Friday, March 21, 2008

Happy Easter from Scotland!


And here's an Easter photograph to go with the wishes. The plate - one of my all time favourite possessions - belonged to my dear late mother, who gave it to me years ago. She had bought it at auction, along with other items, and it was always the thing I coveted most, along with a pair of very old and comfortable oak framed chairs, which now sit in my living room. It looks like Maling, probably is Maling, though it has no backstamp to prove the point. The blue and white jug, the wee bird, and the bowl that you can just glimpse on the right, are all modern slipware, made in the 1980s by a superb Scottish potter called Jason Shackleton. I adored his work and still do, although I don't think he continued making this wonderful slipware, perhaps because not everyone appreciated it with quite my passion about it! We have a number of pieces - these sit on an eighteenth century Scottish dresser, such as Robert Burns might have possessed. We bought this one at auction, in terrible condition. It had obviously spent many years in a shed, and Alan did a magnificent restoration job on it. It is wonderful storage space, swallowing almost anything you might like to put in it. Our other, much older dresser, the oak press cupboard mentioned elsewhere on this blog, is where the rest of the modern slipware sits, in the kitchen. It includes this fabulously monstrous teapot, also by Jason Shackleton, which has, on occasions, been pressed into service, during large family gatherings. Filled, it is almost too heavy to lift. But it is a beautiful, beautiful item and one which I treasure.

2 comments:

Hannah said...

Dear Catherine,
I just happened upon your blog by chance and saw the lovely jug and teapot (gorgeous) which I knew straight away to be Jason's pots. You will be pleased to know he does still make slipware and the majolica work too although probably not as much as he used to. I was apprenticed to Jason for a couple of years and now make slipware myself from just outside of Castle Douglas in Dumfries and Galloway. You might be interested to look at my blog,my last post was fnnily enough about Jason.
Best wishes,
Hannah

Catherine Czerkawska said...

Many thanks for posting Hannah. You have a very interesting blog - I just love your pottery. We have an old oak press cupboard in our kitchen (1626) and nothing looks nicer on top of it than slipware - especially at Christmas with candles burning! Will make a point of coming to your studio when next we're in Castle Douglas - which we pass through or by quite often. Do you know our friends Keith and Beryl Dawdry from Pinmore?
Good wishes, Catherine
Catherine