Art In Clay

Even I might go this year - but I said that last year and did not go.

What is the best day Friday? So you get the pick?

Going Friday - bought a ticket so I can't back out now - would be £11 down the drain.



Thank you for your order. We look forward to seeing you at the event!

So Photos from today 19th Aug 2022. Quick summary for those that can not go and for posterity. I have added some photo as I find it interesting to look/compare prices especially looking back.

Ticket was £11 on your phone. Doors open 10:00am - I got the train to Slough and it's a £10 taxi ride to Windsor Racecourse with a view of the castle on the way thrown in for free.

Got there about 11am and it was quiet but double the numbers + by the time I left at 1pm
Very friendly spoke to a few of the potters, Geoffrey Swindell was very friendly. Sun shone - no rain.

Prices, in general if it sits in the palm of one hand it's under £100 if you can cup it in two hands it £200 and anything bigger and you will need to contact your bank for an extension to your overdraft or new loan. I did think prices were high but then kilns cost a lot more to run.

About 50/50 male /female potters, many beards on show (male only potters), quite a lot of new potters their stalls did not look so busy but established potters always had people in front so excuse photos with people infesting them

Only bought bits. A Geoffrey Swindell dish, Steve Booton vessel to use for wine/beer, and a couple of tiny pots by Jessica Jordan to  give away.

There was three big tents each housing approx 40 stalls and then loads of other things going on. The normal food and beer stalls etc. All well run and no issues.

I should mention the 'tail' (haha) of the harmless creature. very simple I had a good look round and Chiu-I-Wu was on my list from the start - had a long look at her offerings and could not make my mind up - only really liked (loved) the harmless creatures bottom right. Tiny one was £170 and bigger was £210 but I really wanted something different (I have one) In the end went back for the third time and the bigger one was sold and tiny one dotted also - Bugger! - so moral is - if you see it and want it then buy it.    

PLAGUE ON YOU WHO TOOK MY HARMLESS CREATURE! YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!

I think she needs to make some harmless creature variants, I'm just not taken with some of her other animals. Anything with delicate sticking out bits is a BIG NOT for me as they just snap off with the smallest puff of wind. The stoneware she uses is a brittle as a 10 week old cookie and just as durable. I might also suggest she gives away a free tube of superglue with each creature next time  

Thanks for the photos Crawford. Beautiful ones aa well. Looks as though it was very busy. Was a lot selling? Brings back memories for me, as we used to go to Hatfield nearly every year. It was convenient for us. But Windsor is a step too far.

Very hard to tell if stuff sold, prices seem high to me. I missed off this photo, but the hand sized little Geoffrey Swindell I seem to remember them being £30 - now they are £50 - I'm sure that dampens down sales but if you come all that way it's very hard to go away without buying something methinks. Peter Beard now starts at £220. I'm thinking it's in Windsor for a reason.

Had a lovely time at Windsor today, although it’s not a patch on the old Art in Clay at Hatfield. Very sad not to have the European contingent any more, and the number of exhibitors was down. There used to be more tents, and a lot more stands in each of them. It might be a combination of extra spacing a due to Covid, and the arrival of the Potfest fairs down south which gives potters more choice of where to set up. Best thing about this fair is the final year university students getting a taste of selling their work to the public

Swindell said he’s increased his prices because he’s getting on a bit and cutting back on how many pots he makes and how many fairs he does. £50 for his test pots is still very competitive compared to the price many potters charge for a mug or a bowl. He’s concentrating on making the higher priced pots, but you’d be surprised at how little someone of his calibre earns from a major 3 day fair like this. Since his appearance on the Great Pottery Throwdown he’s been asked to do a lot more presentations which has also cut into his potting time.


Exhibitors:

Alison Wear

Lindy Barletta
Jon Barrett-Danes
Alexandra Barto
Adrian Bates
Richard Baxter
Peter Beard
Lisa Biris
Peter Black
Steve Booton
Fiona Booy
Daniel Boyle
Jon Bull

Jane Cairns
Manuel Calvo
Cardiff Metropolitan University (MA)
Cardiff Metropolitan University – (BA Hons)
Mel Chambers
Jacob Chan
Jenny Chan
David Chilton
Joely Clinkard
Brigitte Colleaux
Charlie Collier
Jonathon Cox
Cromartie Hobbycraft
Dianne Cross
Sue Crossfield
Christine Cummings

Mark Dally
Paul Dalrymple
Gin Durham
Jack Durling

Anthony Edmonds
Roos Eisma
Bob Emmett

Karen Fawcett
Jill Ford
Chantal Fordham

Chris and Michaela Goan
Sean Gordon
Bill Gowans

Janet Halligan
Philip Hardaker
Richard Heeley
Helen Higgins
Matt Horne
Jaroslav Hrustalenko

Tom Knowles Jackson
Anne-Marie Jacobs
Wendy Johnson
Bert Jones
Jessica Jordan

Megan Keeling
Jaeeun Kim
Pratima Kramer

Tony Laverick
Felicity Lloyd-Coombes
Cabby Luxford

Sheila Madder
Laura Manners
Karen Marks
Tracey Mawson
Faye Mayo
David Melville
Kyra Mihailovic
Darrell Milnes
Ian Morrison
Sue Mundy

