Rob Watson
by Angie Boyer
"I've never really expected work like mine, domestic ware, to win awards," said Rob Watson as we chatted with him some time after this year's Potfest in Penrith. It was there, on a sweltering August afternoon, that Paul and I selected Rob's entry in the show's 'Bowled Over' display as our choice for the title. No doubt 'bowled over' by the heat like everyone there, I'm not sure whether Rob and his wife, Chris, actually drank the bottle of champagne we presented him with, or poured it over themselves to cool off!
As we returned north later in the year to visit them at their home on County Durham, we enjoyed the familiar reminders of being in a different part of the country; scenery changing, evidence of past industrial activity on the landscape, dialects becoming broader, moving closer to the Geordie sound that simply fascinates me.
As we chatted, Rob took Paul through his house to see the studio at the back, a place smaller than you would imagine might be ideal for a potter, but he is organised and plans his work to fit his space. "I had a big workshop near Consett at one time," he told us. "It was previously used for agricultural purposes and was far too big for me, really, and not as near to home as I would have liked. I spent too much time travelling to and from the workshop and home, having to check firings and so on. So I decided to sell it and took fulltime employment, only deciding a couple of years later to work part-time so that I could carry on with my pottery from my studio at home." Even now his work spills over into the house at busy times of the year. "It's different in the warm summer weather, when we can use space outside, but just now we're coming up to the season when our dining room floor will be covered with dozens of pots drying out."
Rob's interest in pottery began when he was in his mid-twenties, when night classes, weekend courses and pottery holidays led to him taking his interest a step further and buying a kiln and a wheel to use at home. During a three year course in Studio Ceramics at college in the late seventies, Rob crossed paths with many people who would influence his perception of ceramics and pottery, many of them visiting the college in the role of guest lecturer. "Michael Cardew showed a genuine interest in the students, talking with them about making rather than philosophy. Takeshi Yasuda was my favourite, he was really enthusiastic and entirely natural, people were genuinely enthralled by his stories. I really liked his work at that time, the shapes and colours. It's changed since then and is more sculptural porcelain now, not quite my style, but I do still like it."
At one time Rob worked mainly in reduced stoneware."That involved using a gas kiln, which was unpredictable to say the least," he recalled. "Working from home, in a street such as ours, with restricted space and gas flames flaring and soaring, it wasn't the best! I would try to work at night, but the gas kiln really wasn't ideal for my situation and I wasn't selling a huge amount of stoneware, so I eventually changed direction, making coloured decorated earthenware, which I have been doing ever since."
Rob continues to work part-time, something which I sensed he has mixed feelings about. I suspect that he would simply love to put every waking hour into his pottery, but he knows that there is a balance to be found, with the security of a regular income producing the freedom to develop his work without pressure to always be selling.
"I sell mostly out of this area now," he told me, "mainly to shops and galleries, many of which have made contact through Potfest. I used to sell at craft fairs, doing more than one a week at one time, but craft fairs have changed. They are hard work for people like me, who have big, heavy stock to transport, carry and set up, so now it's down to just Christmas and Summer fairs in Durham. The galleries are a better market for my work now, they are not as elitist as they once were, but comfortably small and of good quality. I like the freedom to be able to decide what I want to make and then sell it, rather than making vast trade orders, for example. Selling to the trade in large quantities suits many makers, but I particularly enjoy working to commission and dealing with galleries on a personal basis."
"You obviously enjoy what you do," Paul commented to Rob as we listened to him talk. "Well, yes, it's a passion, really. Years ago, when land was being cleared near here and trees were being burned, I would collect ash and use it for firing. At one time I would find and dig my own clay, too, and make my own colours. I used to think it was the way to be as a potter, you know - finding clay, making colours, eating chick peas, that sort of thing, but its much easier to buy the clay and the colours and have beans on toast! The results from bought colours are just as good and they are excellent to experiment with."
Rob says that at one time he was tempted make slipware at home, just as he did when he had the large premises, but it is a process which needs a lot of space, so white earthenware was the choice. "I biscuit fire each piece I've made and then decorate in basic colours. I use blue, pink, green and sometimes yellow, trying to keep it simple. I try to make the brushwork look intuitive, but it actually takes a lot of practice. One day I'll be practising on a wooden bat for hours, perfecting the brush strokes, getting into the feel of what I am doing and perhaps only producing a couple of pots. Then, the next day, when the design has been worked out and I'm happy with what I'm doing, I'll get a whole batch done."
I wondered what influenced the way Rob created these designs for his pottery. "I like the way the Japanese use line, shape and colour and often reflect that in my own work, such as the salmon-pink colour in the glaze I'm currently using. I like the work I'm doing at the moment, but 'm constantly looking for something new, always buying brushes and modifying them to create the marks I want. I enjoy looking through books featuring Japanese domestic ware, we have such complex designs in our culture, whilst the Japanese manage to say so much with just simple lines and marks."
Rob's interest in Japanese style extends beyond pottery and ceramics to bonsai trees, his outdoor collection includes some specimens which are over thirty years old. "They take a lot of looking after if you're doing things properly," he explained. "Ideally, the trees need daily attention. Wherever we go, we find ourselves looking at trees. Trees and ceramics."
'Wherever we go' will take Rob and Chris to Japan next year, a dream holiday where they will be spoilt for choice on what to see and do. "It's as if all our anniversaries and birthdays have been rolled into one," Chris told me, "I'm even learning Japanese at the moment so that I can speak and understand some of the language when I'm there."
As we looked through photographs of Rob's pottery, images spanning the years that he's worked in the craft, it was interesting to see the progression in terms of form and use of colour. Everyday objects take on his own particular influence, a jug may have a unique, elongated spout, establishing a style which has become recognised as his own. Rob loves to make huge, bold dishes as well as household functional pottery such as mugs and plates, "things that we actually use ourselves in our home and that others can enjoy using in theirs." It will be intriguing to see Rob's work in a couple of years' time, after the trip to Japan, to see what influences he has absorbed from his time there.
Just before leaving for our journey home, I asked Rob whether there was anything else that he thought we should talk about, anything I'd missed which ought to be included in this feature. "No,it's down to you, you're the writer. I wouldn't come to you for a pot now, would I, man," he replied, in the down to earth way that northerners have with words. It's that down to earth quality in his work which took our fancy at Potfest, too.
