info@studio-pots.com		Harlequin Gallery
Peter Swanson
Examples of Peter’s gas and wood fired pottery that will make up the majority of the Harlequin Gallery exhibition that begins on Sunday 11th May 2008.
No.2 - Six Sided Bottle with Japanese Knotweed ash glaze and Iron pours. Height: 30.5cm (12.0”) Price: SOLD		No.10 - Slab Built Bottle with Tenmoku glaze and Nuka pours. Height: 22.9cm (9.0”) Price: SOLD
No.34 - Slab Built Bottle with Celadon and Ash glazes. Height: 24.1cm (9.5”) Price: SOLD	No.33 - Wood-fired Vase, Heavily ashed and with Feldspar inclusions Height: 22.2cm (8.75”) Price: £135
No.23 – Anagama-fired Jar with fly ash. Height: 29.2cm (11.5”) Price: £225	No.32 – Squared Bottle, side fired with fly ash. Height: 22.9cm (9.0”) Price: SOLD
No.30 Six sided Bottle, side fired with fly ash. Height: 22.9cm (9.0”) Price: SOLD	No.39 – Teabowl, ash on Shino. Height: 7.6cm (3.0”) Diameter: 9.5cm (3.75”) Price: £55
No.24 – Shino Jar, side fired. Height: 30.5cm (12.0”) Price: £285
Peter Swanson has been making a living out of pottery in his adopted Cornwall since 1974. Despite his long career, Peter has never sought national recognition, being happy to make pots that satisfy him, selling them locally and to visitors to Prussia Cove in Penwith, where his current pottery is based. As Peter says, “Extracting the best from my kilns and materials, whilst constantly seeking perfection is paramount. To attain a level that approaches the best of history’s pots is a very demanding target and keeps ones mind focused.” In truth I think I had seen a few of Peter’s pots in Cobra & Bellamy near Sloane Square in the 1990s but it was really only three years ago that I first became aware of his work. This resulted in me taking some of his pots and then including a larger body of his work in my “Pottery from Cornwall” exhibition two years ago. In that exhibition the work consisted of gas fired reduced stoneware but since then Peter has built a small anagama kiln at his home so that this time the pots will be a selection from both kilns. His gas-fired pots have glazes made using locally sourced materials such as clay, wood ashes and stone dust and the decoration is not representational in any way but abstract and seems to suggest rocks, plant growth and crashing seas. For many years Peter had been inspired by holiday visits to La Borne in France, where there are many wood-firing potters working and relics of this traditional pottery community are to be seen. A move of home with more land gave him an opportunity to build his own anagama based on what he had seen in France. He admits to having spoken to other wood-firers in England but has purposely kept his distance so as not to just replicate their work. As always he is following his own instincts, trying to produce work that is right for him, using shino, on occasions pine ash but usually allowing the fly ash to decorate. He recognises that anagama firing is a constant learning process, with the results “sign posting his direction and leading him to places of interest every time”. Speaking to him recently emphasised his enthusiasm for his current experimentation with different atmospheres within the anagama, the results of which we will see in this exhibition.
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