Armstrong, Pat
Medium Raku Pot 1
Pat Armstrong has lived all her life in a small village close to Stamford in Lincolnshire. She is married with two grown up sons. Having worked for many years as a secretary she decided at the age of 41 to go to Art College.
Having discovered an affinity to clay and the wheel during an Arts Foundation Course at Tresham College in Kettering she then went onto the Sunderland Polytechnic School of Art and Design to pass a 3D Design BA(Hons) Course in Glass with Ceramics, winning the 1990 Charlie Bray Award for the best over all performance in Glass and Ceramics.
Since graduating from college Pat has worked in her studio at home designing and making pots and finding success with her work through exhibitions, galleries and craft events.
Originally Pat’s designs were strongly influenced by Anglo Saxon pots but following a progression from burnished and sawdust firing technique to Raku, the shapes have become more classical, with elegant long necks, flared rims, round jars and bottle shapes.
Rich blue, turquoise and green complemented by black crackles and copper reduction came first, followed
by pink, yellow and creamy-white glazes. blue, turquoise, green, pink and yellow, complemented by black crackles and copper reduction are characteristic to Pat’s work.
These ‘normal’ glazes were then followed by copper fumed finishes. Two years of experimenting finally led to a limited amount of control of this volatile technique.
The latest work involves burnishing (resulting in a very pleasing and tactile finish) and Raku firing, known as Naked Raku.
The Albany Gallery, 74b Albany Road, Cardiff
Aldeburgh ContemporaryArts Ltd, 187 High Street, Aldeburgh, Suffolk
Alfriston Gallery, High Street, Alfriston, Sussex
The Hill Studio, Dent, Sedburgh
Bircham Gallery, 14 Market Place, Holt, Norfolk
Bosham Walk Art & Craft Centre, Bosham Lane, Bosham, Chichester, Sussex
Chimera Gallery Ltd, 42 Tontine Street, Folkestone
Focus Gallery, 108 Derby Road, Nottingham
Gateway Gallery, Chester Street, Shrewsbury
Grapevine Gallery, 109 Uthank Road, Norwich
Green Man Gallery, 8 Park Street, Pickering, N. Yorks
Guildford House Gallery, 155 High Street, Guildford, Surrey
Glyn-y-Weddw Gallery, Llanbedrog, Pwllheli, Gwynedd
Haddenham Galleries, 20 High Street, Haddenham, Nr Ely, Cambs
Lavenham Contemporary, 70 High Street, Lavenham, Nr Sudbury, Suffolk
New Studio, Rose Court, Olney
Quinns Bookshop, Three Crowns Yard, High Street, Market Harborough,
Shire Hall Gallery, Market Square, Stafford
The Cottage Gallery, The Borough, Wedmore, Somerset
20-21 Visual Arts Centre, Church Square, Scunthorpe, N Lincs
Verandah Gallery, 13 North Parade, Oxford
Viridian Gallery, 13 St John Street, Keswick, Cumbria.
Waterside Gallery, 2 Marine Terrace, Instow, Bideford, Devon
Woodbine Contemporary Arts, Back Bank, Whaplode Drove, Nr Spalding