Wednesday 12 May, 2010 at 7:45pm, Polehampton Junior School

Russell Coates is now based in Frome, Somerset. He studied in Manchester, Portsmouth, at Goldsmith's College, and in Japan.

Working currently in thrown underglazed enamelled porcelain and stoneware, he is inspired by rural images, decorating with abstract landscapes, coral reefs, fish, and mammals.

More information at www.russellcoates.co.uk/home.htm.

Wednesday 17th April, 2010 at 7:45pm, Polehampton Junior School

Anna makes hand-built earthenware ceramics in the Aire Valley, Yorkshire.

She makes domestic forms: bowls, candlesticks, jars, and animal sculptures.

More information at www.junctionworkshop.co.uk/anna_lambert.

Wednesday 10th March, 2010 at 7:45pm, Polehampton Junior School

Elaine Peto graduated from Exeter College of Art & Design in 1985, where she studied animals via livestock markets and the abattoir, using the media of photography and drawing to record the structure of the carcass.

In 1986, she set up a studio and continued the study of agricultural animals. Each animal is individually made by the process of slab building in clay, i.e. rolling out a sheet of clay and forming the body, then gradually adding slab by slab to form the whole animal. The details are then remodeled until the animal is complete. It is then biscuit fired, glazed and refired to stoneware.

More information at www.project-workshop.co.uk/pages/artists%20pages/peto.html.

Wednesday 10th February, 2010 at 7:45pm, Polehampton Junior School

Jane Cox trained at Camberwell College of Art (1988-1992) and at the Royal College of Art (1992-1994), and has won several awards for her work including the Wedgwood Scholarship for surface design. Her work is collected for its use of rich jewel like glazes and stylish elegant forms.

As a child she grew up with the ceramics of Alan Caiger Smith and the Celtic wallpaper designs of Peggy Angus. Both helped nurture in Jane a desire to make objects of beauty to enhance our daily lives as well as inspiring an interest in the creation of her own original patterns based on calligraphic interlocking forms and surfaces.

Always in pursuit of developing her work and seeking new sources of inspiration, Jane seeks to create exiting patterns whose sweeps and curves echo the profiles of the ceramic forms underneath. These are objects to contemplate, repose and inspire as well as to enjoy in use, which are given added meaning by their contemporary context.

More information at www.janecoxceramics.com.

Saturday 23rd January, 2010, 10:00am - 4:00pm, Knowl Hill Village Hall

Tim Andrews has gained an international reputation for his distinctive smoke-fired and raku ceramics. He makes individual Raku work. Many are black and white with linear decoration or burnished with muted coloured slips.

The pieces are usually thrown, although recent pieces are handbuilt. Bisque-firing is in a conventional gas kiln to 1060 degrees Celcius. Many pieces have a 'resist' slip and glaze applied and are then fired in a 'top hat' glass-fibre kiln to around 1000 degrees Celcius, before removal when red-hot to a smoking chamber. When cold the resist glaze is chipped off and the pot cleaned up and waxed.

His pieces have been acquired for both public and private collections and are exhibited widely across the UK and abroad. He is a Fellow of the CPA, a full member of the Devon Guild of Craftsmen (Chairman of the selection Committee 1996-1998) and a Member of the West Country Potters Association.

To purchase tickets, please contact Debbie Page on 0118 972 2812 or contact us. Tickets cost £15.00 for members and £20 for non-members.

You can see more of Tim's work on his website: www.timandrewsceramics.co.uk.

Wednesday 11th November, 2009 at 7:45pm, Polehampton Junior School

Lucienne de Mauny has been potting professionally since 1982. After studying Ceramics for her first degree she served an apprenticeship in one of the last surviving traditional country potteries in England. Later she worked as a production thrower in Northern France.

Lucienne established her current workshop at Blenheim Farm, near Wallingford, South Oxfordshire, England in 1985 with partner Anthony Fletcher. They work as a team, largely to order, employing occasional part-time help. Lucienne's high-fired earthenwares possess a rare unity of form and surface decoration. Her style is both fresh and distinctive.

All pots have a purpose and many are inspired by Lucienne's own culinary pursuits. Each piece is hand-thrown and decorated with slips (liquid clay) using traditional techniques and tools: Lucienne continues to'slip-trail' using a cows horn and goose quill; a versatile tool lending itself to both fluent, rapid mark making and the more considered gestures required for lettering.

More information at www.luciennedemauny.co.uk.