Alison West

POTTER
Chagford

BOOK YOUR EXPERIENCE:
Phone: 07809 446122
Email: alisonwestceramics@me.com
Website: https://alisonwestceramics.com


Looking back, the writing was on the wall for Alison West even when she was a child. “I was the family pyromaniac, who always wanted to light the bonfires and candles,” she says, as she fills her kiln with a freshly-turned set of pots at her studio on the outskirts of Chagford.

Alison specialises in saggar firing, a technique in which she encloses her pottery in a metal container – a ‘saggar’ – before firing it in a kiln. Historically, saggars were used to shield ceramics from the flames, smoke, and ash that are generated during the firing process. However, Alison takes it further by adding combustible materials, creating unique and creative surface effects.

Alison’s studio is on a Georgian estate on the outskirts of the town. The space was originally a tack store for horses, but was commandeered as an operations room by the Home Guard during the Second World War. Having sat empty for decades until Alison moved in, the original ‘Troop Office’ sign still hangs on the door.

An area no bigger than a single bedroom, the space is an ergonomic marvel, cramming in two potter’s wheels, a workbench, an electric kiln, a wood-burning stove, a sink, several stools, a ‘pug mill’ for recycling clay, and Nina’s bed. 

The original bridle and saddle brackets above the fireplace serve as hooks for Alison’s calipers, carving tools, and siphons. On another wall, shelves are stacked with precariously balanced jam jars full of oxides and slips – the buttery, liquefied clay Alison paints on her pots to infuse them with subtle colours. “Dartmoor clay reflects the colours of the moor,” she says. “Pinks from the granite and sunsets, greys from the tors, yellows from gorse, and blues in summer skies.” In other jars, there are pearly, silver-blue mussel shells, which Alison grinds up and adds to her clay to create touchy-feely textures. “I want people to be compelled to pick up my pots,” she says.

ALISON’S TASTER SESSION

POTTERY TASTER CLASS
2.5hr workshop | £40 per person (2 max)

This private, taster class with Alison West will introduce you to handling clay and throwing a pot on the wheel. This is a relaxing and informal experience and your best pot(s) will be finished, name-stamped and glazed to be collected or posted at a later date.

READ ALISON’S STORY IN A BOOK!