A Post from Polar - the British Ceramics Biennial

Hello bear friends!  It's Sonning's human guardian Polar here, with a few photos from this year's British Ceramics Biennial, held (as the name suggests) every two years here in Stoke-on-Trent.  The bears didn't visit, as they were afraid they might break things and, as you will see later, it's probably just as well!

 

This year's venue was Swift House, an unprepossessing structure from the outside but a revelation within, being a former transhipment warehouse between the Trent and Mersey Canal and Stoke railway station.  

 

The main exhibition was held on the lower floors, where the original vaulting still exists, making a decent exhibition space if not as impressive as the China Halls at the Spode site used in previous years. There are ambitious plans being drawn up to transform this site into trendy apartments and eateries, though these also transfer what is currently a public asset to the private sector. As the bears might say, "Boooo!"

I was about to say "moving swiftly on from politics to art..." but we're not, because the first installion I'm sharing is Ship of Dreams and Nightmares by Stephen Dixon, made in collaboration with local refugee support group the Burslem Jubilee Project.  Gathered into the rough shape of a ship, each of the suspended objects represents an element of one person's migration story, for good or ill.

I had to include Follicular and Luteal by Vicky Lindo and William Brookes, not just because they include a bear amongst the images, but because the quality and imagination of the decoration is so striking.  The inspiration is, apparently the menstrual cycle...

I think the bears would have approved of  Cleo Mussi's Phylum, Phylon, Phyllon and Phyllosilicates, since it was constructed entirely from recycled china - exactly the type of reuse Hanley wanted to see with the discarded ware at Middleport.  Cup handles as ears were a particularly clever little piece of recycling.

Ranging through all of human history, from our earliest common ancestor to the exploration of space, in part from the perspective of how our diets change and affect us, I kept coming back for another look at this exhibit.

Another favourite was Ghost Town Britain by Helen Beard, especially the allotment!  Inspired by the empty streets of lockdown, it was full of curious little details.

Combining charcoal sketches and ceramic figures, this work by Christie Brown was another striking exhibit, intended to make us consider the thoughts and conversations the various figures might be having with or about each other, and us.

There were several other outstanding works, including the thought-provoking Doggerland from Alison Cooke, a work considering climate change made from clay recovered from core samples taken from under the North Sea.

The lower ground floor is a more open space and was used to showcase the work of less established UK ceramic artists, as well as ceramics from Japanese artists from the city of Kasama and some local community projects.

These finely detailed pieces were produced by young artist Nico Conti using a 3-D printer.  It seems a little bit like cheating using this technology, though arguably coil potters might have said the same about early pioneers of the wheel and the artist's skill and imagination still has to be there.

And here is Pam Su's Lost and Found, the exhibit the bears really wouldn't have liked at all.  I couldn't relate to this either, as I can't help thinking that bear's heads belong on bears!

Community pottery projects feature in the Biennial and this year we had this excellent idea for greening a bare brick wall from the Portland Inn Project - a craft co-operative and community group who have revitalised a disused pub as a community hub.

There was also a Stoke Makes Plates exhibit of plain plates decorated by local community groups ranging from local schools to care home residents and the local LGBT pensioners' group.

And, returning to the professional potters, there were more thought-provoking plates from Jacqueline Bishop's History at the Dinner Table, fine bone china pieces, inspired by her grandmother's treasured collection of porcelain, but illustrated with shocking images taken from the history of the slave trade.

So that's a very brief look at this year's exhibition, which sadly has now finished.  You can see more on the BCB website here.  

Look out for the next Biennial in the autumn of 2023, when I'm sure Hanley Bear would be more than happy to welcome you to his home city.

 

Garden Bears' World - Halloween Fun

Hello everyone!  It's Endon Bear here with another little Garden Bears' World post, showing you how we made a Halloween Jack o Lantern out of the biggest pumpkin I helped Polar to grow.

Polar used a very big knife to cut the top off.  We could see that there was lots of tasty pumpkin flesh inside, as well as lots of seeds.  We have saved some of those to grow next year.

Once Polar and I had scooped out the seeds, Sonning started cutting out pumpkin to save for eating.  He managed to take out some chunks which were big enough to roast.

Then Hanley and Huddlesford took over, cutting out smaller pieces for using as pumpkin mash.  Look how much we managed to save!  Polar will be able to make all sorts of tasty things for us through the autumn and winter, as she partly cooked then froze the mash mix, and we had roasted pumpkin with our Sunday dinner.

Once all the edible pumpkin was out, Hanley and Huddlesford cut out the scary face.  They thought about trying to make it look like a growling bear, but decided the pumpkin was the wrong shape for that. 

And here we all are with our Jack o Lantern!

We were looking forward to making it look extra scary on Halloween by putting a candle inside it but Polar and Grizzly had a surprise for us - we were going away from home to have a Halloween adventure!

So our carved pumpkin just sat outside the front door.  We don't know if any human cubs came trick or treating, as we were away enjoying a little holiday with our humans, but we hope they saw our pumpkin and thought it looked good.  

 It is starting to go soggy now, so Polar will chop it up and put it in the hotbin to compost, so hedgehogs don't eat the bits as they can make them poorly.  And that means it will help to grow more next year!  Yay!!

 

A Holiday in Somerset - Part 5: A New Bear Bag!

We have been busy having more adventures, so I have got rather behind with my blog, and have one last episode of our Somerset journey to tell you about, when we went to a town on the edge of Exmoor called Wiveliscombe.

During our visit, Grizzly bought a new Bear Bag for us, from a pub!

 

The pub was called The Bear Inn and Uncle Derek took us all there for lunch.  We think that was partly because he knew we would like the name.

We were very worried when we saw the menu included "Bear Burgers", but fortunately they just meant the burgers were made at The Bear and were not burgers made from bears!

Hanley Bear noticed that there was home-brewed beer available, with nice bubbles for small bears to sip, so he was very pleased when Grizzly ordered a pint and he was allowed to try some.

When the lady behind the bar noticed there were a lot of small bears on our table, she gave us a keyring with a bear on it.  We don't have any keys, as we don't have anything to lock away, but we are sure it will come in handy for something one day. 

Our human guardians had a very nice lunch, as you can see from this picture of Huddlesford looking at Polar's pie!

Then the lady at the bar told us that they sold special bags, for people to carry home bottles of beer.  The bags, and others for different uses, are actually made in the town and are called "Wivey bags".  

We all climbed into one so Polar could take a picture.  It was very comfortable, as we each had our own little compartment where a beer bottle would usually have gone.  Grizzly could see that we liked it, so he bought one for us!  Aren't we lucky bears?

After lunch, Polar carried us in our new bag out to see more of the town with Aunty Ann and Uncle Derek, including a brilliant yarn-bombed post box.  We thought "Wivey" looked like a very nice place to live or go shopping and we hope to visit again one day.

When it was time to go home from Somerset, we gave Aunty Ann and Uncle Derek hugs and thanked them for looking after us during our holiday.  

Then it was time to get in the car.  We found that our new Bear Bag was just perfect for travelling in, as we could sit securely in it and enjoy really good views out of the window. 

When there are likely to be showers, we will still use our old Bear Bag when we go out for adventures but, on sunny days, we can use our Wivey Bear Bag and remember our lovely holiday.