Art In Clay, Farnham Maltings, mid November

Art in Clay at Farnham Maltings, weekend of 17th - 18th November

http://www.artinclay.co.uk/home/farnham

OMG it was brilliant.

Met Peter Beard and bought one of his pots!!

Met Richard Godfrey and asked if he was the same person doing the slipware back in the 70s, because his style had changed so much since then, and it was him!

Now got a wishlist as long as my arm for next year.

Had a wonderful day there today. Bought a Russell Coates and Roger Cockram, and a couple of other bits where I'm going to have to look up the potters because I can't remember who they're by. Took a load of photos so will post them later. There were a few new faces, and some missing ones; felt like there was more space this year, which is probably no bad thing.

Should have bumped this up last week as it was on 15th-16th Nov. Went on Saturday and had a lovely time, except for being told off by Pim, Niek Hoogland's wife, for taking photos of their pots! needless to say, there was no sale, and I left the stall sharpish. Went back later when Niel was around and he was lovely, but by then the piece I wanted had sold.

not the Art in Clay exhibition, but today i spent a very nice hour or so wandering round the monthly market at the Maltings.  There was some great studio pottery on one stand in particular (he said they'll be at Woking on Easter Sunday) and I spotted local potter, Mary Wondrausch having a mooch.  She was even overheard saying to one stall holder, "i'm a potter, you know".  how cute.

You saw Mary? I'm so jealous. Forgot that was on today. Was the studio pottery stall at the entrance or in the Main Hall? If it's the main hall, that's Vincent, (Potz100 off ebay) . They may have meant Wokingham tomorrow. Or Woking Art Deco fair which is on Monday. Hoping to get to both.

Did you pop in to the New Ashgate Gallery by the car park? Always worth a look.

Didn't go in the gallery this time.

Yes, the stall was in the main hall and the chap you mentioned. I think you're right and he meant wokingham. Bit far for me from Portsmouth though.

Disappointing. A number of potters seemed to have brought a small amount of stock, maybe because it’s one of the last fairs of the year? And the lighting in some of the rooms was very poor and didn’t show the pots to their best effect. Spot lights brought by the potters themselves don’t really help when they’re trained on a small area of the shelves.

I spent far more at the Oxford Ceramics Fair the month before, and would have spent more there if I hadn’t been keeping some money aside for Farnham. There also seem to be fewer exhibitors there in the past couple of years. Maybe the York and Aberystwyth fairs are spreading the potters too thin, or simply that some dont have to travel as far as they used to