Saying goodbye: Steven
Steven showed he had embraced past comments about the rigidity of his work. He got in plenty of fluid lines in his dandelion-decorated lavatory, but the judges felt the decoration wasn’t quite strong enough and Steven was the last potter to leave.
When did you start pottery?
I took up pottery when I was 27. After studying Art at university, I fell out of love with the art world and decided that pottery was the perfect creative outlet that could also serve a function in everybody’s lives.
Which piece of your work stands out, and are any memories attached to it?
I think the best piece of pottery I have ever made was for my friend, Jo. She had recently lost her mum, and I wanted to make her something that she could look at and remember her mum. I made her a large single-stem vase in which she could place one of her mum’s favourite flowers.
Where do you do your pottery?
I work in a shed/outhouse that’s attached to my house. Me and my now wife Zoe ‘did up’ the house and it was always my dream to make my own pottery space. It took a while, but I eventually got it up and running a few years ago, just after Covid hit.
Do you prefer to hand-build or throw – or both?
I love throwing. It’s such a mindful activity. When throwing clay on a wheel, you can’t think of anything else apart from what your hands
