‘WILD MAN OF THE WOOD’ Shortlisted by Yinka Shorebare for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2021

This collection is based on the old Bellamine/Bartmann jugs made in Germany in the 15th/16th Century. They were to hold beer but also a caricature of the wild man of the wood but also a caricature of Archbishop Bellamine who put a tax on beer. Here are some examples exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. I love the shape, the humour and the workmanship.

My interpretation uses the influences of the bark from the trees on Wimbledon Common, silver birch, oak and beech trees.

I have used three different clay types, and three different glazes. The one on the far left is earthenware clay, the next three stoneware and the one on the far right is lava fleck stoneware clay. The glazes are lichen glaze, silver birch with different oxides underneath, bronze glaze, lichen glaze again and the final one the silverbirch glaze on the lava fleck. So in total I had 5 different families. The silver birch on stoneware makes up the main body of the collection.

There are 19 in the collection and I was delighted to give them space to be exhibited in full in my summer exhibition in Burnham Overy Staithe, North Norfolk in August 2022. It was wonderful to see them all in small groups, like people at a drinks party, interacting together.

The pieces can be bought as individuals, in groups or as a whole collection.