pat southwood
I studied B.A Ceramic Design through Anglia Ruskin College, Cambridge,
graduating in 1999 to set up my workshop next to Salhouse Broad in Norfolk. My
work has always been about attempting to capture the essence of the land - and
the patterns imposed on it by Man. Between 1999 and 2007 I made several study
trips to Mashiko in Japan to learn from potters such as Hamada Tomo-o, Matsusaki
Ken and Kusakabe Masakazu and Euan Craig. The following year I was invited to
exhibit in Osaka and then in Tokyo. Through a meeting with Wali Hawes at the
Osaka exhibition I was invited to apply for a month long residency in Tokoname
with IWCAT. This was an amazing experience and I was delighted to be invited
back to Tokoname in 2010 to exhibit. I am delighted to be exhibiting in Tokoname
once more in 2023- C19 allowing. In 2005, with a bursary from Creative Arts East
to work with local Thatchers and make work inspired by their Craft, I developed
a glaze suitable for my electric kiln using the thatching reed that had been
discarded. Using the thatch gave my work an originality and a sense of place
unobtainable out side of the Broads area. Beginning in 2017, Hoveton Great Broad
was drained of silt by an ongoing Conservation project. With kind permission
from the owner of the Broad I was able to collect some silt by boat. Now firing
with my Fred Olsen design wood kiln, affectionately known as "Fast Freda" I
developed a glaze from the silt. This then led to using the glaze with stretched
forms and eventually to Soda firing in the wood kiln. Freda however didn't much
care for this, so it was sadly a short lived soda romance. I continued to wood
fire, with a small Fred Olsen design fast fire kiln until recently. In 2018 I
was commissioned by the Dean of Norwich Cathedral to make an enormous piece
candle stand, this huge piece is now situated in the Lady Chapel for people to
light a small candle for loved ones. It is lovely to have work in a permanent
presence in my home city and to continue the tradition of potters having work in
Cathedrals. I revisited Japan in 2018, my 10th visit, this time with a fellow
artist and the specific purpose of visiting the Temple and Shrine gardens to
draw inspiration for forthcoming work and exhibitions. Having not quite seen all
we needed to, a return trip was made in early 2020 providing me with superb
images and memories. The exhibition ABSTRACT JAPAN finally took place in
September 2021 at Mandell's Gallery in Norwich and was a great success.
