Well, I made seats, a table, long dishes and other such delights, but what really caught the imagination at Potfest was penguins. Lots of them! I even had to send an SOS to Zoe to bring down some penguin reinforcements, ( so as not to disappoint a fair few children - “Have you got any more penguins please?’)
Much to every one's amusement the reinforcements arrived in wetsuits. Well wrapped Inigo, thanks!
The reason for the rush on penguins was my competition piece. The theme this year was a ‘Shrine’. Mine was a ‘Shrine to Flight’. (Another reason that I wanted to hold on to the eagle for a bit). I'm afraid I never even got a good photo of it, though I hear that plenty of other people did.
It appears that it caused a fair bit of positive interest, winning plenty of votes. It won not only the ‘Spanish prize’, (the Spanish potter being Emile Biarnes whose work was stunning), but also the potters prize and the public prize! I was more than a little embarrassed, not being one who is comfortable with too much attention, but Niek Hoogland said, “Just enjoy!” So I did.
Potfest in the Park gets better each year with even more interesting overseas exhibitors. It was great to meet up with bloggers Dan, Margaret and Hannah, and find another blogger Novie Trump from North Virginia, who had made her impressive pieces in this country with someone else’s clay in 3 weeks flat.
So a successful show for me all round and a lovely show to do. I was pleased with my stand and Rodger's extra white boxes just did the trick. It was strange doing it without him, but probably good for me to HAVE to do all the talking for once. A reward indeed after the ridiculous amount of candles burning at both end that have been going on.
Back home I have been unpacking in go slow mode. No more big outside commitments for a while which is good as I need to slow down now for a bit, especially when I see those bags under my eyes in that bloggers photo!
