Village Squire, 1976-02, Page 11There's more
in pottery than clay.
Michael Ward mixes
tradition, philosophy,
creativity into making
his pottery.
Take a hearty dose of English tradition, throw in a big helping
of Chinese influence, add some Canadian inspiration and mix
with liberal amounts of dedication, skill and hard work and
'you've got the Michael Ward Pottery Design.Sfudio in Blyth.
The new shop on the main street of the village across from the
famous Brinton Old Mill opened this month and is likely to
become nearly as much a centre of shopping attention as the
older neighbour Michael is that area's first full-time professional
potter and he brings a strong art background to his craft.
He was horn in Fleetwood, Lancashire England, a bustling
fishing port of about 200,(XX) people. At age nine he went away
to school and got his first taste of village life. Later, when he went
to the Lancashire College of Art and Design he got to know even'
more about living on the edge of a rural area and grew to like it.
While he was a student he lived fora. couple of years in a
monastery that sat on top of the ridge of mountains called the
Pennies that runs through England's lake country It was a
beautiful setting. It was the first time he'd ever noticed the
beauty of the stars at night. It was then he began to appreciate
getting out into the countryside. It's probably there too that the
seers were planted for hint to come eventually to a village like
13lth to set up his tirst studio.
He lame to Canada soon after graduating from college in
1'1b9-70 to Galt where he had several lobs me hiding teaching part
time at the I)oon Sc hool of fine Arts under the late Tgni Caley. It
is is hero he met his future wile, Karen. A native of Singapore,
she had mored to Toronto and came to the Doon School for a
«our'•
Two years ago Mu hael took a trip to Southeast Asia where he
anu• under the influence of the Chinese culture and studied the
Ireaul\ of (heir pottery He visited friends at the Sam Mtn Kuang
Boller\ in Singapore and saw how a commercial potters works.
Ile was amazed both at the skill incl the speed of the craftsmen
and it's been et letting his work oyer 5101 e
His potters shows the influence of the oriental tradition. He
makes potter\ that is utilitarian but beautiful Thorn is a plain
line rle(orato(1 in greys and browns and a white line doe orated
with drawings. All are the kind of pottery that's meant to be
used, but also is beautiful. Unlike mosfpotters, it's also turned
out in relatively large numbers It has to be, of course, when
you're trving to make sour Ining from it and when you're
spencling hill lime on potter\ The speed 01 the work he saw in
timgapore, Michael says, has helped' him to increase his, own
o111101 though he's still tar from matching that of the Asiians. He
c, ul,he sats, turn out a dozen coffee mugs in a hour. That
int lodes only the actual throwing 01 the pots on the wheel and
doesn't 110 lode sot time-tonstiming things as adding the
handles or the drying, decorating and glazing of the product.
1 he I nglish tradition of education in the arts is very evident
when one talks to the 26 -year old artist for any length of time.
those who w.1111 to train 111 the arts in F ngland take a five year
«nurse, two gars of general n.depth studs of various fields and
Ihree more years in specialized study. Those lirsl two years of
stud \ were days that started at 'i' 11) in the morning and didn't
end until 9 311 11 nicht. and.holiclas s were shorter than here in
Hands flying, Michael Ward shapes the properly measured
amount of clay into a ball to be put on the potter's wheel.
The ball of Clay is worked upward into a cone to centre it.
VILLAGE SQUIRE/FEBRUARY 1976, 9