THE Leach Pottery is excited to announce the award of £2,000 to three Cornish potters, including one from Bude, in association with the Rotary Club of St Ives, in the first bestowal of the Cornwall Potter’s Travel Bursary.

A panel, convened earlier this year, awarded funds to three winning applicants.

Simon Bayliss, a potter and painter based in St Ives, will be using his funding to undertake a tailored 5-week residency at Clay Works Studio, Dumfries, Scotland, to work with Chris & Lauren Taylor, alongside mentoring from Archie McCall. Simon’s focus will be on learning new throwing skills, nurturing his individual work, and studio management.

Callum Trudgeon, a potter from St Ives, is currently on a year’s sabbatical which has already taken him to Japan. He is now an artist-in-residence assisting a Kiln Yard Technician in Denmark, at the Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Centre, in exchange for accommodation and the use of facilities. Callum will use his funding to give him the opportunity to experience as much as he can about traditional and contemporary wood firing kilns and methods.

Rebecca Proctor, a potter of functional wheel-thrown stoneware from Bude, will use her funding to help support a research trip to Japan to visit the pottery towns of Mashiko and Bizen and discover first-hand, among other things, more about the relationship between the culture of Japanese pottery and food.

The grant is supported by the Rotary Club St Ives, the Leach Pottery, and the potters of Cornwall who donated their own pots to support the scheme. The grant is designed to benefit a wide variety of potters, giving them new opportunities to travel, learn, and return to Cornwall enriched with new knowledge and experience to benefit their practice and wider creative culture. The scheme was originally envisaged to help develop links between potters in Cornwall and Mashiko, Japan — in the spirit of the Leach Pottery’s historic and contemporary connections.

The Leach Pottery is hoping to again offer the bursary in late 2020, during the course of its centenary celebrations.

Libby Buckley, Leach Pottery director, said: “We are thrilled to be able to give potters from Cornwall the opportunity to directly experience pottery practice and culture on a wider national and international level. This year, we’re helping to support practice and research experiences in Japan, Denmark and Scotland. These potters will return to Cornwall inspired, and hopefully use their experiences to enhance their practice and to share their new knowledge and findings with their peers.”

Bude’s Rebecca Proctor said: “I have lived in Cornwall for ten years and have been strongly influenced by the traditional pottery of both Cornwall and Devon. When I moved here, I was fascinated to learn of the depth of local pottery history and delved into researching local potters and their work which, in turn, lead to an understanding of materials and the landscape.

“I’m especially interested in looking at Japanese food culture and their use of pots and presentation. I’m sure this first-hand knowledge will be an invaluable experience that could inform my work with chefs and restaurants in the UK.”