Alan Wallwork

15 to 20 years ago when I was exhibiting Alan's work on a regular basis, one of my customers ran a gallery that just sold modern conceptual art but bought Wallworks for himself.

I've always had a fondness for Alan Wallwork, as it is amongst the first pieces of pottery we bought in the Devon Guild at Bovey Tracey. 25 years or so ago. His work just stood out. Apparently it was a very good outlet for him.

In the early days of the CPA, Alan was an active member and on the Committee for a number of years. However, he stopped being actively involved and supply them with pots when their mark up increased dramatically and there was also the problem of getting his pots to Central London. Basically, he had to reduce his margins i.e. lower his profit. Being a member of the Devon Guild meant that getting things to them was much easier and a more pleasant drive. Their mark up was also less than most retail outlets, so it was a no brainer for him to sell at Bovey rather than London.

A small unusual piece of Alan's work that I sold in September.

OOOOOhhhh,,, That is nice! Very unusual as well. What size was it?

I was just looking through this thread and noticed that Davee had one the other year.

It is a Radiant Fossil form and the height was 10.4 cm (4.1 inches). The maximum width was 8.9 cm (3.5 inches) and the maximum depth was 5.6 cm (2.2 inches).

The man that you met on Greenwich Market, philpot.

This is from a Christmas card that I received and the "Head planter" is one of his.

22 Crawford St. wrote:As with the best pieces of sculpture you get a compulsion to touch it and pick it up.

Please.....please,,,,don't come near mine.
Had enough accidents in moving.

22 Crawford St. wrote:As with the best pieces of sculpture you get a compulsion to touch it and pick it up.

It would fit in your trousers pocket but if you kept it there then you might hear a variation of the Mae West line........ is that a gun in your pocket

I know that bowls are not so popular but I had kept this one for 20 years or so until selling it in September too.

I thought that the glaze in the bowl was exceptionally fine and I have included a shot of the base that illustrates that almost all of his AW pieces start out by being thrown.

Like the one that I had.

Ceramic Review from 1971.

Below is the image of the back of a tile that I sold recently.


Towards the bottom is a faint ink stamp mark put on the tile around the time that it was made in Marnhull, Dorset. However, most tiles would have been sold in bulk in boxes and would not have been marked at the time.

The larger "Designed by Alan Wallwork" ink stamp at the top of the tile was a stamp bought by Alan when he was clearing out his studio in 2004 before his move to France. All of these tiles would have been sold either via the Harlequin Gallery around that time or by Alan on a stall he took at Greenwich Antiques Market on several Sundays around that time.


The faint Marnhull ink stamp.

Here's an experimental tile that Alan made himself at Marnhull and originally came to me directly from "Wallsprocket", as we used to call him, in 2004.

It was bought by one of my customers around that time and she had it framed professionally.

It subsequently came back my way due to down-sizing and has now been re-housed.

Nice price as well!

He sold a lot of his work through the Devon Guild in Bovey Tracey, which is not very far from you. We bought a substantial number of our pieces from there.