What comes first, the poem or the pot?

We often gets asked when at fairs or pop-up shops, what comes first? The poetry or the pottery? The answer is always, it depends…

The whole style that we have developed started with the poetry, which Chris has written since he was a child. I (Michaela) started having a go at pottery, first making decorations, beads, little landscapes.. But I wanted away to put one of Chris’s poems that I really loved on display and wondered if it would be possible on clay. And it worked. And the whole thing grew..

We both do pottery now, but to start with it was just me. I would make the shape, for example a bowl, a jug, or a slab of clay for creating an artwork on, then choose a poem to put on the clay, or part of a poem. I will decide where the words will go – inside or outside, flowing around the top or down the sides, depending on how I want the words to be portrayed on the clay.

Following this comes the imagery, which can be sketched in to the clay or by adding colour and texture with underglazes or glazes playing their part too.

Hopefully, each element is equally treated and the whole thing comes together, like on this pot, with the words, will the river run forever, sparkling with the splash of light and life..?

Yesterday, a friend called in the pottery and she said I like what you are making, and I said, oh, Chris made them, I’m just putting the poetry on them, and she challenged me on that and I think she was right. It’s all an important part, in whatever order it happens.