OWLPOTTER@AOL.COM on sun 25 mar 01
In 1973 my husband and I took an automobile trip across the British Isles and
wound up in Land's End near St. Ives. It was late November, gray, wet and
cool, and the town was almost deserted. After looking into the windows of
many closed shops, we decided to visit the Leach Pottery. I wanted to
purchase a Barnard Leach bowl.
So we just drove there and dropped in.
We were met at the office/showroom by Janet Leach. She hadn't been expecting
visitors, and was dressed in a well-worn old sweater that was buttoned up
crooked, her hair stood out at every angle and she wore no make-up at all.
(At this point in my life, I was fastidious, even had fingernails, and hadn't
yet discovered the all-consuming joy and demands of working in my own mud.)
The showroom was partitioned off the office shed and consisted of pots on
dusty boards. (I had been expecting a museum - like setting!)
Janet was warm and gracious. She invited us in, talked about her life in
Texas before she met Barnard, apologized because he was unable to leave the
house at this point in his life, and was just altogether so nice to us. She
called down to the throwing shed and had a young man come up and show us
around and let us poke about and look into the huge old kiln.
Afterwards, we returned to her office and I asked if she had any of Barnard's
bowls for sale. Alas, she only had two of his pieces on display for sale,
the rest of the pots were hers. The two Barnard pieces she showed us were a
slab vase, about 20 inches tall with a wonderful warm black glaze that broke
rusty-red on its six corners, and a very small, thin porcelain, celadon
glazed, two-piece incense burner. She offered these to me for 25 pounds
each. (The exchange rate on that trip had varied between $1.85 to $2.00 for
a pound. So, that would have been about $50 each.)
BUT! I had in my mind's eye a BOWL. She said she was sorry, no bowls left.
My husband urged me to purchase the two pieces. That's when I noticed
postcards with a photo of the incense burner on them for sale near the
counter. Janet suggested a couple of places that might have a bowl and my
husband wrote them down while I purchased the postcard. I sent the postcard
to a friend in Ann Arbor.
(It's been almost 30 years, and I still cringe when I think of what a gauche,
horrid American tourist I was. I just couldn't get past Janet's miss-buttoned
sweater.)
After checking out the leads she gave us and finding no bowls anywhere, we
returned to the States just before Christmas. I moved my potters wheel out of
my basement into my first real studio and became immersed in my own pots. My
friend from Ann Arbor moved to New York and traveled for her work a great
deal. She loved going to Sothebys auctions. A couple years after Barnard
Leach died, she sent me an auction catalog bookmarked to a page which was
identical to the photo on the postcard I had sent her. The tiny incense
burner had brought $16,000.00!
-Carolynn Palmer, Somerset Center, Michigan
P.S. The other day, I rushed from the studio to our local grocery, on my way
home to fix a quick supper before going back to turn-up the kilns, and I
caught a glimpse of myself in the store windows. Deja Vu! My reflection was
a harried looking older woman, with her hair all wild and unkempt and her old
ratty sweater was askew - miss-buttoned!!!! No kidding.
David Hendley on sun 25 mar 01
Carolyn, don't feel like the Lone Ranger,
I was at St. Ives in the summer 1976, and I also passed on one
Barnard's tall tenmoku vases. The price was about $80 at this
time. It was a very nice piece, and I liked it. The price was way
more than I had ever seen for a pot, but I didn't buy not because of
price, but because I didn't want to wag it around Europe for the next
3 weeks.
I know, I know, I should have boxed it up and mailed it to myself.
I did manage to get small pieces from Michael and David. If Barnard
had just had a small piece for sale....
--
David Hendley
Maydelle, Texas
hendley@tyler.net
http://www.farmpots.com/
----- Original Message -----
From:
To:
Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2001 3:47 PM
Subject: A Barnard Leach pot story
| In 1973 my husband and I took an automobile trip across the British Isles
and
| wound up in Land's End near St. Ives. It was late November, gray, wet and
| cool, and the town was almost deserted. After looking into the windows
of
| many closed shops, we decided to visit the Leach Pottery. I wanted to
| purchase a Barnard Leach bowl.
|
| So we just drove there and dropped in.
|
| We were met at the office/showroom by Janet Leach. She hadn't been
expecting
| visitors, and was dressed in a well-worn old sweater that was buttoned up
| crooked, her hair stood out at every angle and she wore no make-up at all.
| (At this point in my life, I was fastidious, even had fingernails, and
hadn't
| yet discovered the all-consuming joy and demands of working in my own
mud.)
|
| The showroom was partitioned off the office shed and consisted of pots on
| dusty boards. (I had been expecting a museum - like setting!)
|
| Janet was warm and gracious. She invited us in, talked about her life in
| Texas before she met Barnard, apologized because he was unable to leave
the
| house at this point in his life, and was just altogether so nice to us.
