Jo Lester (isle of wight)

Jo started producing pottery commercially in London (1951) but moved to Freshwater after only 2 years to produce his better known IOW pottery.
Jo resisted growth,preferring to work with only a handfull of protégés including his offspring Joe and Renella



a simple jug,including scrafitto decoration which became jo's trademark

base of the above jug and the isle of wight stamp

I do like these kooky birds from the 50's

They are quite common but I still find them very amusing

Jo was not a trained potter but turned his hobby into a business after being injured in the 2nd world war,this isn't a bad effort for an amateur though!

Early sgraffito mark.

The larger vase is 27cm tall. And heavy.

that's interesting,I didn't know the sgraffito mark signified an early piece

Well, that's according to the Yates-Owen /Fournier book , whose Jo Lester entry is especially confused....but it makes sense, the 2 or 3 pieces I've seen with this mark have had that graphic cleanly incised look.

There's a good precis for Jo here;
http://ww.studiopottery.com/cgi-bin/mp.cgi?item=353