Josh Johnson

Josh has been potting for over 40 years.

The majority of his work has been thrown, domestic ware & garden ornaments.  In the last year he has been experimenting with sculptural items, generally based on a thrown vessel. A vase/bottle shape is altered into a marine creature using hand building techniques.

In this work, Josh is not aiming to create a perfect fish, but rather to develop an imaginary character whilst retaining the obvious thrown form. The artist gives them personality & sometimes a comedic element such as plumped up lips and goofy teeth.

The sharks are made from a thrown vase form. The features are purposely exaggerated to make people smile.

Josh makes all of his own stoneware glazes & currently works with approximately 30 colours. He has learned from painful experience which glazes work best layered on top of each other.

The Bases are all hand built. Initially made from a press mould to give a central strength & structure with additional hand sculpted pebbles and corals to give each base individuality.