Jessie Alcaraz - Studio Potter

JA Ceramics

Studio Potter based in Frome, Somerset

Pot making became a consuming passion for me in 2003. Before that I studied acid etching and enamelling on kiln fired glass at Roehampton in the early nineties, followed by a career in teaching.

Pottery, Bowls, Mugs, Jugs, Salt Pots, Plates

Pot making became a consuming passion for me in 2003. Before that I studied acid etching and enamelling on kiln fired glass at Roehampton in the early nineties, followed by a career in teaching. My first encounter with clay came at an adult education class on the Harrow Road in North London led by the potter Anna Silverton. It was she who introduced me to the potters wheel. Those who make pots on the wheel will attest to the meditative and compulsive nature of this craft and I was immediately taken up with its joys and challenges. A move from London to Hampshire introduced me to West Dean College where I took classes with Alison Sanderman whose infectious humour and ability to impart age old traditional methods of making and best practice proved invaluable in building my skills base. I developed my throwing skills with the help of Master Potters, Chris Keenan and Tim Andrews and as Bernard Leach would say, "learning by doing'; sitting at the wheel and practicing over and over. I combined making with teaching ceramics and after completing my studio in 2012, stopped the teaching to focus on developing my range. I create functional tableware – bowls, cups, jugs and dishes that we use every day to eat and drink from; serve and celebrate with, and that form part of the fabric of our lives. At the same time, I try to make vessels that elevate ordinary rituals through being tactile and aesthetically beautiful, each piece having its own character yet remaining part of a unified whole when grouped together with other pieces in the range. I continue to seek a perfect marriage between the form and function of the pot, the clay body and its glaze. From Autumn 2016, I will be working in a renovated farm building near Frome in Somerset, where I hope to make pots till I am old and crooked.

All my making starts out at the wheel. Some pieces are simply cleaned up and 'turned' to complete the process, others are further manipulated by hand or using tools to develop the form.

I use stoneware clay that fires to a range of 1200 - 1300c in an electric kiln. Once fired, the clay particles fuse, creating a higher degree of density, giving a stone like quality that is no longer porous. It is therefore ideal for all kinds of domestic use – durable, perfect for oven to table and happy in the dishwasher.

I mix my own glazes by experimenting with raw materials on different clay bodies fired at various temperatures and noting the results. I like the alchemy that goes into achieving colour directly from natural oxides; using copper, cobalt and rutile to create beautiful blues and greens; tin oxide to give soft fluid whites, and the many varied combinations when used together and apart. I aim to make glazes that work with the clay body to create a fusion that reveals the best of both; a working partnership rather than two separate entities forced together. Opening the kiln after a glaze firing is the cherry on my potter's cake.

Elsewhere

About

Pot making became a consuming passion for me in 2003.

Before that I studied acid etching and enamelling on kiln fired glass at Roehampton in the early nineties, followed by a career in teaching.