Ceramic Wales
- Maxine Callow
- Jun 24
- 4 min read
The second weekend in June saw the second-year students from University of Lancashire present their work at Ceramic Wales. This is an annual event, and each year sees a variable number of students. For 2026, there were three of us, Shenac Singleton, Lucy Hope and me, Maxine Callow.
One of us had to volunteer to correspond with Ceramic Wales and Uni Lancs and I was duly nominated. It wasn’t an onerous task. A few emails and ensuring payment was made for the stand. The event was very well organised for the process.
We had several tutorials and group meetings with Rob (tutor) and Cath (technician and fellow exhibitor) and learned what to expect and what was necessary in terms of work. During these meetings we decided on plinths, banners, tablecloths, payment systems and a colour scheme, amongst a million other considerations.
We all worked hard to achieve a presentable body of work that we felt was representative enough of our individual concepts.
The event is billed as a festival of pots, plants and food and runs for two days in the grounds of Bodrhyddan Hall. There is camping available for those with stands and a meal for the potters on the Saturday evening.
On the day before the festival, we all duly drove our work to Bodrhyddan Hall to set up our stand. Rob took all the other tranclements required. Lucy planned to camp, Shenac to stay in a hotel, and I opted to travel in each day as it was commutable.
In addition to the university stand, several former students, Lisa Keegan-Hill, Sally Edmundson-Bird, Paula Canney, Debbie Buxton and Ruth Burnham had stands booked. Cath Criscenti and Florian Houlker, our technicians also had stands. All in all, we were very well supported and had a wealth of knowledge to draw upon.
The fair/festival itself was a genuinely lovely event and one I would most definitely go back to. The curation of exhibitors was excellent, both for the ceramics and the plants and food vendors. (We bought some great garden furniture and lots of gluten free cakes!) The location is great for me and the organisation was exceptional.
Before the event I had a ponder on what I wanted to achieve from the opportunity. Whilst it is a fair and the real point is to sell your work, at this point in my studies, that was very much at the bottom of my list. I’ve spent the past eighteen months reinventing my practice and researching a great deal on who I want to be as an artist. I have been fabulously encouraged by family, friends and colleagues regarding what I have produced. Support from my tutor and technicians has been wonderful. For me though, the comments from the general public felt like a true test of what I have produced. There’s nothing like hearing comments that are good, bad or indifferent to get a better gauge on your wares. I wanted some solid feedback on what I produce.
I wasn’t disappointed. There were lots of people that walked on by. Whether because my work didn’t appeal or because they were there for the plants mainly, or simply because it was really an opportunity for a day out with the dog, I will never know. What was obvious was the number of people who openly laughed at the humour in my work, enjoyed seeing dodos, late mice or a skinny cat, or were just plain intrigued by the what or whys involved. Many of them I didn’t chat to, lots of them I did. I spent the whole of Saturday on my feet chatting to people about my work. Sunday was a tad more relaxed and I manged to go and have a wander around the other ceramicists and to grab some time sitting down.
I had a few fellow ceramicists stop by to chat. David William Sampson stopped by first thing on Saturday and we had a catch-up which was lovely. Later that day, Elaine Humpleby stopped by to see Jago Deaders in person. It was great to meet her and to learn that people often lurk on social media, making me recognise the importance of posting a little more regularly than I have been doing. She also gave me some great leads on places where my work could possibly go down well. On Sunday morning during my wander around, I stopped by Helen Higgins stand to see her work as I’ve admired it from afar and wanted the chance to see it in person. She wasn’t around so I poodled on back to our stand only to find her there, looking at my work. We had a great chat, and it was fabulous to meet her.
By the end of Sunday afternoon with all the stand mooching, chatting to people and glorious sunshine, I considered myself very fortunate to have had the opportunity to participate in Ceramic Wales. My fair was finished off in a smiley fashion when a couple came along who loved my work so much, they purchased the plaque of Lady Delores Raphus-Schilling. Thirty minutes later, they came back to purchase the Scrawny and Jago Deaders plaques, so they had the full set. I couldn’t have asked for more!
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