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Ursula Mommens, who began making pots when she was 14 years old in 1922, was 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. From the early 1950's she potted in Sussex, where she originally
moved with her second husband, and continued to work at the pottery she shared
with Chris Lewis, who joined her in the 1970s. She worked mainly in stoneware
but started to use porcelain as well in the 1990s. The photograph above was
taken by me in May 2000, as she prepared for her exhibition at the Harlequin
Gallery during that summer. Ursula was active until fairly recently. Her last exhibition of
new work at the Harlequin Gallery took place during July 2004. She celebrated
her 100th Birthday during August 2008 and to commemorate this event a small
retrospective of her work was included in the exhibition at the Harlequin
during October 2008. It is with regret that I have to announce
that Ursula passed away peacefully on Saturday 30th January 2010. She was
a remarkable person, who lived life to the full, as well as being a most
wonderful potter.
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