… IS THE answer given by many novice potters when asked what they’d most like to make. For experienced potters too the teapot remains a challenge, even a pinnacle of achievement, with its many components and potential pitfalls (drippy spouts and ill-fitting lids come to mind).
For 11 Granite Belt potters, including beginner and more experienced students, this wish was fulfilled at a recent workshop. A grant from the Regional Arts Development Fund enabled the Stanthorpe Pottery Club to engage Claire Locker-Potter, the 2013 winner of the Sydney Teapot Show, to teach them her intriguing methods to make colourful and quirky teapots. The Regional Arts Development Fund is a Queensland Government and Southern Downs Regional Council partnership to support local arts and culture.
Claire introduced the group to paper clay (clay blended with paper pulp) which can be rolled super thin allowing construction of lightweight and delicate pieces – usually out of the reach of beginner potters. At the end of the weekend workshop participants had each made a teapot, a set of cups and a group of bowls. Not bad for two days!
Claire has been involved in ceramic practice for more than 30 years, teaching in TAFE colleges in Sydney, Mudgee and Newcastle and undertaking post-graduate studies in Jaipur, India. Having perfected her craft she is generous in revealing all the methods, tips and tricks learned over many years and thinks it important that this wealth of information is shared.
And for those of you wondering about the tutor’s aptonymic surname – it arises from her marriage to Ian Potter – who is also a potter!
