Heritage Volunteers enjoy a ceramics day in Birmingham
 Curator showing HVs round ceramics store |
Harry Frost who was the curator of the Royal Worcester Pottery Museum and is now curator of the Raven Mason Collection at Keele University gave us his whistle-stop tour of the history of the factory from 1751 when the Worcester works opened.
After being influenced by imports from China and Europe Worcester gradually developed its own style. In the nineteenth century pieces were still painted by hand but used mass production and transfer techniques. Royal Worcester (royal patronage had begun in 1777) continued to produce prestigious pieces, until sadly, after 250 years, production stopped in 2001. The Art Fund has now presented to the Worcester Porcelain Museum to mark the 40th Anniversary of NADFAS an archive of the Royal Worcester Porcelain Factory pattern books and Heritage Volunteers from Malvern Hills and Worcester have started work on the archive. Lynne Edge (who was Head of Ceramics and Glass Conservation, National Museums, Liverpool) gave us an insight into the work of ceramic conservator. Lynne gave an amusing talk on her work, particularly on previously unsympathetic repairs. She has worked on objects which have been repaired using many strange, unsuitable and damaging mixtures. Lynne is building up an archive record of her methods and techniques. In the afternoon Zerlina Garland and Fiona Slattery, both Curators and members of the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery staff, told us about the Art Gallery and its huge collection of ceramics, from all over the world Only a tenth of any collection is ever on public display. Heritage Volunteers from Birmingham had completed a project to prepare some of the Franklin Collection of Chinese ceramics for an exhibition. The remainder is stored at the Museums Collection Centre where we were able to visit the ceramics store as the last part of our day. There were no boxes here; everything is stored in metal cupboards with shelves and grill doors for ease of identification and retrieval. What a very full and informative day we had, with excellent and enthusiastic speakers who showed a real love for their subject.
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 HVs talking to Harry Frost, former curator at Worcester Porcelain Museum |
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 HVs examining ceramics in the storage bays |
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