Jess Val Baker, Mask and Millstream Potteries (Cornwall)
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Jess Val Baker, Mask and Millstream Potteries (Cornwall)
This mug is 5 3/4" high and 3" in diameter, excluding the handle. The glaze is a white lava-type glaze with a dark brown under glaze giving the vertical line decoration. Judging from the photos on the Cornish Ceramics website , it would appear to date from the late '60s, when the pottery was based in Penzance.
Jess Val Baker began potting around 1953 when living at St Hilary, Cornwall with Bill Picard helping with decoration. She attended a pottery course at Penzance School of Art where she was tutored by Michael Leach. She set up the Mask Pottery at St Ives in 1958, having returned from living in Kent for a short period. It subsequently moved to Penzance and was sold in 1968 when the Val Bakers moved to the Wheelcat Pottery in Fowey, renaming it the Millstream Pottery. She finally gave up potting in 1972.
http://www.cornishceramics.com/psthilary.htm
http://www.cornishceramics.com/pmask.htm
She was married to the writer Denys Val Baker who was editor of "The Cornish Review" and well known in Cornish art circles. They lived a rather bohemian life together with their six children which included buying an old naval supply tender in which they sailed around the UK, Scandinavia and the Med, taking paying passengers with them, and Jess spending a year teaching pottery in Bermuda. You can read more here:
http://www.artcornwall.org/profiles/Denys_Val_Baker.htm
and on the website of their son Martin's St.Ives gallery (now closed);(I can also recommend his memories of '60 art college and the "beatnik" invasion of St. Ives, involving Donovan and his friend "Gypsy Dave", to be found at the bottom of the "Promotions" section! :
http://www.rainydaygallery.co.uk/denysvalbaker.html
Last edited by denbydump on June 4th 2024, 2:30 pm; edited 3 times in total (Reason for editing : spelling)
BrandX- Number of posts : 177
Location : London, UK
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brin mcardle- Number of posts : 2708
Age : 77
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Registration date : 2011-06-18
Re: Jess Val Baker, Mask and Millstream Potteries (Cornwall)
Might be Arch Pottery, St Ives.
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Carrot cake is just fake cake
Re: Jess Val Baker, Mask and Millstream Potteries (Cornwall)
Depends what you mean by "St Ives"?
It is made by Mask Pottery in St Ives, but it's not Leach.
It is made by Mask Pottery in St Ives, but it's not Leach.
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Potty- Number of posts : 3667
Location : Midlands
Registration date : 2010-09-28
Re: Jess Val Baker, Mask and Millstream Potteries (Cornwall)
I didn't think it was Leach Thanks all
brin mcardle- Number of posts : 2708
Age : 77
Location : upminster,essex
Registration date : 2011-06-18
Re: Jess Val Baker, Mask and Millstream Potteries (Cornwall)
Little Mask Pottery quaich
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Carrot cake is just fake cake
Re: Jess Val Baker, Mask and Millstream Potteries (Cornwall)
Mask Pottery mug
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Carrot cake is just fake cake
Jess Val Baker, Millstream Pottery (see also Gill Hilston)
Jess Val Baker - St Hilary Pottery, Mask Pottery, Millstream Pottery
1953- St Ives, Cornwall.
1960s- Penzance, Cornwall.
1968-72 Fowey.
Jess Val Baker began potting around 1953 when living at St Hilary, Cornwall with Bill Picard (and occasionally Donald Swan) helping with decoration.
She set up the Mask Pottery at St Ives in 1958.
Mask Pottery subsequently moved to Penzance and was sold to Jackie van Gelder in 1968 when the Val Bakers moved to the Wheelcat Pottery in Fowey, renaming it the Millstream Pottery (later run by Gill Hilston).
She finally gave up potting in 1972.
Millstream Pottery vase
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Carrot cake is just fake cake
Pugmill- Number of posts : 302
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Registration date : 2013-12-05
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