There has been a pottery in the old coach house at Bensham Grove since the 1960's. In 1987, Northern Arts and Gateshead MBC funded an artist's residency, which brought Christine Constant, a London-based ceramist, up to the North East. The remit was to make it accessible to the local community, including hard-to-engage groups & individuals.
Over the past 30 years the pottery has welcomed 1000's of people through the doors to make their own work & participate in creating permanent sited works for public spaces. These can be seen at the MetroCentre, Gateshead Central Library and Leisure Centre. Many local children have experienced the joy of making work in clay through residency programmes enabling them to create and publicly exhibit their work, most recently at The Shipley Gallery, home to one of the most prestigious ceramic collections in the UK.
Christine has been joined by 5 others- Mandy Mosley, Shaun Parkin, Lindsey Grieves, Julia Proud & Iain Smailes- each bringing their different skills, experience and perspective. The pottery space is also shared with silversmithing, staffed by Imogen Waitt, Kate Hunter-Parker and Chris Gourley.
In the last decade a cohort of individuals have formed from both pottery and silver, who work autonomously in the pottery. These, together with the staff and volunteers, are passionate about developing the resource and making it accessible to many more local people. Their vision and commitment has driven this project forward. They have also contributed to the restoration project in the main house, creating a 20sqm ceramic floor based on the history of Bensham Grove.
The core group is made up of John McGee, Lil Read, Amanda Ball, Ruth Tissington, Simon Ward, Julie Browne-King, Cassie Kaszefko, Paul Sallis, Andra Miloiu, Linda McGeever, Raymond and Norma Dance, Marian Lockey, Lisa Enright, Gill Ainsley, Karen Beer, George Young, Heather Gourley, Bill & Lorraine Yeats.
Bensham Pottery is also supported by 40 volunteers who contribute to our events & has 400+ members on Facebook.
