John Bedding - May 2000

John Bedding started his career in pottery in 1964 at the age of seventeen working for commercial potteries in South London. Here he learnt the basic techniques of casting, glazing and decoration. In 1966 he started a two year course at Sir John Cass's School of Art to learn throwing.

When he had finished the course he moved to St Ives, Cornwall. He worked at Arch Pottery for a brief time and then moved to the Troika pottery. In 1969 he joined the Leach Pottery as a student. After a brief break, working in France, he joined the permanent staff of the Leach Pottery in 1973.

In 1979 John was invited to work at the Ichino pottery in Japan. Shigeyoschi Ichino had befriended him when they were both students at the Leach Pottery and had worked with him in France in 1972. The experience of traditional oriental techniques he gained at Tachiqui was valuable and the influence on his work was profound.

Back in Cornwall in 1982 he started his own pottery in Penzance, making domestic stonewares, He moved two years later to Trencrom, just outside St Ives. At this time he developed an interest in Raku and the use of metallic glazes. In 1990 John moved again, this time into St Ives where he set up his studio and gallery. In 1994 he was the second invited potter to be exhibited at the Tate, St Ives.

You can visit the St Ives Ceramics web site at http://www.st-ives-ceramic.co.uk/