BIOGRAPHY
Mark was born in 1956 in South Shropshire. An inspirational art teacher, a contemporary of Mick Casson who had trained with Mick at Harrow, encouraged him to take up pottery at school and a lifelong passion began. Mark got his first job working as a thrower for Colin Carr, a potter in Derbyshire.
Next Mark worked for sculptor Fritz Stellar at the Square One Design Workshop, near Stratford-on-Avon. Fritz was a charismatic entrepreneur. When Mark wasn’t throwing pots, he worked on huge ceramic murals for the emerging new town centres. But it was the time spent with Russell Collins, one of the finest teachers and throwers and the most patient man Mark knows, that gave him the confidence to set up his first workshop in 1975 with the help of a New Craftsman’s Grant from the Crafts Advisory Council.
From there Mark moved to West Wales but it was the 1980s and tastes had changed again. Stoneware domestic pots were hard to sell and Mark made thousands of terracotta bird feeders and parsley pots for mail order firms which paid the mortgage and helped him move back to South Shropshire. There Mark rebuilt his workshop in a redundant village school where he continues to work today. He made terracotta garden pots for many years, undertaking big commissions for the National Trust and other estates until the physical toll of working on such a scale forced a return to high fired stoneware.
Known as a 'big ware' potter Mark Griffiths' stunning pottery has been fired in a wood kiln using glazes made from materials found locally, wood ashes and quarry dust, often over slips dug from stream banks, and a local pool.
Mark will celebrate his ‘50 years a Maker’ exhibition in 2025.
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