Ornament

Classification(s):
Pottery
Date: c.1951 - 1979
Organisation: Ponthir Pottery
Dimensions:
151 × 126 mm (15.1 × 12.6 cm)
Medium: Stoneware
Object number: P1037B
Place of Production:Wales
DescriptionStoneware ornament of a greater anteater, by Janet Hamer. Produced at Ponthir Pottery, Wales. The greater anteater is glazed and painted with a black and white stripe to the side of its body.

The studio mark ‘Ponthir’ and potter's initials ‘JH’ are stamped to base.


ProvenanceThis object was originally acquired for the Inner London Education Authority’s (ILEA) ‘Circulating Design Scheme’ collection.

The collection was instigated by the London Country Council (later the Greater London Council) and the Council of Industrial Design (COID). The collection’s original purpose was concerned with the teaching and dissemination of modern, ‘good design’.

The collection was established in 1951/52 as the ‘Experiment in Design Appreciation’, later renamed the ‘Circulating Design Scheme’.

The Circulating Design Scheme lent boxed showcases to London schools. The showcases contained handling objects, material samples and interpretation on a specific subject.

COID withdrew its involvement in the Scheme in 1957. After which time, it was managed exclusively by the London County Council from 1957-1963.

After the administrative restructuring of London authorities, the Scheme was jointly managed by the Greater London Council and the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) from 1963 – 1976.

The Scheme was operational until 1976 when the collections were withdrawn from circulation. ILEA was abolished in the late 1980s and the collection was donated to Camberwell College of Arts in 1989/90.

ILEA was responsible for secondary and tertiary education in the inner London boroughs, this included Camberwell.

NotesJanet Hamer trained at Lancashire Art School, and established a pottery studio with her husband, Frank Hamer. Hamer is known foremost for her ceramic birds, her repertoire include kingfishers, geese, ducks, herons, swans and moorhens. Together the Hamer’s authored one of the most important texts for studio potters, “The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques", published in 1975.