About Robyn
“I make both functional and decorative stoneware pottery which I either throw on the Potter’s wheel or hand build. The range of tableware I make is predominantly decorated in a white glaze with freely applied brush strokes of cobalt blue in repeat patterns around the pots. I developed these motifs from historical pots from Europe, Japan, Korea as well as early British Studio Pottery. The forms focus on comfort for use and functionality, my interest in British Studio Pottery and the Leach tradition are evident but not all consuming.
My handbuilt pots are built with a variety of techniques which are slow pace and methodical. I allow the pots to develop as I work on them, they often emerge with figurative elements. The surfaces speak of open landscapes, rock, lichen, wild grasses, weather, and the physical and emotional experience of travelling through life on this planet.
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It is a great privilege to make works that have their own lives with me through the making process before being sent out into the world to live on in different homes around the world. The things we live with should be objects that keep giving – they must feed us, our bodies, minds and spirits.
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Each pot is handmade from start to finish by myself from my home studio in the company of my cat and dog.”
Robyn Cove received her BA(hons) Ceramics from Cardiff Metropolitan University in 2008, after 3 years studying Art & Design in Dumfries, Scotland. She has lived in South West Scotland, the Isle of Skye, Yorkshire, Wales, and is now based in Sanquhar, Scotland.
She shares her work at fairs, galleries, exhibitions and retail locations within the UK and internationally.
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Robyn comes from an artistic family, her mother was a textile artist, designer and exceptional 2D artist. Elaborate installations would appear in the house the night before Robyn's birthdays, one included a bead curtain of foil wrapped chocolates.
Visits from her aunt at her childhood home would often involve lots of excitement around some newly discovered material or technique such as papier mache sculptures, fibre crafts or 3D sketchbooks, always supported by late night chatter of pastels, paints, puppet making, craft room plans etc.
Robyn awoke one morning to find her bed covered in pieces of torn envelope paper with charcoal drawings of her head and hair poking out above the duvet. She looked up to find her aunt staring at her with charcoal in hand and a partly finished sketch on her knee.
It was understood that art was not something that you ever finish, but it's an ever evolving practice of exploration. Visits to craft shows, galleries, museums and exhibitions were special events to be savored. Considering this childhood it's no surprise that she chose to study arts & crafts.
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Robyn found pottery at art college and immediately fell in love with the material and the process. She later discovered that the potter she was related to (that her family kept telling her about despite her lack of interest at the time) was in fact Michael Cardew.
Michael was a cousin to Robyn's great grandmother. As it happens he wasn't keen on this cousin but he did like her son who is Robyn's great uncle and dear friend.
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Robyn is a Professional Member of Upland CIC and the Scottish Potters Association.