Dorset
Pottery Group
Member
Member
Alan Ashpool
Trumps in Cottage Whitchurch Canonicorum Bridport Dorset DT6 6RH
Tel 01297 489347
Alan's Website is at this link
He studied ceramics at the Woolwich Polytechnic Art School in the Fifties under Heber Matthews who had been a foremost student of William Staite Murray and who had taught Hans Coper how to throw.
In 1960 Alan set up a studio in Welling, Kent and sold pots to such London stores as Heals, Dunnes and John Lewis.
After marrying in 1965 he moved to various addresses in South East London where he made pots which he exhibited in various group exhibitions. He also taught pottery at Evening Classes.
After many holidays in Dorset Alan moved to Whitchurch Canonicorum, near Bridport in 1986 where he set up a full time studio.
There he experimented with making various tiered forms from a mixture of thrown and cast sections joined together. These became to be known as 'Pagoda Pots'. They were fired to a fairly low stoneware temperature i.e. 1200C. He also evolved a number of coloured glazes and slips for use at this temperature.
Recently he has used slip casting techniques for all of his work and experimented with decorating them with his own brush-on glazes.
In 1992 Alan founded the Dorset Pottery Group, which later was to have over 70 members. In 1999 he became involved in the development of the Group's Millennium Ammonite Project and arranged making and decorating workshops at his cottage. He also glazed and fired the individual 80 sections of the sculpture in his studio.
Alan has been awarded Life Membership of the DPG in recognition of the effort he put into establishing and promoting it.