Initially she looked at Staffordshire slipware, early saltglaze and industrial wares for ideas, as well as modern oriental potters such as Shoji Hamada. Patient and inspiring, she developed her throwing skills in the spare hours. It was, she remembered, a period of trial and error at a time when knowledge was scarce.įrom 1951 until her retirement in 1989, Constantinidis was a teacher at Chelmsford's technical college. Constantinidis began to absorb the few useful texts available at that time, such as Bernard Leach's A Potter's Book. She was taught by the fondly-recalled ceramic sculptor HR Stone who, like Dorothy Kemp, was an enthusiast for slipware pottery. In 1946 Constantinidis went to Sheffield College of Art, to study fine art, but she chose pottery for her intermediate exams and became enthralled. ![]() ![]() This inspired her, as did the knowledge that her history teacher, Dorothy Kemp, was also a potter, who worked at the Leach pottery at St Ives. At home she began to paint and draw, and though art was not on the school curriculum, she recalled the indelible impression made by her headmaster, talking persuasively about Picasso's The Three Musicians. Born Joanna Connell in York, into a family of Scottish Celtic ancestry, she grew up in Sheffield and was educated at the local grammar school.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |