burials.