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Jo ArkellVenetian Glass & CeramicsFollowing a 3 year Arts degree majoring in Ceramics and an apprenticeship at a production pottery in South Africa, I opened my first studio in Durban, firing a self-built oil/gas kiln. I moved to Germany in 1974 to study Industrial Ceramics at the HBK, and started my second studio making stoneware and porcelain production pots. A friend & I opened the very successful ‘Galerie der Kunsthandwerker’ exhibiting top British and European Modern Ceramics and Glass artists in Hamburg, which left little time for my own work so in 1988 I left Hamburg for the warm and sunny climes of South Africa to start another production pottery, this time with a large self built gas kiln.
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Due to a devastating traffic accident in 1998, it was impossible to continue the demanding physical work of a potter, so I sidestepped into the world of glass having the opportunity of learning lampwork and working in the studio of maestro Davide Penso on the island of Murano, Venice. Glass is a fascinating medium to work with as it has colour, transparency, is versatile and has many properties similar to clay.
The call of the clay eventually meant that I am back on the potter’s wheel and fire to 1300⁰C in another self built gas kiln to make useful items to use and enjoy, and making glass beads that are enhancing to wear and to treasure.
If you get the same pleasure from my work, then I have achieved my goal.
The call of the clay eventually meant that I am back on the potter’s wheel and fire to 1300⁰C in another self built gas kiln to make useful items to use and enjoy, and making glass beads that are enhancing to wear and to treasure.
If you get the same pleasure from my work, then I have achieved my goal.
