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Elizabeth Jones began her interests in ceramics through meeting indigenous potters in Northern Nigeria, notably Ladi Kwali, during the 1960s. They met at Abuja, where Michael Cardew had established a pottery training centre. She also met Mrs Leith-Ross, who wrote a remarkable book on Nigerian ceramics, based on the pots at JosMuseum.
She trained at Chesterfield and Derby, and specialised in reduced-pigment lustre techniques in her final year, graduating in 1986. It was at Chesterfield that she was first introduced to the Fishleys, and all her subsequent work as potter was inspired by early North Devonware, particularly seascapes, sloops and flower decorations with lustres.
Vivian Jones graduated in 1950 from University College Swansea in Wales; he then went on to teach at secondary schools in the Sudan and Northern Region of Nigeria. Here he wrote articles on two pioneering establishments of that region, KatsinaCollege and Toro training college. In 1965-6 he was an Inspector at the Ministry of Education, Kaduna, where he later finished his MA in the history of education in Northern Nigeria (1900-21). On returning to the UK, he joined the History Department of Rolle College (1968-89).
Both authors have a mutual interest in ceramics and history, in particular those of North Devon, which they have now researched for numbers of years. They have published four articles in this field in Ceramic Review between 1995 and 2007, all based on aspects of research that were needed for this work.
Vivian and Elizabeth Jones | 