Handmade

Hamish Jackson Pottery

My potting started at Winchcombe Pottery in the Cotswolds, England, in 2012 (coincidentally, just three miles from Stanton, the lovely village where my grandparents lived). Winchcombe was taken over by Michael Cardew in the 1920s and remains a studio pottery today. Working there, I got a real taste for production work, as well as tasks such as cutting wood for firings, mixing clay, and preparing glazes.

Since then, I've worked in studios in Los Angeles, CA, Brooklyn, NY, and North Carolina. Lauren, my wife, and I moved to Pittsboro, North Carolina in 2015 so I could apprentice under Mark Hewitt. I spent four years apprenticing there and have been making my own work in the area for about a year. It was wonderful working with Mark, and I learnt a great deal. Since then I have helped many potters fire kilns, traveling to and working in potteries in Japan, England and Thailand. In the 2019, I did a residency at the Shigaraki Cultural park in Japan. From February - July 2020, I did a six-month residency at the North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove, N.C.

Over the past few years, I’ve become more and more interested in using local wild materials in my craft. This begins with the clay, of course. North Carolina is built on clay. It is everywhere. Stick a spade in the ground and you can’t help but find it! I have been mixing my own clay whilst living here and also using local rocks to make glazes. I want to delve more into this area of study, so in August 2020, I’ll begin the MFA program in ceramics at the Utah State University in Logan, Utah. This program has produced so many excellent potters and has fabulous material science resources. I intend to take geology classes and really delve into the possibilities of using local materials.