Alan Wallwork

Carolyn Preston wrote:Was he eating watermelon when he was hit by the muse?

Carolyn

Actually It's very possible , most of his pieces are taken from nature or surroundings , He told me in an Email, when he was younger he used to walk past a canal and noticed the hitching posts had grooves worn out on them from the constant use , this inspired some pieces he made , so maybe a melon segment is correct , face on it looks like an egyptian neck thingy ,wajmacallit.

The latest addition to my little wallwork collection

slight blue tints in this glaze

small pools of glaze in the centre

http://www.oxfordceramics.com/artists/alan-wallwork?section=stock

m, check out these , I like the relic form

I just got this thin slice of melon, the holes go right the way through which adds to the look of the piece imo

5" High , signed AW

6 inch Briglin tile

It is a Wallwork tile but why the "Briglin"? They were made by Alan and his assistants first in Greenwich and then down in Marnhull in Dorset into the 1970s.

Being in London, Alan and Eileen/Brigitte at Briglin did sell each others work but that was about the only connection. As an aside, Alan was the proud owner of a Briglin toilet roll holder that was modelled on rather oversized "gentleman's tackle" - sorry but I don't have an image!

That is the connection , they were sold through briglin pottery showrooms , it was just an added bit of info , like bitossi for raymor etc.

thanks chaps,I thought my tile was made at Briglin

A real Wallwork image - the man working in France in 2006. You will note that he is throwing on the wheel and, despite what the finished pots look like, the vast majority of them start out that way. After throwing they are cut and reassembled and them decorated by scratching, incising and piercing.

The melon forms are slab built. He would take a lump of clay and roll it into a ball then cut in half. Each half would be flattened by hand and then finished in an old fashioned mangle. He would cut the crescent shapes by hand and when semi-hard pierce and otherwise distress.

The tiles were actual blanks bought from commerical tile producers, such as Pilkington and Johnson. Alan produced the original designs and his team of ladies decorated in a manner similar to icing and decorating a cake.

I have a few bits around the house and in the garden. I'll try and dig a large piece out of the cellar and take a photograph but in the meantime here is a group of late 1950s/early 1960s pieces.

A picture of the tiles being decorated at Alan's pottery in Marnhull in 1970.

dantheman wrote:the big bowl looks interesting,did he use oxides?

Yes he has always mixed glazes using oxides and wood ash and below is a pot from his first year in France (2006) when the intense light made much of his work more colourful.

the colour detracts from the design in my opinion,it is an organic design that requires natural colour

Alan W. agreed with you and toned it down after that.