Ronnie Fulton
RONNIE FULTON was born in Glasgow in 1958. He studied at Glasgow School of Art (BA Hons Ceramics 1980) then Notre Dame College of Education, Post Grad (Secondary Education) 1981. He has worked as a ceramics teacher and art teacher in a number of schools and colleges. Since 2002 he has been a self-employed potter in Portpatrick then North Berwick. He currently lives in Pitlochry.
Having moved from Portpatrick on Scotland’s west coast to North Berwick on the east in 2005, I now live in Pitlochry.
Every week I discover a new approach, I am still learning after 30 years of potting.
Most of my work is hand built, I enjoy a direct relationship with clay. Recently I have been throwing sculptural pieces, although still influenced by the sea and man’s relationship with it. Inspiration is never far away when I stayed in North Berwick, with the Bass Rock and busy shipping lane from the Forth to the North Sea visible from the studio. I have been exploring this theme for over 20 years and hope that the work is still fresh, vibrant and distinctive. I hope that some of the pleasure I derive from making it is reflected in the finished work.
I don’t like making or using moulds and use combinations of hand building and modelling techniques to make most pieces. Some work like the fat sharks and angry whales are thrown and then altered and manipulated. Moulds would be quicker, but plaster and me best avoid each other! When the work is green I decorate with coloured slips. To emphasise the modelled marks or textures, glaze is removed exposing the coloured slips.
The glazes are mostly alkaline copper based and fired in oxidation to 1220 c. The assorted coloured slips and glazes give the work a rich and varied surface.