Lesley Nason
Terry Nason
Andrew Niblett
Jeremy Nichols

Katy O’Neil
Julie O’Sullivan

Spencer Penn
Ania Perkowska
Marie Prett
Jane Pritchard

Jane Richardson
Jillian Riley
Helen Rondell
Ian Rylatt

Jane Sarre
Justyna Sarsari
Annika Semler
Ken and Valerie Shelton
Alex Shimwell
Lorraine Smith
Mark Smith
Anthea Stewart
Abbie Sunter
Geoffrey Swindell
Hamish Symonds

Hiro Takahashi
Paul Taylor
Jean Tolkovsky
John Townsend
Nam Tran
AnnaLeaClelia Tunesi

Craig Underhill

Valentine Clays
Angela Verdon

Liz Watts
John West
Emma Westmacott
Kat Wheeler
Peter White
Gilly Whittington
Julie Wilson
Kate Windibank
Katherine Winfrey
Penny Withers
Tessa Wolfe Murray
Steve Woodhead
Chiu-i Wu

I'm not going to complain about prices they are what they are. We are buying luxury 'art' pieces - not as it's bread or potatoes or firewood.

I just pay the going price - seems a bit cheap to bargain, although I did want to it's like Monty Python, "This bloke won't haggle!"    If I went to see the potter at his workshop I would but then I would buy a few pieces.

N - Do you know why they moved from Hatfield? - Also were there any Harmless Creatures in the Chiu-i-Wu stand?

I can't just buy something without a haggle unless it's way less than how I value it....and even then...

I don’t know why they moved. Did the organisers change? Seem to recall Richard Miller took over organising one of the events but might have been Waterperrys or Oxford


Chiu i’s stand yesterday:

Comparing your photo to mine. It's worth going to shows early to get first choice.

I got a little one with a bird ontop. I may get one of her cucumber shaped animals next time.

NO Physical Art in Clay this year. Just a virtual one. At least that is what it says in an email from Valentine Clays I have just had. They say they are too busy. But....given inflation and the zoom in the price of anything and everything. Are such fairs still possible or practical?

The e-mail.



Art in Clay Windsor 2023 Update

We wanted to inform you about some changes that will affect this year's show, we have made the difficult decision to postpone a physical show until 2024. Whilst I know this might seem disappointing to many of our loyal visitors we wanted to assure you that we have an exciting alternative that will be much easier to access by all.

The decision to postpone the show is due to time pressures on our team, whilst we focus on opening our new factory and dealing with the increase in production demand at Valentine Clays. We are also conscious of the difficult times ahead and wanted to support our exhibitors in the best way possible too.

So this year as an alternative we are excited to announce that we are in the process of launching an online and streamed show that will incorporate all of the wonderful elements of the festival with some exciting new additions. As you know we are extremely passionate to do anything we can to try to help our exhibitors, customers and industry. Whilst we are struggling to dedicate the time needed for a physical show this year we still would like to continue to celebrate what Art in Clay Windsor stands for.

So watch this space for further details on our digital show as we will be in touch soon with further details on our exciting plans for Art in Clay Windsor 2023.

I can only assume that yes it's cost driven and they did not make money last year. Shame as how are you going to post that big Chiu-I-Wu beast in the centre of her stand? Then no chatting to the potters which is half the fun, they have to be nice to you it's half of what you are paying for. And also picking up and choosing is another half the fun. Can do that on interwebthingy.

I think they held an online auction during the pandemic but it was all high priced items

I haven't been to Windsor but, having spoken to potters that have had stalls there both last year and the one before, my feeling is that it might not happen again.

Although last year was better than the previous disaster from reports, I think with the "Pottery in the Pens" team holding events in the South and repeating them this year that appears to just be a better option for potters and buyers.

It was an excellent venue for Ceramics students to showcase their pottery (similarly for Ceramic Art London) so it'll be a shame if it closes permanently, but I know several older potters who didn't like doing 3 days, and it was expensive for a stand compared to the one and two day venues, I expect losing some big names, and the European potters, put a dent in their profits.

Edited to say they've cancelled 2023. Doesn't look like they're going to run it again. Probably too much competition from the Potfest shows moving south.

Chatting to potters at Glynde Place they aren’t surprised Art in clay Windsor isn’t going ahead. They said the new organisers who took over a couple of years ago “weren’t suited” to running it. Potters were put off by their attitude and were pulling out. And they disliked the Windsor venue; it didn’t have the ambience of Hatfield. There seemed to be more at Glynde Place this year, and there’s plenty of room to expand. And there’s going to be a new ceramics show in Suffolk this Summer

https://www.artinclayfarnham.co.uk/2023-exhibitors/
18th -19th November

Thanks for the link Dan. Looks  to be some rather nice work there. Although I hardly seem to know any of those names! The Maltings is quite a small venue, so it makes for a good deal of intimacy.....
          While there of course one has to visit the New Ashgate Gallery which has been going for yonks,
https://www.newashgate.org.uk/shop_artists/it/58/ceramics

There is also the Craft Study Centre which is now part of the university. It also has an amazing Online research base which is really worth exploring.
https://www.csc.uca.ac.uk/

Of the exhibitors, I saw Patricia Millar and her work at Collect earlier in the year. She lives and works in N. Ireland and her works is different to anything else that I have seen. I thought it was also very interesting and, if I was younger, I would probably be interested in buying her work.

I saw her work at Potfest and it was very reasonably priced and original