Kate Malone Talk

We were very fortunate to have Kate Malone to come and talk about her work in June. It's always wonderful to have someone with work in the Swindon Collection to come and talk to us, and because of Kate's reputation, I was very excited we'd agreed a date and she was coming to Swindon. The gallery space at the museum holds a maximum of 55, so accounting for fire marshals and the speaker, this reduces the number to 51. We took the decision that rather than have to turn people away, we'd hold the talk at the business suite at New College. This was a shame in some ways, mainly because Kate couldn't see her magnificent jug in situ in the current ceramic exhibition in the gallery described by Ceramic Review as their number 1 Top Show. Note although Ceramic Review says our exhibition has now finished, it hasn't, it's been extended for Mike Yates' talk on 26 July.
The evening was as good as I'd hoped it could be, despite a few things working against it, such as the temperature being in the top twenties, the World Cup and sorting out technology in a new setting. Kate Malone arrived at 6.30pm, greeted everyone as they arrived, and talked about her pleasure in working with her hands, and how she enjoys working with gourd shapes, indeed any natural shapes. There's a curvaceous element to many of the pieces and I began to see Kate at the ultimate fertility goddess, her pieces proclaiming the beauty of curves. There are now around ten people who work to help Kate make her pieces, what a great experience that must be. Kate exudes positivity and enthusiasm for life, so obvious in her pots with their extraordinary glazes.
 I have a few photos of the evening, in the excitement I didn't manage to take many decent ones at all, although this gives you a good idea of Kate's positivity

 Any better ones gratefully received and I'll add them.

 Above here's the audience just before the start. Kate gave away posters and we gave donations for the clay college

 There are two screens in the business suite

 The title of the talk was

I hazarded a photo from the screen, this beautiful decorative piece combine the gourd shape with a fabulous leaf

 Afterwards there was much chatting despite a complete lack of refreshments

 and much in depth conversation

I thought I'd add a few photos, firstly of our Kate Malone in the Swindon Collection:

currently beside the piece loaned by Mike Yates in the Timeless Secrets exhibition

here are a few more I liked:

These ceramic pieces are in many collections around the world, here are three places you might visit and look out for them:
 Manchester Museum and Art Gallery, like us we early adopters of Kate Malone, I saw this piece about 15 years ago. The Fitzwilliam in Cambridge has two beauties well worth seeking out when there.Bristol Museum and Art Gallery has a ceramic model of the brass drinking fountain made by Kate in a local park. While looking for references to that, I found a biography which I rather liked.
A really memorable evening.