Guy Sydenham

quite often I find a Gs pot and can't work out when it was made despite the stamps,here is a brief history of Guy's career to use as reference.

History
1916 - Born Islington London
1921 - Family moved to Devon
1930 - Scholarship to Poole School of Art
1931 - Began apprenticeship at Poole Pottery
1939 - 1945 - War service
1946 - Rejoined Poole Pottery and set up the Craft Section
1949 - Appointed Manager of Making Dept.
1952 - Attended course on industrial ceramics at Poole College.
1953 - 1956 - Lived with wife Joan and son Russel on M.V. Oklahoma in Poole Harbour
1956 - Moved to Long Island.
1960 - Found clay on Long Island. Built wheel and kiln and began saltglazing
1961 - Appointed part-time lecturer at Poole College of Art until 1970
1966 - Senior Designer at Poole Pottery Studio
1968 - Moved to Green Island
1975 - Exhibition at the Russell Cotes Museum art galley.
1977 - Resigned from Poole Pottery. Design consultant to Purbeck Pottery
1977 - Appointed lecturer at Southampton College of Higher Education.
1977 - Registered "Quay Pottery" with son Russel on Green Island.
1980 - Published article "Sea water Drip Saltglaze" in Ceramic Review N0 65
1982 - Member of the Advisory Panel to Southampton College of Higher Education.
1982 - Exhibitions: Lystra Galley, Poole; Dorchester Museum; Grants of Croydon.
1985 - Designed "Guys tread wheel" and "Through draft salt kiln"
1986 - Annual Exhibition at Southampton College of Higher Education
1986 - Romsey Arts and Crafts and the International Saltglaze Exhibition , Koblenz.
1986 - Exhibition and lecture "Seaforms Saltglazed" Letchworth for the Dacorum and Chiltern Potters Guild.
1987 - Formed Green Island pottery "Greensleeves" Featured in Southern TV programme Country Ways.
1988 - Moved to Portland
1991 - Published article in Real Pottery Vol 15 No 57 "Salt Glazing on Green Island"
1992 - Set up Mermaid Studios at Wakeham working in terracotta.
1993 - Preview of exhibition ‘Poole Studio Ware of 1960's at the New Century Galley Kensington Church Street London.
1995 - Lecture to Poole Pottery Collectors Club.
1996 - Exhibition of Joan, Russel, Guy Sydenham and Leslie Collington's ceramics at the Poole Museum's Galley.
1998 - Exhibition ‘The Green Island Potters' at the Atrium Galley, University of Bournmouth.: Guy Sydenham, Terry Davies and Matt Hew Davies.
1999 - Publication of A Potters Life: The Island Potters of Poole.
2002 - Started the production of a second book to be entitled A Potters Life: Portland Rokko Art 2000.

Here is my latest mermaid,she sits 5 inches tall,has a lovely saltglaze and will be having her hair professionally done in the near future.

This early Long Island saltglazed salt pig just shows the quality of Guy's work,a small functional pot,made to be used at the table but thrown as perfectly as one of his expensive sculptural pieces.
The more I see of Guy's work the more I realise just how talented he was.

art should reflect aspects of the artist's persona, this piece shows what guy had on his mind quite often throughout his life.

This lovely little gem of a creamer was thrown and saltglazed on Green Island Dorset

here is a saltglazed mermaid that I bought today,words fail me

miniature saltglazed pestle and mortar

today I have been taking posh pics to appear on a fancy pottery website,what do you think to the pics please?

I love this piece, the beast played by the octopus and beauty played by a mermaid.
Not mine more's the pity

all of you who doubted Guy's genius up to this point...you may now change your mind

Guy Sydenham, a recent piece by the great Tony Morris

this is the pencil drawing that inspired Tony's wonderful charger

early Long Island saltglazed mermaid,hand modeled rather than thrown

mermaid child, thrown in sections then assembled & finally saltglazed

the two pieces that I mentioned in my last two posts on this thread arrived today and imagine my surprise when one of the mermaids turned out to be a boy!






in close proximity to "the evidence" was a very unusual Guy Sydenham mark which was inscribed by hand rather than the usual potters stamp

the early long island mermaids were barely humanised,I think they embodied the mermaid legends much more accurately than the later,more sensual forms

some pleasing results at the Poole sale today