John Bellis
Tel: 01267 220121
John Bellis
“In times of tranquility I can still remember some scenes from childhood that gave me a sense of belonging to a particular place. The houses were constructed from a local bright red brick, and had many patterned decorative panels. The air, sometimes fresh from Ruabon mountain, often carried the residue from continuously burning domestic fires. I remember, too, the network of railway links that snaked to the half dozen local brickworks that made use of the clay deposits, which often seemed to outcrop alongside coal. Later in life, when I had already become enthralled by throwing pots, I was told that an uncle of mine had worked at one of the potteries in Buckley.”
John’s formal pottery education took place at teacher training college in London, at a studio pottery course at Epsom School of Art and assisting a couple of London based potters for a time. Later he established his own studio and built kilns in Surrey and in Dorset, the first a catenary arched gas kiln, the second was wood fired using a Bourry box.
John uses Devon ball clays and Dobles prepared clays for wheel thrown domestic ware. The work is firstly bisque fired, then glaze fired in a catenary arched kiln using wood and gas, local woods and plants are processed and tested for use in a variety of glazes, as are boulder clay and river iron. Many of these ingredients offer potentially beautiful glaze surface quality. John says that the location of his studio, situated close to the Brechfa forest and Llanllwni Mountain, together with this exploration into the use of local materials “seems able to expand my knowledge and deepen my connection to the local environment, the geology and ecology of this beautiful region”.
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