We had a great day out this week, when we visited the
Wedgwood Museum at Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent.
It really is a fabulous place to visit; bags of visual delights; history of arts and crafts; industrial revolution history really comes alive in this place; plus you can get all hands on in the demonstration area. Unbeknown to us when we visited on
Thursday, the museum is currently in the news and
under threat of having to sell the collection, due to a shortfall in the pension fund, which arose from the insolvency of Waterford Wedgwood in 2009.
This area of
North Staffordshire is more commonly called "The Potteries", and according to their tourist website, is now officially known as the World Capital of Ceramics.It is not really surprising given how the research and work of Wedgwood changed the face of Pottery production, and nurtured the development of local ceramics artists, and ceramics artists and craftspeople in general.
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| Pretty darn clever! |
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| In this area you can try your hand at a range of craft skills and watch demonstrations. |
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| I could have spent all day in here! |
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| More shots of my hands! |
While the photos of me having a go at throwing a pot, using the
Jasper clay look impressive, in reality the master craftsman was on hand to ensure we came out with a finished product that, once fired, they then ship home to us. I was itching for him to stand aside and give me free rein with the clay and the wheel, but he stood guard over us, giving us some tips and instruction, that I'm sure I would find useful if I ever had the chance to get my hands on a wheel and some clay again. He made it look so easy!
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| The most famous results of Wedgwood's experiments |
What impressed me the most about the story of Josiah Wedgwood, was how he
experimented and recorded meticulously the results of his experimentation. In the Museum you can see some of his notebooks and his trays of clay trials of different kinds, each piece of clay numbered and corresponding to an entry in his experiments book.The collection is vast, and you could easily spend a day just looking around the museum itself.
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| Exhibit from the museum showing production prior to electricity |
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| Early pieces from the collection |
I was also impressed by how Wedgwood then employed artists to travel and collect patterns and designs. The museum contains some sketch books from these artists, and collections of hundreds of different patterns. I think that would have been a job for me! Travel and collecting visuals....yes, it would have suited me down to the ground! Wedgwood also worked with more famous
artists to produce glorious pieces of art and design throughout the history of the company.
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Pattern collections
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I was also very interested to find out about Josiah Wedgwood's beliefs, and his involvement with the campaign for the
Abolition of the Slave Trade. Wedgwood designed medallions in 1787, which helped to highlight the campaign and people wore them to declare their sympathy with the cause. Probably the first time people had worn items of jewelry in this way. This was just one form of pressure to abolish the slave trade and it took until 1833 until the
Slavery Abolition Act was passed in the UK.
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| Anti-Slavery Medallion - Created by Wedgwood in 1787 |
To find out about modern day slavery and what you can do to help please visit
www.antislavery.org . It's a timely reminder for me having just watched
this episode of unreported world yesterday. You may also be interested in the work of
warchild, who help child soldiers and highlight their plight.
Wow... such an intriguing post... I really enjoyed discovering the magic in that museum... despite the fact that you had someone watch over you during your making of the pot, you really seem to know what you were doing... that looks great! if I tried it, no matter how much direction I received, the pot would flop and the instructor would have to jump in to save it from my hands...
ReplyDeleteThank you for the website on Slavery... and war children... it is horrific and I have no words, as a mother, to describe the anger inside when I see these children suffer like that... I bet you feel the same way.
That's somewhere I've always intended to go - but so far it's not got to the top of the list. I went to Gladstone Pottery a couple of years ago and was amazed by the little slugs of ceramic that Wedgwood created when he was investigating how clay mixes and temperature affected the finished product. The man was a genius.
ReplyDeleteHello. Glad you both enjoyed the post. Yes Lana I wondered that the whole thing did not collapse when he turned his back! AJ yes I was also amazed by how he experimented - definitely a genius.
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