Tim Andrews

Demonstration and Lecture

Sunday February 19th 2006

Review

Tim Andrews gave us a facinating day of talk and show. Tim talked about Raku as a philosophy, its history in Japan, the UK and the USA, his growth as a potter and how all these things have come together in his work. It seems that everyone making modern, stylish ceramics today has a 'small brown jug' period in their past, and Tim is no exception.

Tim's more traditional past is perhaps most evident in his use of throwing as a making technique. Don't imagine however that this makes his pieces any faster to construct. He showed us how his larger humbugs are made, a process involving several visits to the wheel over the course of several days.

We had a huge turn out of about 150 people to see Tim. And we all had a fantastic view thanks to a closed-circuit TV camera projected onto a screen behind him. Yet another great demonstration - thanks Tim!

Background

Tim Andrews began his career in the 1970s as a student of David Leach. A further two years were spent at the Dartington Pottery Training Workshop before Tim set up his first studio in Exeter with the help of an award from the Crafts Council. In 1983 a move to a larger country workshop meant he could develop his work further and also run a series of international summer schools.

A few years later David Leach offered the use of his studio to share. “I felt that to return to the workshop of my training, the work would have to change direction. I had flirted with Raku on a number of occasions but had become more interested in it when teaching the summer schools. I began to see its possibilities and there were only a few other potters in the UK who were seriously exploring this area of ceramics. My own interest centres around the integration of form and surface. The pieces are individual and labour intensive requiring slow making with layers of applied and burnished slips followed by a complicated series of firings.”

Since then, recognition of his work has grown. He now has his own studio in Woodbury. He has published two books. He exhibits throughout the UK and Europe and was invited to speak at an International Ceramics Symposium in Colorado. In short, February's event promises to be a real treat.

More of Tim's work can be found on his website: www.timandrewsceramics.co.uk