By way of introduction I need to clarify that studio pottery is but one possibility within the Higher National Diploma in Design course run here and validated under the new Business & Technical Education Council. There are various other options in Textiles and Ceramics and related areas which attempt to give a flexible approach to imaginative students.

Whatever the combination of subjects a student wishes to learn, the fundamental intention of the course is to set students along the way to becoming craftsworkers in their own right. As far as this article is concerned I am writing specifically about the area I am involved in, that is, Studio Pottery.

Without going into detail, vis a vis the course structure, suffice it to say that within two short years we cover those areas considered relevant to workshop situations throwing, decoration, press moulding, hand building, glaze technology (empirical and theoretical), geology, kiln theory and kiln building using various fuels, general workshop practice and so on. In support of these we include business and professional studies, historical studies, drawing, pattern, equipment making and photography. However,what I am primarily interested in here are the less quantifiable qualities, the feel, the texture, the essence of the educative process being attempted here.

It is not enough, in this process, to touch dryly upon the informative aspects of, history, of culture, of technique it is not enough to know what is happening in the crafts today. To be moved, to be inspired, to touch one's own vitality, to quicken that is enough. Without this, however masterful one's technique, or one's knowledge, there is no beauty, no warmth, no humanity. Unfortunately one cannot give students this, one cannot teach it. It is nevertheless within each of them to a lesser or greater degree.

This is the real dilemma and challenge of teaching. There are no answers, only a constant learning process by staff and students engaged in an interactive process which hopefully inspires and informs. The working atmosphere begins to enrich, excite and deepen. Discussions spring up, pots are talked about, subtleties noted. Clay and its magic begins to reveal itself not as a separate thing to be manipulated or exploited, but as material with expressive qualities of its own which run deep in their relationship to ourselves. If this fundamental respect is not born then "The result is that the material is unable to give us its love, because in the processes to which we subjected it, we ourselves did not give it ours...." (Michael Cardew).

Jim Malone and myself stress that good form is the fundamental language of pottery. If we add to that a passion for clay and the interactive transformation through fire then we have the necessary ingredients given a sufficient degree of talent, to aid would be potters on their way. To draw out these qualities, to feed and nourish them is our job and for better or worse we go about it in a particular way.

Essentially it boils down to this, exposure. Exposure to as many pots, both historical and contemporary which exemplify the best in form, vitality, strength, warmth humour, pattern and all those other human qualities which relate to and touch upon our nature, to enrich and inform our experience. This exposure is effected by visits to exhibitions and collections. Last year the students went to see those lovely pots from Buckley in North Wales, to Bill Ismay's contemporary collection, to Richard Batterham's superlative exhibition at the British Crafts Centre, to "Shibui" at Gordon Reece Gallery in Knaresborough, to name but a few by visits to museums, e.g. the Gulbenkian in Durham and that wonderful collection of medieval jugs locked in a basement of the Yorkshire museum in York etc. By films on Cardew, Leach, Isaac Button, Geoffrey Whiting, in fact anything we can get hold of which is searching either in philosophy technique or common sense. By demonstration and contact with visiting lecturers, who, although often very different in approach and talent nevertheless enjoy, handle and use clay in an essentially sensitive way. Last year we were fortunate to have with us,albeit for short periods, John Maltby, Colin Pearson, Janet Leach, Takeshi Yasuda, Richard Launder, Mick Doherty and Shizuko and Ted Hughes. By the time this goes to print Clive Bowen and Patrick Sargent will have been. Over exposure? Well, so be it. Apart from these vital "interjections" the students are expected to work hard on technique through a variety of briefed disciplines, build kilns, (wood and gas) test out local materials for glazes, slips and bodies (in the second year, bringing materials from the areas they intend to set up their workshops), put on an exhibition with the other participants in the Design Crafts Course, make a piece of equipment (a wheel for example) and attend the supporting studies and lectures mentioned earlier.

Towards the end of their first year, all students are placed preferably with a pottery of their choice for two or three weeks as a taster to actual workshop experience. In the second year the students settle down to consolidate and specialise in the way they choose to work, mixing and/or testing their own clay bodies and glazes and shareing or using their own kilns, whenever possible.

