Sampler Bear: C.1107-2016

Titles

Sampler Bear

Maker(s)

Designer and decorator: Lindo, Vicky
Brookes, Bill

Entities

• Animal figure

Categories

• Earthenware
• Studio Ceramics

Description

Earthenware, slipcast, coated in red slip, sgraffito decorated and glazed.

Earthenware figure of a standing bear. The whole surface is decorated by incision and scraping away of red slip to show the white clay beneath. The head, paws and feet are indicated by moulding and colour, otherwise the figure is covered with a variety of imagery, including feathery-tailed squirrel-like animals on the legs, a flowering plant up the front, arrows, butterflies and birds on the arms and, on the back, a large pair of scissors, two houses and combs. At the back of the legs is the inscription ‘ Sampler / Bear / The Pigeon Club / Pottery, Bideford’ followed by a ‘VL’ monogram. The base has been cast with the figure and is decorated with a criss-cross pattern. The underside is flat with a large central hole.

Notes

History note: Given by Dr Todd Longstaffe-Gowan

Legal notes

Given by Dr Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, 2016

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (2016) by Longstaffe-Gowan, Todd

Dating

21st Century
Production date: AD 2016

Note

Vicky Lindo Ceramics is the creative partnership of Vicky Lindo and Bill Brookes, who both studied design crafts at Herefordshire College of Art and Design. Vicky worked at Burton Art Gallery and as a textile artist, while Bill became a clock and cabinet maker. In 2013, they set up the Pigeon Club Pottery in Bideford. Their work, which typically features striking imagery and bright colours, is inspired by North Devon slipware, by folklore, everyday events, animals (particularly cats) and by Vicky’s knowledge of embroidery. She designs and decorates the pottery, while Bill makes the moulds, slip-casts and glazes.