St Ives

http://samhallceramics.com/sam_hall_ceramics/articles_files/mike%20tooby%20essay.pdf

an article on "is st ives worth saving ", might interest some here .

http://samhallceramics.com/sam_hall_ceramics/articles_files/CR213_42-45.pdf

I would also welcome opinions on the works of Sam Hall , not nescessarily comparisons to other potters, but general views .

I like them tho find it annoying that he skirts around the issue of being a painterly potter its not derogatory but his manner of decorating is just like an abstract painter using a shaped canvas how to buid up these surfaces to create "a diary of events" without looking contrived is all the problem . In the article it talks of "totally random effects" I would argue that after doing it a couple of times the effect ceases to be totally random, no harm in that, its writing to please the punters

Yes ,I know what you mean , but not sure about just pleasing the punters , surely you have to be pleased yourself first and foremost and to be fair it states that the slip and clay has at times been applied randomly and THEN worked into a fashion , he told me the writings could be anything at all, his fathers birthday , any thoughts at the time , anything really , like robin welch , I like the idea that a piece is worked and then reworked again and again ,hence creating a diary of events for want of a better expres​sion( turner did it in his paintings , sometimes going back to work on stuff years later) I also think too much is made of the expression Abstract - it's a bit old hat now and used as an excuse for some nonsense imo, I am swithering wether to buy more of sam's work , I don't like all of it, some I really don't care for such as wall panels , chargers etc. but a few choice pieces I do fancy , but glad you like some of his stuff he is still quite young and it will be interesting to see what he produces later on.

when I talked about writing to please the punters I was refering to the blurb on the website not on the pieces themselves he does manage to achieve a spontanious looking result I'm not so keen on some of the coloured squares or the splashes when they seem less spontaneous (the spelling correction isn't working) oh by the way you referred to another potter and a famous artist I was avoiding that

Oh , sorry I thought you meant on the pots themselves, yes you are right I shouldn't have mention other potter and artist , I forgot I quite like some of the colour splashes , but my favourite bits are the gouges ( bullet holes I like to call them ) I can't explain why I just like them , I saw some pieces of his that I could not relate to at all and yet some others that I thought were great , I have until september to decide if I want to by some more , time to ponder