ARTS & CULTURE
As I was going to St Ives…
LIVING A TRADITION AT THE LEACH POTTERY
It’s a long way from the tourist fray and the packed summertime beaches that so many people associate with St Ives, Cornwall and that’s part of the beauty of the place. Far from the seafront, with its innumerable galleries, craft shops and cafes lies the Leach Pottery, a bastion of tranquillity and East Asian sensibility. Created by Bernard Leach (1887-1979), the esteemed English studio potter, (and widely acknowledged as the most influential potter of the 20th century), it was from the small studio on Higher Stennack in St Ives that Leach contributed so much to artistic sensitivity, both in Britain and in the wider world. Although a Sunday afternoon drive past the Leach Pottery
wouldn’t immediately call all this to mind, just one glance at the objects on display inside reveals so much engaging detail of not only the life and production of Leach, but also on the whole myriad of artists whose work have been influenced by him. Te American craft potter Warren MacKenzie, instructor at the University of Minnesota for many years and currently Regents’ professor emeritus there, is just such a person. He studied with
Leach in St Ives between 1949 and 1952. Portland, Oregon- based potter Carson Culp finished up as a volunteer studio assis- tant in 2017, and he is currently resident artist at the Museum of Ceramic Art in the legendary pottery town of Mashiko, Japan. He, too, is captivated by the many historic connections between Leach and Mashiko, where Leach first encountered the master potter, Shoji Hamada (1894-1978). Consisting of a museum, gallery, studio and shop packed with
locally made pots, the Leach Pottery is an absolute must-see in Cornwall, and it can easily serve as the focal point to include a look around other centres of artistic production, past and pres- ent, in St Ives. Barbara Hepworth’s sculpture, for instance, is sit- uated in a museum and garden not far away, and the recently reopened and architecturally striking Tate St Ives fronts the Atlantic a bit further on. Led by South African Roelof Uys, who began at the Pottery in
2013, a team of potters are regularly on site, producing Leach Standard Ware which is sold in the shop, online and in select lo-
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