John West " The first memory that I have of pottery was at a time when the scheduling of programmes on the television was looser than today. There were often several minutes between one programme and another during which short films, called the Interlude, were shown. One of these films was of the potter at the wheel with his lump of clay. This fascinated me." Born in Southampton in 1950, John moved to Gloucestershire in 1981. There he took on a pottery and lived in a house community for young adults with Learning Difficulties, at William Morris House. Formerly he was a musician and involved in art and crafts. John works mainly in stoneware, firing his work in a gas kiln. His work is almost entirely functional with an emphasis towards being used in the home. "I feel that my work is the synthesis of many influences; Oriental, European and African. I find myself as enthusiastic about a piece of early English slipware as I do a piece of modern salt glazed stoneware. What is important is the way in which the making, decoration and firing, combine in order to create an harmonious whole."

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"All this of Pot and Potter -- Tell me then, Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?"
- Omar Khayyam ("The Tent-Maker"), The Rubaiyat (st. 87), (FitzGerald's translation)

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