Hopefully he will be my inspiration to keep scribbling for a few more years!

Thanks for adding this additional information, Katina. I’m in West Yorkshire and planning a day out. It’s years since my only previous visit to Cannon Hall and that was with two small boys in tow

Hello Katina. Thanks for your appreciative comments and I’m pleased you discovered this lovely building. Accidental finds are all the more special I think. You are right to mention the rustic deer shelter. I haven’t covered it here but it may pop up one day!

Hello Chris. It’s great to know that Piper’s ceramics are in the collection, alongside his paintings. If anyone is not familiar with the Sitwell family seat of Renishaw it is well worth a visit. Great collection, wonderful gardens.

Wonderful to have this added insight and personal experience added to the post. Thanks so much, Jean Paul. What an interesting life. Best wishes to you, Barbara

What a fantastic article on the follies and the ceramic work of John Piper with the Fulham Pottery, quite a long time ago…!, but I can remember very vividly the time as a young potter I was sent to John Piper’s place , after the Fulham Pottery ask me if I was able to work with an artist during my summer vacation ,while I was studying at Harrow College of Art .

I felt very relaxed at the time at John Piper’s place, the project came out so well, that I could not ask for better result . I always love paintings since a very young age, so talking with Piper about other artists was normal , so staying with John Piper and his wife Myfanwy who was an excellent cook by the way, was very pleasant, and hard work . Fawley Bottom was an old cottage and the Piper’s had a wonderful art collection of artists which one could see mainly in museums, I remember when you enter the cottage there was a small mobile sculpture by Sandy Calder hanging on the ceiling making a small sound when opening the cottage door, merveillleux.
Strangely enough the project with John Piper was for me at the time another summer job to get some money for my studies at Harrow college. It was only much later on that I realized the impact it had on me and my work, to become a full time potter.
I went on doing other ceramic projects with Philip Sutton and Patrick Caulfield , a large hand made ceramic mosaic in situ at The National Museum of Wales.
Many thanks for adding my name and my web site with the article it is great, I do appreciate it.
I came back to France in 2007 , after a long stay in mid Wales, I bought an old farm house , restored it ; and voilà. At the moment , I have an exhibition at the Keramiekcentrum Tiendschuur Tegelen in The Nederlands, an exhibition on color and ceramics, with Peter Beard Carolyn Genders and other artists working with ceramic. Mainly I sell my work on ceramic show in Europe.
Many thanks again , delightful article
Kind regards
Jean-paul

Thanks for introducing me to this piece Melissa. It was a most enjoyable project finding out more about its history.