She
| called down to the throwing shed and had a young man come up and show us
| around and let us poke about and look into the huge old kiln.
|
| Afterwards, we returned to her office and I asked if she had any of
Barnard's
| bowls for sale. Alas, she only had two of his pieces on display for sale,
| the rest of the pots were hers. The two Barnard pieces she showed us were
a
| slab vase, about 20 inches tall with a wonderful warm black glaze that
broke
| rusty-red on its six corners, and a very small, thin porcelain, celadon
| glazed, two-piece incense burner. She offered these to me for 25 pounds
| each. (The exchange rate on that trip had varied between $1.85 to $2.00
for
| a pound. So, that would have been about $50 each.)
|
| BUT! I had in my mind's eye a BOWL. She said she was sorry, no bowls
left.
| My husband urged me to purchase the two pieces. That's when I noticed
| postcards with a photo of the incense burner on them for sale near the
| counter. Janet suggested a couple of places that might have a bowl and my
| husband wrote them down while I purchased the postcard. I sent the
postcard
| to a friend in Ann Arbor.
|
| (It's been almost 30 years, and I still cringe when I think of what a
gauche,
| horrid American tourist I was. I just couldn't get past Janet's
miss-buttoned
| sweater.)
|
| After checking out the leads she gave us and finding no bowls anywhere, we
| returned to the States just before Christmas. I moved my potters wheel out
of
| my basement into my first real studio and became immersed in my own pots.
My
| friend from Ann Arbor moved to New York and traveled for her work a great
| deal. She loved going to Sothebys auctions. A couple years after Barnard
| Leach died, she sent me an auction catalog bookmarked to a page which was
| identical to the photo on the postcard I had sent her. The tiny incense
| burner had brought $16,000.00!
|
| -Carolynn Palmer, Somerset Center, Michigan
..
Kathy McDonald on mon 26 mar 01
I LOVED THIS POST................thank you for sharing.
Kathy McDonald
OWLPOTTER@AOL.COM wrote:
> In 1973 my husband and I took an automobile trip across the British Isles and
> wound up in Land's End near St. Ives. It was late November, gray, wet and
> cool, and the town was almost deserted. After looking into the windows of
> many closed shops, we decided to visit the Leach Pottery. I wanted to
> purchase a Barnard Leach bowl.
>
> So we just drove there and dropped in.
>
> We were met at the office/showroom by Janet Leach. She hadn't been expecting
> visitors, and was dressed in a well-worn old sweater that was buttoned up
> crooked, her hair stood out at every angle and she wore no make-up at all.
> (At this point in my life, I was fastidious, even had fingernails, and hadn't
> yet discovered the all-consuming joy and demands of working in my own mud.)
>
> The showroom was partitioned off the office shed and consisted of pots on
> dusty boards. (I had been expecting a museum - like setting!)
>
> Janet was warm and gracious. She invited us in, talked about her life in
> Texas before she met Barnard, apologized because he was unable to leave the
> house at this point in his life, and was just altogether so nice to us. She
> called down to the throwing shed and had a young man come up and show us
> around and let us poke about and look into the huge old kiln.
>
> Afterwards, we returned to her office and I asked if she had any of Barnard's
> bowls for sale. Alas, she only had two of his pieces on display for sale,
> the rest of the pots were hers. The two Barnard pieces she showed us were a
> slab vase, about 20 inches tall with a wonderful warm black glaze that broke
> rusty-red on its six corners, and a very small, thin porcelain, celadon
> glazed, two-piece incense burner. She offered these to me for 25 pounds
> each. (The exchange rate on that trip had varied between $1.85 to $2.00 for
> a pound. So, that would have been about $50 each.)
>
> BUT! I had in my mind's eye a BOWL. She said she was sorry, no bowls left.
> My husband urged me to purchase the two pieces. That's when I noticed
> postcards with a photo of the incense burner on them for sale near the
> counter. Janet suggested a couple of places that might have a bowl and my
> husband wrote them down while I purchased the postcard. I sent the postcard
> to a friend in Ann Arbor.
>
> (It's been almost 30 years, and I still cringe when I think of what a gauche,
> horrid American tourist I was. I just couldn't get past Janet's miss-buttoned
> sweater.)
>
> After checking out the leads she gave us and finding no bowls anywhere, we
> returned to the States just before Christmas. I moved my potters wheel out of
> my basement into my first real studio and became immersed in my own pots. My
> friend from Ann Arbor moved to New York and traveled for her work a great
> deal. She loved going to Sothebys auctions. A couple years after Barnard
> Leach died, she sent me an auction catalog bookmarked to a page which was
> identical to the photo on the postcard I had sent her. The tiny incense
> burner had brought $16,000.00!
>
> -Carolynn Palmer, Somerset Center, Michigan
> P.S. The other day, I rushed from the studio to our local grocery, on my way
> home to fix a quick supper before going back to turn-up the kilns, and I
> caught a glimpse of myself in the store windows. Deja Vu! My reflection was
> a harried looking older woman, with her hair all wild and unkempt and her old
> ratty sweater was askew - miss-buttoned!!!! No kidding.
>
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