Jean Powell, artist, ceramicist, muralist
03 January 2011
This New Year, my boyfriend Jon and I went to visit some friends in Denbigh, North Wales. We were lucky to go for tea at Jean Powell's house. She's such an inspiring person so I asked her if I could photograph her and write about her work, and she graciously agreed.
Why is Jean inspiring to me? Well there's a good long list of reasons, not least that she built and ran her successful creative business while raising her four sons. She is in her 80's now though it's hard to tell, and still draws and designs every day and is very involved in the factory. She always seems to have a big smile on her face.
Perhaps because I did sculpture at college I love the various textures in some of these pieces; a nut or bolt pressed into the clay to make shapes on a crocodile, a panel of whimsical ladies made out of wooden butterpat indentations, decorative elements from safety pins and suspender belt hooks or the textures of plastic doilies.
Running her company (Craig Bragdy) Jean has had loads of adventures and travelled all over the world. She gave me a book about her life and work. I hope I can make my business as strong and have as much fun and adventure as Jean has had.
Comments
Very interested to k ow more about Jean Powell, coukd yiu tell me the name of her book please? I’ve just laid some of ger wonderful tiles – see them on instagram @blaenybuarth
many thanks, Ceril