admin, Author at The Oxfordshire Craft Guild

Annia Marcus

My constant search is for elegance, and the lines of my collections of individually handcrafted jewellery reflect both the influence of my training in design and my passion for contemporary art.

Each one of my pieces is carefully crafted from sterling silver. I love texturing the surface by hammering and satinising, but I am especially fond of my trademark moiré and my recent moonscape finishes, that can be either very subtle or very pronounced.

All of my pieces are designed with the aim of being versatile and practical, yet eye-catching. That is why I love to make pieces with a sense of contemporary design that are as appropriate for every day wear as for special occasions. And guaranteed to enhance the simplest attire.”

Wendy Newhofer

Originally trained as a primary school teacher, I found that working part time allowed me to pursue my interests in art. A relocation to Oxford twelve years ago gave me the opportunity to return to college and do a Foundation in Art and Design where I first encountered kiln formed glass and was immediately captivated by the process.

I spent three years studying 3D glass in London before setting up my purpose built garden studio. Using sheets of float glass I make expressive pieces that have a painterly quality to them. Inclusions of metal leaf and wire enable me to ‘draw’ within the glass and there is a magical alchemy, sometimes unpredictable, which produces a palette of subtle colours when the glass is fired.My work has always capitalised on my love of drawing which involve translating images from my sketchbook into the glass and I frequently work with repeated images creating patterns I make wall panels in various sizes and beautiful glass which will enhance any garden. Most recently I have been using photography to design mini landscapes based on journeys I’ve taken. My studio is open during Oxfordshire Artweeks every year and I sell my work through exhibitions and galleries.

Tlws Johnson

I was a very mature student when I enrolled in High Wycombe College to do a degree in ceramics and glass. I graduated much older and wiser in 1996 and decided to put my newfound knowledge to work. With the aid of Southern Arts Council I set up my workshop in Gawcott, near Buckingham and began making artistic glass by the kiln formed method which melts the glass either to fuse and slump the glass or to melt the glass into a preformed mould.

I welcome visitors to my workshop during Bucks Open Studios in June where they can ‘have-a-go’ at making a small fused pendant. Throughout the year I give both beginners and advanced classes in my well-equipped studio. Clients who would like me to make a piece of glass for them are especially welcomed and I take great delight in making a beautiful piece which will meet all their requirements and will be stunningly unique. Recently I have made a window for an oak door, a sink splash-back with matching soap dish and seven large panels for an unusual curved stairwell. One of my cast glass sculptures was given as a leaving present to the retiring treasurer of the Aylesbury Vale Arts Council.

Michael Berger

Working with fused glass began after I retired, instructed by John Dunn at his studio in Brighton and followed by a training in leaded (stained) glass work with John Vaukins in Didcot. Continuing training happens via talking with others, working in fused glass, and the very helpful videos available the Internet. These sources inspire me to experiment with a variety of techniques including metal inclusions, mica powder, glass paints, decals and special firing techniques.

Inspiration has derived from various sources, from the Inca of Mexico to Paul Klee, M.C. Escher and most recently, Mondrian, developing variations of his ideas using computer graphics and converting the design to glass pieces to create the final work. I also use abstract patterns and shapes in nature for inspiration. The challenge with glass, not always realised, is to create something that emerges from a night the kiln that captures my intentions.

Judith Berger

May 17, 2024
by admin

I worked as a clinical neuropsychologist for many years but on retirement began to work in fused glass.

I have painted all my life and this has influenced the themes of my work in glass. Apart from Art O Level in the 60s I have had no formal training in arts, but have attended art classes and various short courses on fused glass over the last ten years or so.

Using Bullseye glass which has a wide range of colours, I am inspired by landscape, waterscape and nature.

By cutting glass and assembling it a little like collage, and adding powdered glass and inclusions prior to fusing, it is possible to create the depth, light and fluidity of nature in glass. For instance, water, leaves and trees are a particular inspiration.

I work at home in my garden studio, and have exhibited during Oxford Artweeks, and at Guild Exhibitions such as Woodstock Christmas Show, in the Oxfordshire Soldiers Museum, Broad Street Market, Oxford, and in April, 2017 at Cornerstone Window Walls, Didcot.

I am happy to accept commissions.

Teresa Munby

May 17, 2024
by admin

Having attended evening classes as an adult for a number of years and then given the unique opportunity to use a professional potter’s studio to develop my work further, I set up my own studio space in Oxford in 2011. I mainly hand build creating vases, tiles, sculptural and wall pieces.
Since 2020 I have also created a studio on the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides where I create similar work in addition to thrown pieces.
Dividing my time between Oxford and Mull, my work is inspired by the natural world -in particular the flora, seascapes and shores of places I have regularly visited over time in the West Coast of Ireland, from when I was a child, to the Scilly Isles ‘discovered’ in the early 2000’s and most recently on the Isle of Mull.

