I bought this dish at a pottery near Glen Coe, Scotland. Don't you think that this fish picture has a Japanese-like atmosphere?
It was quite heavy, so when I bought it, I thought whether I should buy or not.

As I 've mentioned some times on this HP, on the way from England to Japan, my luggage is quite heavy. Some whiskey bottles, teas, and mug cups and so on... I seem to like bulky, heavy things.
Pottery is one of them. When I see a sign, "pottery"during a trip, I can't ignore it. Sometimes, I didn't buy anything, because the pottery didn't suit my taste, while sometimes I used quite a lot of time because I liked this and that, so I had to choose which ones I should buy.
The first pottery I visited in England was John Kershaw's Studio Pottery in Windermere. I went there for two successive years. It was because Akiko travelling with me liked his pottery very much, so she wanted to visit again. Moreover, I myself like his works too. Actually the second visit was a very hard schedule. On the way from Ireland to London, we went to Windermere via Manchester to visit his pottery.
　

I bought the different colored pair of mugs when I went to his pottery on my second visit
However, I just display them ; I've never used them.

The reason why I visited St. Ives twice was that I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the scenery when I went there for the first time and so wanted to return. The first purpose on the second visit was seeing Leach's pottery which I missed going on the first occasion. I heard that Shoji Hamada, a famous Japanese potter, made some pottery there.
When I visited, Leach's wife had taken over the pottery. The pottery which the late Mr. Leach had made was displayed and his wife's works were sold there too.

The proprietor of a pottery in the Cotswolds said that he had been to Japan.
Looking at my collection which I bought in England, I think that all of them have an atmosphere of Japan. It's probably because I like such kind of works.
In addtion, it means that there is no border in art.

I bought this pottery in the Cotswolds.
left : I bought them when I visited the Cotswolds for the first time. They look like Japanese ones--do you agree? I sometimes use these dish when I have supper.
right : I bought this vase when I went to the Cotswolds on my second visit. It is a little shallow, so I haven't used it for arranging flowers.

In 2005, I visited Torquay where I had wanted to go for many years. From Torquay, after 15 minute bus ride, there is a beautiful village called, "Cokkington Village", where you can see a traditional old English village. There is a glass atelier, some people doing patchwork or drawing pictures, and so on. Among them, there is Ann Saward's pottery. Her works was mainly blue. I don't know why, but I was attracted by her green works. I liked the green. I know that pottery was heavy, but in spite of this, I decided to buy some her pottery as souvenirs.

left : I bought this pottery thinking that it is good to put some potpourri in.
right : pottery for garlic. Before buying this pottery, garlic was on my refrigerator in an offhand manner. Now, it's in a nice piece of pottery.

（2002.10.29, 2005.7.24）

to the TOP

Trip to England