Potfest Competition 2024 “Hybrid”

At each of the Potfest shows, the potters are invited to enter a piece of their work that responds to a theme. The theme for the potters’ competition at all of the 2024 Potfest events is:

“Hybrid - mixture of two different things, resulting in something that has a little bit of both”.

The following is my entry to the competition this year:

Hybrids

“Every day’s a school day”

These two sculptures resulted from two ceramics masterclasses I attended earlier this year. The ‘self-portrait’ head was made at the weekend with Sharon Griffin at the Clayloft in January, and the Tiger was made at the weekend with Ben Fosker at Clay@the fold in March.

I’ve made my living exclusively from my art for over 25 years, but occasionally I feel the need for a creative shake-up. Ben and Sharon are both free and expressive makers and I came away from their workshops with so much more than just new ideas about hand-building and glazing.

I see these two sculptures as hybrids – they mark a point in time, not a destination.

They offer up new avenues to explore and I’m going to enjoy travelling along these new paths. A big thanks to Sharon and Ben – they are, like most ceramicists I know, generous, brave, expressive, humorous and endlessly creative.

Paul Smith
June 2024