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Harlequin Gallery |
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Ursula Mommens, who began making pots when she was 14 years old in 1922, is a
great granddaughter of Charles Darwin and a great great
granddaughter of Josiah Wedgwood. A few years after she began potting Ursula started attending
classes at the Central School of Art in London two days a week. It was while
she was in London that she happened upon an exhibition of pottery and went
into the gallery to have a look. While she was doing this, Charles Vyse, the
potter came in and was fascinated to see a young girl looking at the work so
carefully. He started up a conversation and suggested that she would do
better to take the pots she had made and "show them to Mr. Murray at the
Royal College of Art". This she did and William Staite
Murray agreed to take her on, leading to "two wonderful years" at
the Royal College. Afterwards she started her first pottery in Kent, but from 1935
she worked in Chiswick, where she lived with her first husband, Julian Trevelyan, the painter. She remained there until her kiln
was blitzed and then was given the opportunity to join Michael Cardew at
Winchcombe and Wenford Bridge, following a chance meeting with Bernard Leach,
who told her of the vacancy. Since the early 1950's she has potted in Sussex, where she
originally moved with her second husband, and still continues to work at the
pottery she has shared with Chris Lewis since the 1970's. She works mainly in
stoneware but started to use porcelain a few years ago. The photograph above
was taken in May 2000, as she prepared for her exhibition at the Harlequin
Gallery during that summer. Ursula is the oldest professional potter in the United Kingdom
and is still active. She took part in her most recent exhibition at the
Harlequin Gallery in July 2004 just over a month before her 96th birthday and
is currently recording archive tapes of her life for the British Library. Below are examples of Ursula's work currently
available. |
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