Chapel House Pottery is the latest venture in the rich, colourful and varied tapestry that has been Maureen Shearlaw's life and career to date.
She grew up in the West End of London and after training at Pitmans Secretarial College, worked for the book publishing company A & C Black Ltd. in Soho Square, London. Maureen then worked for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines in New Bond St., London, before moving to The Hague in The Netherlands. She has also lived in Belgium, Canada and Eire before eventually returning to England.
Between 1972 and 1975 she attended the West Surrey College of Art and Design in Guildford where she also taught for a while.
At the end of 1975 Maureen moved from Surrey to Dunsley Mill Farm (a small 30 acre property in North Devon). There she brought up two small children and set up Dunsley Mill Pottery in one of the big barns. For the following 11 years she worked the pottery as well as running the farm (sheep and bullocks, ducks and chickens) and it was during this time that she was successfully accepted as a full member of the highly regarded and acclaimed Devon Guild of Craftsmen.
In 1986 she moved to Minehead, Somerset and once there, established and ran the Avondale Guest House, but she still accepted commissions on a part-time basis and in 1992 opened Park Street Pottery & Gallery, where customers were able to browse in the gallery or watch her at work.
To find the inspiration for her unique and dramatic design style Maureen draws on her influences from her time abroad and her travels in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Morocco, Cuba, the Greek Islands and throughout Europe.
Maureen was persuaded to start teaching in 1997 in response to the genuine interest shown by her customers. This continues to this day and so popular are her courses that some of her first students are still with her attending advanced classes.
Maureen is now also a member of the Somerset Guild of Craftsmen, The West Country Potters Association and the Exmoor Producers Association.
In January 2004, after receiving many commissions including displaying and selling her work in a gallery on the new Queen Mary 2 Cruise Liner, Maureen moved to her home pottery workshop at Chapel House.
Recent commissions of decorative urns and memorial plaques have added yet another string to her bow.
Maureen's Commissions
Saudi Royal Family - Large wall mural for entrance hall to one of the palaces. Various very large bowls and vases.
Power Gas UK - large wall mural for company office entrance hall.
Various Hotels and Hospitals - wall murals and water features.
Arabian American Oil Company -Large mural for company office entrance hall and Chairman and Managing Director's offices.
Queen Mary 2
Maureen was commissioned to supply individual pieces of work to go on sale in their gallery.
How it is made
Much of her work is either hand thrown and altered when "leather hard" or hand built using cut shapes of "leather hard" clay and assembled to make her various shapes i.e. flat jugs, "U" shaped vases etc.
The work is then "biscuit" fired when dry to 960 oC (12 hours.) When cool ( 24 hours) the kiln is unpacked and glaze is added. As many as eight glazes are applied by either spraying, dipping, or pouring. The kiln is repacked with the glazed pots and then fired to 1280 oC. (11 hours)
Once the glaze firing has been completed and cooled the kiln is unpacked once again and the precious metals are then applied at this stage. the gold has been commercially prepared with a special oil and media to enable this to be painted on to the item. The work is then returned to the kiln for the third and final time and fired to 680 oC ( 6 hours).
Please visit the
galleries to see some examples of my work.