Watching and seeing students move through the necessary stages of understanding is rewarding. It is only natural that certain forms, surfaces, decorative qualities, firing techniques excite and are explored. very often the forms belong to a different culture and functioned within a context that no longer exists. Initially, for educative purposes this is of no consequence. Later the student will have to look at the specific needs and functional contexts within which pots and clay objects are needed today and make choices as to the area they most want to work in. Indeed, it is possible today, with so many varying environments, to adapt forms to new contexts, without qualitative concessions, which previously. did not exist.

Since learning is an evolutionary process, not necessarily steady, with troughs and peaks, periods of certainty and periods of pain, one cannot in two short years expect students to have carved out a style and a maturity in so brief a time. Nevertheless, most students, about halfway through their second year have created an inertia and rhythm in which the seeds of their character are clearly discernible. Work falls into place, not just any old place but a place from which all natural, enriching and sustaining communication occurs, the right place the love of it.

I like to think that perhaps we have gone some way in allaying the fears expressed by H, Davis in his pamphlet, An Historical Review of Art, Commerce, and Industry and I quote:-

"One looks to education for signs of hope, but it is committed to training young people to man the social order as it exists, and although it pays lip service to the idea that things should be done for the right reasons, only its rebels seem in fact to succeed in this respect. The truly simple and adequate reasons for making pots disappear from view when any gimmick is worth a try as an indication of originality, and any publicity is worth chasing as a means to fame. To do something in order to appear to be original, to adopt mannerisms and play the eccentric in order to appear to be an artist, to pursue fame as a conscious objective are all symptoms of sickness and examples of actions taken for the wrong reasons. In saying that potters should have the courage to be potters, one is merely saying that they should have the courage to do things for the right reasons...."

STUDENT CONTRIBUTIONS

JANIS DEVES

Before I came on the course I was running, searching, looking for something around every corner. Now I no longer seek out and hope for is enough to be standing.

MARTIN TAYLOR

Today I believe the majority of peoples lives are too 'instant', all thin and watery like instant tomato soup. I look at myself as someone who is going to try and rediscover the 'body' in life and, who knows, perhaps even be fortunate enough to put some back in to other peoples.

OLWEN ROBERTS

I now know why I have a need to make pots, because of the sheer joy of forming an object of use and decoration out of one of our own earth's materials and firing it in a wood flame.

STEPHEN BARKWORTH

During the last year and a half I could not decide what I most wanted to do. On the one hand I loved the effect of ash glazes and the philosophies and ideals of the Japanese and Korean cultures, and on the other hand I felt that the traditional pottery of this country should not be allowed to die out. I feel a lot happier now that I have decided on earthenware, and my pots seem to have taken on a new boldness because of this. I feel very priviledged to have been here - this course has given me more than just the skills of pottery, it has awakened in me a deep feeling for clay. You cannot work against it, forcing it to do things it does not want to do, you have to work with it, coax it, love it...

STEPHEN ROBERTS

I would like to say, briefly, a few things which are important to me in life. Richard Batterham called such things our 'stars and landmarks'. We all have our own very different likes, but I feel they do contain elements which can be applied to us all. One 'star' for me is exemplified in this quotation.

From Bob Dylan "well you pulled me out of bondage, and made me renewed inside, filled up a hunger that had always been denied, opened up a door no man can shut, and you opened it so wide, and you have chosen me to be amongst the few. What can I do for you?"

Another is beautifully put by Yanagi :

"To me the greatest thing is to live beauty in our daily lives, and to crowd every moment with things of beauty. It is then and then only that the art of the people as a whole is endowed with its richest significance. For its products are those made by a great many people for the mass of the people and the moment this art declines, the life of the nation is removed far away from beauty. So long as art abides in only a few articles created by a few geniuses, the kingdom of beauty is nowhere near realisation".

I agree with Yanagi, a nation cannot be healthy if it does not have these qualities. The only thing which holds us back is ourselves. There are those who are doing their excellent best, but they are unfortunately few and far between.