POTTERY
CV
BACKGROUND:-
Alan Ashpool was born in South
London. He studied ceramics at the Woolwich Polytechnic Art School in the
late 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 several 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 low stoneware temperature i.e. 1 200C. 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. He
regularly exhibits with them. In 1999 he became involved in 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.
EXHIBITIONS:- In London these included The Passmore Gallery, Camberwell, The Russell Meade Gallery, Holborn and The Dutch Barn, Dulwich. Since moving to Dorset he has exhibited at The Allsop Gallery, Bridport, The Yardarm Gallery in West Bay, The Strangway Hall in Abbotsbury, The Dorset Gallery in Wareham, the Meeting House in Ilminster and the Axminstcr Arts Cafe.
POTTERS MARK :- All his work is marked with an impressed Greek alpha in either a circle or a square.
Further
information is given in my published book 'POTS, BUTTERFLIES and Many Other Things' and on the