So this is where I started my professional career in clay…. albeit for pocket money while I served my time in Pontypridd Boys Grammar School. Sadly, formal education was not for me, so I just did my best to get through it, concentrating on life outside school and the exiting opportunities afforded me in my father’s studio and workshops at the John Hughes Gallery, as the Groggshop was known in the early 70s.
As I have explained, all three of us, myself and my two sisters Cathy and Kim, had all been making things since we were old enough to stick our hands in a bucket of clay. When it was raining it was an easy way for Dad to keep us quiet while he carried on with his projects.
My first love, as a subject, was of course animals. I was obsessed with nature and spent hours drawing and reading about wildlife. Therefore, it was no surprise the first thing I made that actually sold was a figure of a gorilla. I had been on a school visit to Bristol Zoo in 1971 where I saw Delilah the gorilla nursing her newly born baby Daniel. This inspired me to make a figure of her which not only sold for the huge sum of £2 but also got me photographed for the local newspaper…. the Pontypridd Observer.
However it was the Celts which were to become a steadier flow of pocket money for me… mostly spent on sweets and ice cream tubs! Dad had already made his Celtic giants and it wasn’t long before I was following his lead. The subject was fascinating…having been raised on stories of Welsh defiance in the face of the Roman occupation. You could basically make it up as you went along and have some fun with the theme of what was essentially “Wild Welshmen”.
The Celts – biro drawn sketch by Richard aged 12.
In the early seventies the process was made a little easier by using hand thrown bodies. These were basically ovoid shapes thrown on the wheel…. allowed to partially dry overnight and then hand modelled on with fresh clay. This is where I first got to grips with the human face in a pretty loose and humorous fashion and it was great fun. Big broken noses, missing teeth, wild scruffy hair and shields and spears…. what wasn’t to like. The rate wasn’t bad either. At 50p a piece I didn’t take much convincing to spend time in the studio with Dad letting my creative side run free.
This particular figure is a great example as it not only has the name of the Welsh giant Bendigeidfran scored into his shield with a needle but also has glazed beads around his “waist” representing a belt. The Celts were renowned for their ornamentation and elaborate jewellery and reflecting that, each of these pieces was made unique in the way they were decorated.
I’m grateful, once again, to Simon for spotting this piece on eBay and bringing it home to the museum. I was especially keen to get this particular Celt back as it has my sneaky signature… R. Hughes, Wales scored into the clay underneath the piece.
