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Harlequin Gallery |
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Douglas Fitch has been potting for the best part of 25 years. However,
it is only recently that it has become his full time occupation, after
working for a number of years as Technical Manager in the Faculty of Arts,
University of Plymouth. It was in the early 1980s that he studied pottery at
the Derbyshire College of Higher Education at the same time as Nic Collins.
There they were mates and this friendship has been renewed since Doug moved
to Devon in 1990. Besides making pots at Nic’s before opening his own
pottery, Doug has been an important member of the kiln firing team for Svend
Bayer, Clive Bowen as well as Nic over the years and he cites them alongside
Michael Cardew as potters who have inspired him. Doug makes country pots not only because he
wants to use a wood-fired kiln but also “because the countryside is an
intrinsic element within the fabric of my work. At Hollyford Pottery, all the
senses are stirred by the natural environment and the changing of the
seasons”. His pots made from a blend of local
earthenwares, such as Fremington clay and a gritty brick clay from Exeter,
are most certainly unfussy with no attempt at what he calls “prettiness”. He
goes on to say, “I strive to capture the tones and textures of the
countryside in my pots, choosing a basic palette of earth colours from the
naturally occurring minerals of the rural environment.” |
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