In Oxford and the surrounding countryside, I have always enjoyed the variety of flowering plants and trees in various formal gardens, parks and parklands as well as the more naturally occurring plants and trees alongside the waterways and meadows which surround Oxford and with which I am so familiar having grown up and lived in Oxford for a large part of my life.

Whether beach combing or photographing flowers and trees these images and forms inevitably end up in some way or other in clay! I am particularly drawn to the various textures, colours and patterns in rock formations, rock pools and sand as well as the geometric patterns re-occurring in flowers. In the last year or so I’ve become fascinated by the history and appearance of the Ginkgo tree -both its fabulous shaped and marked leaves as well as its dramatic change of colour in the autumn from green to bright sunshine yellow. This led me to explore mono printing its leaves onto clay tiles as well as decorating vases with imprints of its leaves.

Over the years I have developed various techniques for both colouring clay and texturing the surfaces of pieces -whether hand built or thrown- using a variety of tools and found objects. I like to experiment with different forms for slab building (often using tubes, cones and other objects designed for industrial use) as well as creating moulds for texture -which I make using both plaster and silicone- from found and beachcombed objects. Combining both the colouring and texture techniques has enabled me to produce both vases and wall pieces which reflect my favourite patterns, colours and forms in nature. I also enjoy ‘re-purposing’ discarded waste materials…cardboard, plastic and so on to create and replicate these textures in clay to create intriguing pieces in ceramic which have the appearance of their original paper, card and plastic forms.

Most of my pieces are constructed using porcelain or porcelain paper clay which I have learnt to ‘push’ to its limit to form extremely thin but highly durable and waterproof constructions and forms.

Tam Frishberg

I started doing pottery seriously after retiring early from teaching. All of my pieces are thrown on the wheel and are designed to be both artistic and functional. Stoneware clay is ideal for such pieces as it is not only robust but lends itself to the subtle colours which I find aesthetically appealing.

My work is often inspired by vessels I have seen, some of them quite ancient ones in museums. Other shapes emerge in a more spontaneous interaction between wheel, hands and clay. People often comment on the quietness and “Japanese” feel of my work–something which perhaps comes from growing up in northern California next to the sea.

Recently I have enjoyed the challenge of making quite large plates and bowls and experimenting with imbedding a very thin strand of copper wire in a volcanic glaze. During firing the copper wire, though only about a millimetre in diameter, melts creating a rather dramatic band of black tinged with green and grey.

I regularly take part in Oxfordshire Artweeks and in Oxfordshire Craft Guild exhibitions. My work has been shown in various galleries including the Wiseman Gallery, Oxford; Bell Fine Art, Winchester; SOTA Gallery, Witney; and Junction Art, Woodstock. Visitors are always welcome at my home studio in Oxford.

Robyn Hardyman

I throw and turn my vessels on the wheel in my garden studio in Oxford. I use porcelain for its unique combination of delicacy and strength, and the wonderfully pure surface it provides for a glaze. My work is both functional and decorative; the bowls, vases and more are finely thrown in pared-back, apparently simple forms that aim for balance and harmony. I hope they invite contemplation as well as use. Surface decoration is minimal – an incised line on a foot or slip marks around the swell of a moon jar.

I relish exploring a palette of serene glaze colours and textures, a variety of surfaces to complement the restrained forms. This is always an ongoing process; the thrill of experiment and discovery I find one of the most rewarding things in making.

I am a Selected Member of the Craft Potters Association, and of Contemporary Applied Arts. My work is shown in galleries in London, Cambridge, York, Bath and around the country, and I regularly take part in events such as the Oxford Ceramics Fair.

Robin McClelland

My work is hand built using stoneware clay. I construct mostly with slabs of clay, shaped to create each individual and unique piece. The work falls into two categories;

* Flasks, bottles and jars, sometimes asymmetrical,
* Sculptural forms often suitable as garden focal points.

I continue to develop highly textured surfaces creating depth and interest in each piece by adding additional clay in various forms to the surface or by carving design into the clay. With a colour palette of white, black and yellows each construction, large or small makes a dramatic impact.

Richard Ballantyne

I started my artist career at Bradford College of Art, where I studies as an interior designer prior to starting work as such for Samuel Smiths Brewery in Tadcaster. After a spell of destroying the character of a multitude of pubs and clubs in the north of England I returned to University at Bretton Hall to retrain as a teacher. Then on to work as a full time potter. My ceramics are as varied as the British climate – work being both sculptural and functional, life size to miniature, raku to high-fired porcelain.

Being not only a pyromaniac but also a bit of a magpie, I often incorporate found objects in the sculpture – from ash from Mount St Helens in a glaze to stones washed up on the beach, each one telling its own story