Our Involvement (From 2011) and how this website came to be…
It was in April 2011, that my old friend and avid Wallwork collector Mr Jozef Jansen, approached Alan’s daughter Amanda, on the advice of John Rastall at the Harlequin Gallery, to enquire if Alan might entertain a visit to interview him. Joe was aware from speaking with John Rastall that Alan had wished to have his life story documented but previous attempts arranged by John had “ended in tears”.
Primarily, Joe wanted to know just who was the man behind the pots, but also he wanted to document Alan’s history and share it with the world. There was little information online apart from an article from the Harlequin Gallery, which Alan had written himself, and a few articles published in Ceramic Review.
Amanda kindly talked to Alan, and he was happy to participate, the visit was called on. In subsequent phone calls and emails, Joe arranged that he would bring an old friend, professional photographer Mr Brian Usher, and myself to interview Alan.
Joe had the belief that I could do it, I was not so sure, I completed a third of an OU Humanities Degree some years ago, including a one year module “Art And Its Histories” I took it purely in the pursuit of knowledge, I have no real use for a Degree and finding the time was difficult too. I have been self-employed, trading in glass and ceramics for some decades now. The prospect of interviewing Alan Wallwork seemed somewhat ambitious, quizzing the most amazing and creative potter that I had ever come across, the man who had produced some of my most interesting and treasured possessions, was a pretty surreal proposition, so I agreed.
When we met for the first time at his cottage on May 11th, we received a very warm welcome from Alan and his partner Barbara Huxley, who had also been a part-time assistant to Alan during the 1960s/70s. Fortunately, it was more like a meeting of old friends than the daunting task that it had threatened to be. Alan was perhaps interested and confused by the fact that we were not men in suits, nor were we there to try to buy pots. I believe that if either had been true then things may well have turned out differently.
After a tasty ploughman’s lunch we got down to business. I had very little prior knowledge of the man other than a few articles in the potters guild magazine and a few sketchy reports online, so I decided to try to talk through his life history chronologically with him, while framing that against historical facts. He had no issue with me recording everything. We talked in depth for four hours during which time Joe and Brian had been trying to document hundreds of pots, including his present output and many historic examples. Joe thought he had gone to pottery heaven.
We were only halfway through his life history when Alan needed to rest and called time. Much to our surprise he invited us back the next morning to continue, and of course we were more than happy to do that. We ended up sleeping on the beach, ‘brrrr!’. The next day we spent another eight hours in conversation, we not only talked about his work and industrial history, but we also ranged around life, the universe, and everything. During this time Joe and Brian finished the documenting of just about everything too.
Alan gave his blessing to the idea of us putting up this website which we subsequently did, with the help of our tech team. Consultancy from Lyndon Nutkins of ‘Estuary Design’ and ‘Made in Essex’, and web design and maintenance by Mr Gavin Forster of GAVTECH Services. Joe kept in regular contact with Alan, refining salient points and making sure Alan was satisfied with what we had collated. The website first launched as alanwallwork.info in December 2011. Now we are on version 3.0 which launched 28th February 2025 (As Mercury slipped into place completing the planetary alignment).
For the rest of his life, Alan aided us greatly providing more information, film footage and photographs, clarity and friendship. The only ‘issues’ that ever occurred, related to Alan’s aversion to any kind of applause or adulation. He was appalled by any, and all superlatives, if applied to him. It was only really safe to say was “Alan Wallwork is a potter”.
Alan was still helping us curate the website until 2016 when he was taken ill while visiting his daughter Rebecca and her family in Ireland. When he returned to Bere Regis he was not at all a well man. Barbara died in 2017, and Alan had a devasting stroke in 2018. He died in Dorchester Hospital on the 2nd of November 2019.
Alan had a fine send off, a ground burial at High Meadow in Dorset, and an obituary in The Guardian newspaper. Earlier that year, the website 20th Century Forum’s public vote had elected Alan Wallwork as ‘Britain’s Favourite Potter’.
The alanwallwork.co.uk team
Joe Jansen – Research / Photography / administration
Jim Hodges – Website Text / Transport / Provisions
Brian Usher – Photography
Gavin Forster – Website construction / management
Lyndon Nutkins – Technical Advisor
Hayley Hodges – IT Support
Web Notes (by Gavin Forster)
Welcome to ‘Alan Wallwork – the Website’ version 3. This site is the result of many, many hours of work collating all the necessary information and uploading to the format you see now. Versions 1 and 2 were Ok but not brilliant and I had not factored in responsive design or made use of any content management facilities. Following the pandemic and subsequent redundancy, I set about learning everything I could about modern website design and the current website format is the result of applying this new found knowledge.
One of the most abstract and challenging tasks for us was quantifying all the main sculptural designs and putting them all in the correct boxes with correct descriptive tags. When is a ‘crescent’ a ‘segment’? When is a ‘segment’ a ‘wedge’? Is that pot ‘pierced’ or ‘indented’ or ‘both’? And so forth. Luckily, Alan Wallwork himself was on board with this project and provided many of the terms and correct studio identification. Where we have sourced images from other sources (auction houses, Ebay, etc..) we have mostly gone with the descriptions they gave.
I have tried to make this site as easy to navigate and as visually appealing as possible. We hope you like it and regret that Alan Wallwork is no longer with us to give his opinion on the matter. Without further ado, I would like to thank the following resources and tools that have made our task that much easier :
WordPress CMS
WordPress Theme : Poseidon by Themezee (heavily customized by myself)
Plugins : ACF – Advanced Custom Fields, FooBox & FooGallery, MetaSlider
Google fonts – Prosto One & Righteous
and last but not least… the Internet and various forums like Stack Overflow
I would like to dedicate my efforts on this project to my late Mother – Patricia Forster, who did not see me finish this project either. Rest In Peace Mum x
Gavin Forster (web designer @ GavTech Services) – February, 2025