As a potter, I felt excruciatingly uncomfortable watching the beginning of the premiere of BBC Two’s The Great Pottery Throw Down (I’m waiting for tonight’s nerdy viewing party to watch the whole episode). It put the craft under a strange magnifying glass where all the small things that happen in the privacy of our ceramic world were suddenly announced in front of 1.9 million viewers on Tuesday.
Judge Kate Malone commented, “This one with here with a beautiful rhythm, the space in-between the bowls is almost as important as the bowls themselves.” I thought, “awe, that was a nice comment,” but felt, “oh my, is that what it sounds like out loud?” It was like hearing own your voice in a recording and being startled and uncomfortable.
The Great Pottery Throw Down follows the same model as the wildly successful BBC TV series The Great British Bake Off and hopes to find the same success focusing on the rarely seen (and apparently extremely dramatic) realm of studio pottery. It is presented by Sara Cox, and judged by acclaimed potters Keith Brymer Jones and Kate Malone.
My inkling is that most of Tuesday’s 1.9 million viewers were not potters… an incredibly different viewing experience. Following Tuesday’s debut, the reviews were mixed.
The Guardian’s Sam Wollaston enjoyed the episode saying it was “beautiful and mesmerising – I could watch pot throwing all day,” while The Times flat out titled their review “The Great Pottery Throw Down; Catastrophe.”
The author of The Times’ review, Andrew Billen, described the show as “cracked, half-baked and hollow,” continuing, “The whole idea of turning pot-making into a competitive sport was potty.” There may be some truth to this.
The six-part series aims to find pottery’s future stars, taking a team of amateur potters through an obstacle course of technical tests and challenges each week. Times are changing and… maybe this is how the next Bernard Leach will surface?
Watch the episode on YouTube and tell us what you think of The Great Pottery Throw Down in the comments!
Justin Crowe is a Writer and Director of Operations at CFile.
First out: Rekha’s pot doesn’t hold water! Photograph: BBC
Photograph: BBC
Great show giving inside how pots are made hopefully people will appreciate more what it takes to make a pot
This is a brilliant introduction for beginners and those unfamiliar with the pottery process.
I predict that the artistry and challenges will come up as the program series progresses. this is going to build an audience of more pottery consumers. I’m grateful for the foundation coverage.
I enjoyed it as well, but handle pulling, nested bowls, egg cups and very simple surface design are the equivalent of a cooking show that asks for egg boiling and chicken soup or a runway design show that asks for a pleated skirt and blazer. The ceramics world is so incredibly creative and wild just now I hope they’ll come up with quirkier and more inspiring assignments. Not sure these potters are up to it though. If the pottery/ceramic art faux distinction holds, we’ll have some nice pitchers next week, but where are the flying pigs? They need to watch a couple of seasons of project runway.
The first project reminded me of the first project in my degree course – throw 5 pieces in 2 different styles. Ha! with a background in handbuilding & not throwing & could barely manage to throw, let alone in 2 different styles. Why is it asumed that throwing is the ‘foundation’ of ceramics? Why not start off with a handbuiding project? Potting had been going on for a long time before the wheel appeared.
For the first episode one of the previous comments was that the shapes and tasks were fairly simple and uncomplicated relating it to a cooking show, but I felt that if an experienced potter can’t execute the simple tasks their skill aren’t up to being named top potter in the end. Yes there is artistry to be looked at, and in later challenges there may be hand building that some of the production type potters don’t excel at so it will probably weed out the competitors even more.
I thought it was great fun, but I am not terribly judgmental. It was light entertainment. I was a bit shocked at the low level of skill of the contestants, though. And it seemed the producers know next to nothing about the subject.
I wonder how you are judging their level skill. If you are an experienced competent potter you will appreciate that the tasks coupled with the time limits were beyond the norm of an amateur potters’ experience. Non-potters do not generally understand or appreciate the range and level of skills required to create pots, how long it takes to acquire them, or how many things can go wrong in the creation of a pot. The program would not be able to put this across if the contestants were highly competent, and the program would lack the required element of tension. I do find Sarah Cox an odd choice to present the program, and suspect the production team plan to work through the crafts using the same formula, relying on their judges for any knowledge about the craft itself.
I agree with Linda’s comment about the level of experience.Clare Twomey’s recent ceramic installation at The Centre of Ceramic Art, consists of 10, 000 pots to represent the number of hours required to become a master craftsman: The current Ceramic Review interviews a scholarship winning graduate who states only during her internship with a master potter has she been able to develop an exacting consistency to her throwing. The show’s potters don’t claim to be at a professional standard: they’re seasoned amateurs. Hopefully by watching the programme non-potters will at least recognise the price of their professional standard ceramics purchases reflects the time and level of skill required to create them.Amateur potters like myself can just enjoy watching ceramics on TV
I think the whole idea is to educate those outside the pottery world so that they can understand the heartache and pain as well as the elation that we who are in the pottery world understand. It is entertainment, not a show that looks as the “Masters”. The producers understanding is a little less than exact but at least they had the guts to produce the show. My thoughts are lets get an Australian show here in OZ. How wonderful to promote our passion in clay. We all can still enjoy the journey each potter is on as well. I do agree that hand-building and throwing skills are different from potter to potter and there are many unique potters out there but let’s support the show as you never know what they may produce next.