Presenter Profile:
Robin Hopper

A strange combination of Chickenpox and Adolph Hitler was what
it took to set me on a lengthy career as a potter! It was part of a
painful experience that I have only talked about comparatively recently.
Much of the first six years of my life was spent dodging bombs in a
surrealistic, childless, South London. Almost all of the children had
been evacuated to other parts of England and other places to get them
out of range of German bombers. I became infected with Chickenpox
the day before the evacuation and wasn’t allowed to go. I didn’t see my
older siblings for nearly two years. By the age of six, I had become a
highly focused, miniature adult, with three years of serious clay work
already behind me.

London 1s all built on top of blue clay. When the German bombs
came down, the clay came up and, along with hot shrapnel, became my
major preoccupation and plaything. There were no other kids around,
so I became immersed tn my own world of clay, hot metals, death and
destruction. I had blocked out this period of tme from my memory for
over 50 years, but I have come to realize that my wartime experiences
formed my character and future more than any other. They made me
realize that, if possible, I should spend my life creatively, making things
of beauty, from objects to environments. By the age of eight I was a
passionate museumgoer, fascinated by the wide variety of objects that
different cultures made for the rituals of life.

Observant teachers in high school suggested that a life somewhere
in the arts would likely be the best avenue for me to follow. At fifteen,
I started art school, initially in painting, drawing and printmaking. The
following summer I got a job as an unpaid wedger at a local pottery.
By the end of the summer I was totally hooked and made ceramics
my central focus; after more than 50 years behind the wheel, it still
is. I have always enjoyed the challenge of the technical nature of this
medium and the ongoing research into both materials and processes.
Initially used for my own benefit in exploring new avenues of work, the
mass of technical and historical research gathered over many years led
to the writing of books, making of videos and sharing of information,
for the benefit of any who might be interested.

“The Journey of a Lifetime: On, Beneath and Way Down Deep”,
based on my most recent autobiographical book, is one of the
presentations that I will give at the Canadian Clay Symposium. The
other is “Making Marks: Discovering the Ceramic Surface”, based on

my previous book of the same title. a

ee MOORS

Robin Hopper

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A collection of the Sympostum Presenters’

POTTERS

GUILD
«BRITISH

Profiles 1s available at:
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com/Guild_Events_
symposium.htm{@