Sculpted Steel

Posted on April 7, 2019April 7, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Blacksmith, Blacksmiths forge, Etruria, Etruria forge, Etruria Industrial museum, Jessie Shirley's bone and flint mill, Life, Sculpture, Sculptured steel, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

Charis Jones is a blacksmith and sculptor who runs Sculpted Steel at the Etruria Forge in Etruria Stoke-on-Trent. She is based in the Forge and can be contacted to commission sculptural work. She created a large cat sculpture for our garden.

This weekend she was demonstrating her skills during a steaming weekend at The Etruria Industrial Museum. Home of Jessie Shirley’s bone and flint mill.

The beam engine that powers the flint grinding pans is steamed about once a month.

As with other places in the potteries this is one of those hidden gems that people don’t know about but which are fascinating to visit

Photos courtesy my friend Lorraine.

Waiting room gallery

Posted on April 7, 2019April 7, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Fine Art, Life, Longport, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Waiting room gallery2 Comments

If you go into Longport in the potteries (Stoke-on-Trent) and turn off the main road towards the station you will find a new artists led gallery.

The place only opened up this weekend but they have had lots of visitors and sales. There is art by a number of local fine artists for sale. I could not resist asking if I can place some work there and maybe hold an exhibition there.

The gallery is across the road from a shop called cherished chimneys which sells ornamental chimney pots, there was also a sign for a teapot exhibition on another building, and the station building at Longport is also being used as a gallery.

Despite losing City if Culture for 2021 I think artists in the area are proving just what a cultural, artistic city we are.

Minton exhibition

Posted on April 5, 2019April 5, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bret Shah, Ceramics, Hans van Lemmen, Minton tiles, Penkhull, Pottery, Pressed tiles, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Stoke-upon-Trent, Tile press, TilesLeave a comment

Tonight we went to the opening of an exhibition based on Minton tiles.. This is being held at the Winkhill Mill at Swan Street in Stoke, Stoke-on-Trent.

Bret Shah and Hans Van Lemmen on have produced a book of patterns based on designs by Minton tiles. Also in the exhibition are examples of tiles. There are 3d printed tiles where the different patterns are built up as layers. You can wear glasses that obscure your vision so you see as if you are visually impaired The 3d tiles give you an idea of the shapes used on the flat tiles. There is also a chance to see tile presses where dry clay dust is used to produce blank clay tiles. However the mill is also looking ar producing encaustic patterns on the tiles.

Later we visited St Thomas’s Church at Penkhull. The floor of the church is covered in minton tiles in the area by the altar.

Urban murals

Posted on April 2, 2019April 2, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Life, Market, Murals, New Market, Old Market, Politics, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Stoke-upon-TrentLeave a comment

Here are two murals in Stoke Town centre (or Stoke-upon-Trent) one of the six towns that make up Stoke-on-Trent.

The market is mostly held inside this building with food stalls including fish and meat. Clothes stalls and all sorts of other merchandise.

Several years ago (almost 40) the old market burnt down. I remember sitting in a friends garden and seeing the plume of black smoke flowing high up into the sky. The cause? An electrical fault. The site was cleared but the local Labour Party fought for it to be rebuilt and a few years later the new market rose on a part of the site near the old market hall. There followed a library and council buildings. Nowadays the market is less busy. More shops are closing in the town. Cuts to local government are affecting the jobs in the town and city. Services have been slashed because of austerity measures bought in after the 2010 general election. The cuts really bit when the local administration went over to a Conservative and independent coalition.

Maybe one day things will improve. In the meantime it’s good to see the vibrant murals on the market building.

Titchy play: Monster

Posted on April 1, 2019April 1, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Comedy Sketch, Creative writing, Dialogue, Environment, Fun, Humour, Penkhull, Penkhull mystery play, Playlet, Sea, Seaside, Stoke-on trent, Titchy theatre, TravelLeave a comment

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I wrote three little plays for the Titchy Theatre yesterday. They were read out at the show. I will post them here one a day.

Monster (tourist to reporter – look south or some such channel)

Reporter : so where did you see it?

Tourist : down by the quay, you know, the harbour?

R: and was it big?

T: well… It was as big as a boat, no… A ship

R: what did it look like?

T: er…. It had glowing all over it

R: what sort of lights?

T: Well… Yellow-ish. Like Glowing yellow eyes, and I think it had huge teeth too!

R: why?

T: it seemed to have a grill or something over its mouth, but you could see light shining through… You know… Glowing like an alien?

R: did it make a noise?

T: yes, a very low humming, and a metallic, clanking noise.

R: so…. how do you feel?

T: very scared. I’ve never seen anything like it before

R: can I ask you where you’re from?

T: oh yes. Stoke-on-Trent

R: so … Have you ever been to the seaside before?

