Shaun Hall's Raku Ceramics Blogspot

I finally got around to re opening my dormant Etsy store this week. There's some nice pieces on there, specially selected- and with free shipping in the UK.  Do feel free to have a browse! In the meantime I'd like to wish you all a very merry christmas and all the best for the new year and thanks for following me. https://www.etsy.com/shop/shaunhallraku1

I was honoured to be selected for the FAPDA awards 2019, which is an exhibition with artists and designers from the UK and Japan. I was very proud to receive an award for two works- a sculptural jug and "Pisces" . Thank-you to the judges and East West Art Society.

Chistmas is coming- and the pots are flying....! I thought I'd share three current online galleries where you can view a pot in the comfort of your own armchair. I've started up a pre Christmas flash sale store on Facebook. You can view it here. https://www.facebook.com/pg/ShaunHallRakuPottery/shop/ There's some nice pieces at specially reduced prices for #Christmas. The ArtonlineGallery - Rippingham Art also have some nice pieces for sale such as these bowls. Take a peek now! https://theartonlinegallery.com/art/medium-raku-bowl/ Finally in the online gallery round up- check out Art in the Heart where there is also a pre christmas sale going on too. https://www.artintheheart.co.uk/product/raku-copper-and-cobalt-glaze-neptune-vase/

There's new work en route to the beautiful Erwood Station Gallery in Builth, Powys. It's a picturesque converted railway station and really worth a visit if you are that way. There's a great selection of contemporary craft and art and I really like the work they curate. I'm really pleased to be asked to contribute work again  this month. Here's a few of the pieces that will shortly be available for sale. http://www.erwoodstation.com/  

There's been a flurry of activity of late, mixing and applying glaze, kiln firing and so on. It's been a rather  moderate batch, frustrating as ever, with a high loss rate on bowls, in particular. A duff batch of clay, it never pays does it!? Yet, there are some nice pieces...here are some of the wares fresh from the fire. Lots of scrubbing to do now.

I've been busy the past few weeks readying work to resupply some galleries, and to get enough pots for the Minories Christmas Market at Colchester. Chawans, bowls and sodium silicate pots so far, with some sculpture pieces to come....it's an enjoyable time to focus on the making process.

I was thrilled to hear the news that I have had a pot accepted into the new Vasefinder 2.0 museum based in Carson City. Curated by Charles A Blim,  (with a long background connected with studio ceramics,) this is a new museum based in Nevada. You may remember I was a runner up a few years back in the original "virtual" version of Vasefinder, an international curated online exhibition of ceramics. This time the museum is to open as a "physical" gallery. It's exciting to have one of my Pisces series pots featured alongside potters from the US and also internationally. I'm grateful to Charlie for recognizing my work  and bringing it all the way from Essex to Nevada, USA! http://picbear.online/vasefinder

My connection to Mo was as a student at Middlesex University in the dog days of the ceramics course during the 90's. He was my personal tutor for four years. Diminutive of stature and blinking in the funny way he did, we all came to love him as a tutor. Middlesex then,  had a reputation  for slip casting and mold making, and I was awful at both! Instead I had more of an interest in sculpture rather than functional tableware. Mo seemed to take an interest in my progress. He was very perceptive of individual students' abilities and offered guidance without ever dominating the discussion. He could be critical of course,  but in such a way that was constructive and not "dead ended."  At times he played down his reputation ,when we  first year students twigged what a great artist he really was. He simply claimed that he was a big fish in a small pond unlike his heroes - Giacometti or Modigliani. Modestly he said his income nearly all came from teachi...