How to feel like Wedgwood in less than an hour

Pamela Wells gathered 101 people living or working in the Potteries to design a set of four bowls inspired by pieces in the collection of the Potteries Museum. Clare-Marie White, not well known for her artistic skills, had a go

FLICKING through centuries of pottery genius, I have to say I felt a bit daunted. Unlike everyone in the city over forty, the feel of clay isn’t very familiar to me and I can’t even draw a line without people laughing.

So to go from that to a vision of a fully formed design within an hour was an impressive piece of guidance by Pamela. While my mind was as blank as the freshly handmade bowls, she said many people came with strong ideas of what they want to achieve and these developed into something different as they worked together.
It has been working with all these different people with their starting points that will created a diverse tapestry of dishes at the exhibition running between October 23 to 17 November.

Pamela has been developing the project for nearly six years. Originally from California, she now lives in Wolverhampton and has become fascinated by the ongoing relationship that people in the Potteries have with the industry.

She had a very positive response as the project developed and she says: “It seemed that Stoke-on-Trent was hungry for a project like this.”

After the exhibition, participants are asked to hold a meal with three people they don’t live with, all of whom will get one of the bowls, scattering our work across the world just as previous potters have done before us.

The experience was an exciting one, showing that even the person who thinks they have nothing creative to offer can be involved, echoing, of course, the thousands of workers in the pottery industry over the years.

It also showed the power of collaboration – even though all of us developed our ideas into a practical dish to make, we will undoubtedly all love the finished product.