Pottery – Sadie Green Creative Producer

The Burton new display – part two

I am excited to report that I have a published piece on the Burton at Bideford’s website about the North Devon Ceramics Trade and the American Connection.
This is a new addition to the website and is part of their Online Gallery. The web page features a summary of the key features of the trade between North Devon and the Eastern seaboard of the United States. This includes why North Devon, Bideford Potteries, Pottery exports, the tobacco trade, and American collections and Connections.

You can view the webpage here – https://www.burtonartgallery.co.uk/exhibitions-activities/the-north-devon-ceramics-trade-and-the-american-connection/?portfolioCats=113

There is also a link to a downloadable PDF I produced, which gives more details about these categories of information.

https://www.burtonartgallery.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/The-North-Devon-Ceramics-trade-and-the-American-connection-compressed.pdf

I am bursting with pride and enthusiasm with this web page and pdf document as they bring together the contacts I have made and how much I have learnt. My Churchill Travel Fellowship research trip in 2010 literally started the journey for me, and I am so grateful for all the generosity from people I have met along the way and who have been willing to share their knowledge and collections with me.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes and closed doors, The Burton team are working on the new display cabinet. I know they have made a start but I have been unable to go inside the museum in person due to lockdown restrictions. I’m hoping that it will be finished soon, and I can have a sneaky preview ahead of the museum reopening to the public, whenever that is possible!

The Burton did post an image of work in progress on their Facebook page dash you can see it here:

https://www.facebook.com/burtonatbideford/photos/a.213857971959840/4088078691204396/

The Burton new display – part one

I got a phone call from Ian Danby, Director of the Burton Art Gallery and Museum (Burton at Bideford) in November 2020. He explained that the Burton wish to create a new display in the museum telling the stories of the relationship between Bideford and America, in particular the pottery and tobacco trade.

Bideford Bay Creatives ‘A Portrait of Bideford’ Project

Inspired by a talk I gave for the Burton in the summer, as part of their ‘Good Afternoons’ in the park series, Ian invited me to contribute by sharing my research and findings from the last 9 years together with some of my 17^th century sherd collection that I have built up from finds at the beach.

Of course, I leapt at the chance, eager to share my research. It also enabled me to spend time refining my notes and to ultimately produce a coherent set of information for both the physical display, associated page on the website and a deeper and more detailed downloadable document for visitors to access should they choose to learn more. This was also an opportunity for me to re-visit my photos and to make some editing decisions about which of these best helps to tell this exciting and fascinating story.

I also agreed to be recorded/filmed by Burton staff, talking about my sherding on the beach, my sherd collection and its importance as it provides tangible evidence of Bideford’s pottery production and trade. This will be screened in the museum alongside the display.

……….And so the new display about ceramics, tobacco, Bideford and the Americas – the ‘Relationship between Bideford and America through the exportation of ceramics to the colonies’ was born!

During November and December I exchanged ideas and had a couple of meetings with Nicole. Museum Assistant, as she was tasked to co-ordinate the creation of the new display cabinet. We managed one physical meet up and then England was put under another lockdown so Nicole and I had a virtual meeting and exchanged a few emails!
We adapted the original brief to reflect our evolving ideas for content and scope. We soon realised that this is such a massive theme and there is a wealth of information that can be included, that it would be better to initially have a smaller display as a starting point. This will be smaller, focussing on an introduction to:

why Bideford was an important centre for pottery production
who were the potters
why pottery was exported and where
the relationship with the tobacco trade
evidence of pottery found in American collections

The aspiration then to produce a much bigger display in the museum in the future to include broader and deeper information. Sir Richard Grenville will have to wait until later!

Vist to The Box in Plymouth

The Box Plymouth
I was excited to visit The Box in Plymouth recently, as I was invited to book a VIP preview slot and was able to visit the museum before it was officially open to the public.

To quote from their website “The opening of The Box is the most significant cultural initiative in the UK in 2020. The galleries, collections and archives will bring the world to Plymouth and Plymouth to the world. The launch of The Box is also the flagship project of the country’s Mayflower 400 commemorations. The original City Museum and Art Gallery has been completely transformed and extended to combine the Edwardian building with the former City Library and St Luke’s church. The Box also features a striking elevated ‘archive in the sky’ with research and learning facilities, along with a major new public square for gigs, performance, theatre and events”

https://www.theboxplymouth.com/

It felt incredibly special to see the inside of this amazing new purpose-built extension and redevelopment of the whole site. I was particularly looking forward to viewing the new temporary exhibition ‘Mayflower 400: Legend and Legacy’. I was involved in contributing to the content of this exhibition following a meeting with the exhibition Curator and Co-creator Jo Loosemore a couple of years ago. Jo was particularly fascinated by the story of North Devon pottery and its export to the New World and it was great that we both shared this enthusiasm. After our meeting Jo followed up some contacts that I had in Virginia and it was wonderful to see some objects, including North Devon pottery sherds, that had been sent across to the Museum to be featured in this opening exhibition. It was also important for me to Include what happened before the Mayflower embarked to Plymouth on previous encounters with and attempts to colonise the Eastern Seaboard of America. This includes the earlier Expeditions leaving Bideford in the 1580s and sailing out to what is now modern day Roanoke island in North Carolina – indeed the Story of the Lost Colony which warrants another post at some stage as there is much to tell.

I am thrilled to report that Jo very much took all of this on board and made sure it was featured in the exhibition , so thank you Jo for listening and agreeing that is was vital to include this information.

https://www.theboxplymouth.com/whats-on/mayflower-400-legend-and-legacy

North Devon Pottery 17th C Baluster jar fragment, Flowerdew Hundred, Charlottesville VA, Winston Churchill Fellowship research trip, 2010

Unfortunately, I was unable to take any images of the exhibition as photography was not permitted on the day! The photograph above is one of my own, taken when I viewed a collection of North Devon pottery found in Charlottesville, Virginia. It is indicative of the type and form of vessel that the colonists would have taken with them to Roanoke island. This is a 17th century baluster jar and fragments of these have indeed been found on the island.