Once upon a time in a town called Blandford...
Vanessa’s vision
Vanessa’s obsession with clay can be traced back to primary school, where pottery monster making in year one left a lasting impression. Sculpting clay heads in Miss Winfield’s art class at middle school, and attending weekly lessons with local potter Linda Browne as a teenager led her straight to her happy place- in a studio absorbed with the task of turning thoughts and ideas into shapes of colourful clay.
After leaving university with a ceramics degree in 2004, Vanessa was bestowed with the key to a tucked away, derelict-yet-beautiful Georgian building in the centre of Blandford. Gently shooing away the pigeons who had taken up residence, transformations began towards making the creative space where, 20 years later, The Pottery Parlour finds itself today.
Having started out teaching adults with learning disabilities at a local pottery studio run by The Regard Partnership, Vanessa wanted to create a positive and inspirational space of her own where total beginners of any age could visit and experience the joys of learning to make and paint their own pottery.
Alongside teaching, Vanessa Conyers is also a professional ceramicist, exhibiting her work annually at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Over the years she has run pottery workshops in schools and workplaces, at public events and lots of festivals including Glastonbury, Wilderness and Larmer Tree.
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