On a lovely sunny winter’s day last week I went up to the Mall Galleries to see the annual show from members of the Society of Designer Craftsmen. It’s always good to check in with the show as there is a wide range of craft, and this year the exhibition seemed packed to the rafters with work. I was pleasantly surprised to see work from two of my former students.

 

I remember teaching Emma Rawson (above left) on my bowlmaking course a good few years ago now and she had a fantastic sense of colour which manifested itself in a couple of really beautiful bowls, images of which I still use in my teaching as examples of former student work. These days she is making exquisite cast house forms which are combined with screenprinting. Fiona Bryer (above right) did a summer school course with me 5 or 6 years ago and then went on to the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham. She exhibited a collection of sculptural pieces cast in lead crystal with are both organic and fluid but also demonstrating superb control over her material.

As I walked around I had half an eye on potential artists for our next Designed | Crafted show in September and I spotted some promising new talent on show, so our artist list will be growing!