T: oh yeah. You know, magaluf, Malaga, Ibetha.

R: and there was nothing like this there?

T: No… Just always sunny, and at night we went off and partied… The other thing I remember is this long wailing noise! I mean, it was foggy, so I could only sense the looming figure the Monster…. .!!

R: OK. Well…. We checked with the Coast Guard… .

T: Yeah??

R: the wailing noise was from the lighthouse foghorn.

T: Oh

R: And the big, dark, lit-up ship thing.

T: Yes?

R: Was a car ferry…….

Christine Mallaband-Brown

Ducks

Posted on March 31, 2019March 31, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Birds, Ducks, Hello, Life, Staffordshire, Stoke, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

it’s not often that you walk down the road in your local town and see a duck and a drake walking down the road in front of us. Crossing by a taxi rank. There is a river called the Trent that runs through the town, but it is in a culvert until it comes out near our local football ground.

When people say hello to each other in Stoke they say “hello duck” where in other places it might be “hello chick, or hello dearie”.

So we hope the ducks found the river or flew off to a park. I didn’t know who to contact and neither of them were injured. Just taking a walk….

Berryhill fields

Posted on March 27, 2019March 27, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Berryhill fields, Blossom, Building, Environment, Green lung, Houses, Life, Pollution, Potteries, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, TreesLeave a comment

I’ve just visited Berryhill fields in the centre of Stoke-on-Trent. It’s one of the green lungs of our City, a country park between Fenton, Longton, Bentilee, Sandford Hill and Bucknall.

I took some lovely photos of the view, including the TV mast that dominates the skyline. The white blossom along the pathway up from Arbourfield drive is floating like a pure white cloud alongside the path.

I’m worried that this green lung of the city could disappear. The local Conservative and Independant council wants to build 1300 houses on the site, this despite there being a covenant on the land to prevent this. In fact there have been protests over its use in the past. I know we need new housing but why destroy the environment. Yes there are industrial patches around the site. Why not build on brownfield sites in the city instead?

In a world where pollution and environmental degradation are on the increase we should preserve what we have left of our green spaces.

I was up there with Labour councellors and candidates. We were filming and taking photos of the parkland to raise the issue with the voters in the upcoming local elections

Minton Tiles

Posted on March 26, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged archives, Art, Art deco, art nouveau, Life, Minton, Pot banks, Potteries, Pottery, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent4 Comments

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I had the pleasure of being invited to a behind the scenes visit to our city archive today. I had been asked if I wanted to go along by a friend who is doing an art project about the pottery manufacturer.

We went up to the third floor of the city library and were shown round the back of the reception desk into the staff only section. There the city archivist showed us some of the fading pages in the ledgers. They were images of pots that various pot banks made in the history of Stoke-on-Trent.

There were pattern books for tableware and tiles ledgers with the cost of making the ware and details of workers. The old pottery firms did not collect a lot of details and a lot was thrown out when they closed down. But once we had been in the air conditioned archives we were allowed to sit and (very carefully) look at selected pattern books including prints of tiles to surround hearths, doorways and floors. Some were mundane but others were breathtaking. Art nouveau and art deco masterpieces.

I’m very pleased I was invited.

Unitarian meeting house

Posted on March 24, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bethesda, Chapel, Friends, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Tapestries, Unitarian Meeting House2 Comments

In 2018 I sang with three choirs at the Unitarian meeting house at Newcastle-under-Lyme. The original meeting house was built in 1717 but the building was burnt down. I don’t remember everything they told us but I think Josiah Wedgewood whose portrait is carved in wood above the door was a supporter of them.

I was impressed by the tapestries of their history that were on display in the hall. It’s fascinating what history there is in this area. Some of the Methodists first met near Stoke-on-Trent at Mow Cop and also built Bethesda Chapel in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent..

International Women’s Day 2018

Posted on March 19, 2019March 19, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Burslem, Burslem School of Art, Clay, Coal, Faults, Geology, Mining, Pottery, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

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I just found this sketch of International Women’s Day from about a year ago. I had a stall with art for sale at Burslem school of Art. I think this was the first time I ever drew the main gallery and I also tried to draw the banner that was on display there.

The school of art is very crooked. Burslem is old and suffers from subsidence or is undermined by coal mines. The whole of the city is built on clay and coal and the coal field under the city has caused a lot of damage over the years. Parts of the city also have geologic faults running underneath them so it’s not surprising that the buildings are affected.

There is also a volcanic plug where I live, the very base of an ancient volcano that was worn away by erosion over thousands or millions of years. The hill that is left dominates the valley of the river Trent, but the ground rises in other places too. There are coal tips (slag heaps) where the spoil from the collieries was dumped as the coal was hewn from the ground.

The wonder of Pottery and artistic design was the result of the geology in Staffordshire.