Clayground is creative adviser to the UK Crafts Council’s Firing Up national programme aimed at bringing redundant kilns back into use and to reviving clay skills.  We have written a handbook for teachers and devised a creative project exploring how personal stories, local or family histories can inspire development of clay skills and celebrate connections to specific places.  We firmly believe, if clay is to be put back in the art-room, it has to be liberated from those confines to renew its central role in broader cultural and civic life.  We have now led Firing Up creative sessions for teachers and artists in partnership with Higher Education institutions in Plymouth, Liverpool, London, Sunderland, Bath and Stoke-on-Trent with Manchester coming up in February.

All sessions have incorporated a visit to a local museum collection and presentations from artists who will be working with schools.  This last week for example, the Firing Up session was held at the Wedgwood Museum in Stoke at the heart of the UK region known as the Potteries.  This gave the opportunity to delve further into the history of Josiah Wedgwood and take on board what an extraordinary contribution he made to cultural and scientific knowledge as well as bringing exceptional ceramic and design innovations to the public.  Alongside his economic achievements, his humanity shines through as a virtual autodidact with insatiable curiosity for the world around him, an affectionate father and committed anti-slavery campaigner.  As if this was not sufficient, he also had his leg amputated while fully conscious, securing his reputation as an all round hero.  For more information: http://www.wedgwoodmuseum.org.uk/home

Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) by Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792)

The session also enabled Duncan Hooson (Clayground Co-Director) to contribute to revival of clay skills in his home city Stoke where his own family history is bound up with the history of the Potteries.