King of pottery, Ribérac's Peter Cutting

 

Peter Cutting at his wheel

Peter Cutting is a man at ease with himself.  Peter arrived in France 22 years ago and earned his living gardening.  He soon tired of this and turned his thoughts to something more artistic.  He decided to train himself to become a potter.  He has done this very successfully.  If you visit Ribérac's Friday market, or Aubterre's Sunday market, more often than not you will see Peter at his stall with a fine display of his work; pitchers, bowls, plates etc.  The pieces are all hand painted by Peter borrowing ideas from the countyside he lives in.  Ducks, chickens, poppies, and grapes abound.

His clients are mainly tourists, British, Dutch and Parisiens.  He told us that despite a lull during the winter months, from Easter time onwards he can't keep up with demand, despite doing a firing once a fortnight.  The inspiration for his work comes from painters and children's book illustrators; one of his favourite influnces being the children's illustrator, Edward Ardizonne, who became famous for his second world war illiustrations.  I believe you can clearly see Ardizonne's influence in Peter's work.

 

The firing takes place approximately once every two weeks

Lesley and I were recently invited to Peter's atelier for a Raku firing.  By chance Peter had just fired a host of other pieces in his regular gas fired kiln, a one ton citerne, in which he generally fires about 150 pieces in one firing.  He had started the firing process two days previously and brought the temperature up to 1020º at which temperature it was held for 20 minutes before being allowed to cool down gradually.  After this initial firing, the pieces were then going to be fired once again.  In the firing we witnessed, there were about 75 pieces being fired for the first time and 75 which were undergoing their second firing and were now ready for sale.  The pieces being fired for the first time were going to be decorated, glazed and fired again;  the ceramic powder paints being obtained from Céradel near Limoges.

Peter uses white earthenware clay bought from Doublet in the village of Parcoul close to La Roche Chalais.  He also uses paper clay (stoneware with paper fibres mixed in making it very tolerant for being modelled and able to withstand thermic shock).

 

The Raku kiln

Although the bulk of Peter's work consists of pieces he fires for the local markets, his experimental pieces are perhaps more interesting.  When the mood takes him, Peter turns to the ancient Japanese technique of Raku.  We were lucky enough to witness the 'birth' of one of Peter's pigs using this method.  He took us through the process from start to finish.  The Raku kiln, fired by its gas burner was set up in the garden.  Peter had placed one of his bisque pigs within.

 

Fried bacon, but not as you know it

 

The pig leaving the kiln and about to be placed within the bucket where it will continue to bake without oxygen

The pig had previously recieved a copper oxide matte glaze.  The temperature was brought to 950º where it was held for a further ten minutes during which time oxygen was being drawn out from the glaze.   The pig was then removed from the kiln and a bucket  with screwed up newspaper inverted over it so that the burning process continued, but without oxygen.  It was then left for about half an hour to cool down, receiving a couple of short blasts of air during this cooling period.

 

The pig continues to bake without oxygen

When the pig was removed, it had taken on a greenish copper hue, very pleasing to the eye, and to my mind a unique piece of art. Anybody who is lucky enough to purchase one of these very individual objets d'art will have a truly original piece that will give them a lifetime of pleasure.

One of Peter Cutting's first in show