Frank HAMER

View in collection Frank Hamer had been interested in teaching since he was a boy. He initially studied industrial design for weaving at Accrington School of Art where he met his future wife Janet, but became interested in pottery and moved to Burnley Municipal School of Art where he received his National Diploma in Design, Handcraft in Pottery in 1951. He then taught art at all levels in the Midlands for the next eight years, and while teaching at primary schools, became interested in the psychology of learning. He decided to do teacher training and chose to study this in Monmouthshire, Wales, at Caerleon College of Education. This was simply because it was one of the few teacher training colleges in Britain situated in the countryside, and he and his wife Janet were keen to live in a rural environment. For the next thirty years he taught full time in Wales in secondary and higher education, until his retirement in 1982 when he was able to concentrate solely on his own pottery. The Hamers eventually found the ideal location for their work in Pontypool, with space for a reduction-fired kiln and where they could enjoy a variety of scenery including the Malverns, the Gower Peninsula, and the Brecon Beacons. The local wildlife inspired both their work, with Frank creating press-moulded platters decorated with fish imagery. The Hamers helped establish the South Wales Potters organisation, and were awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the International Ceramics Festival, Aberystwyth in 2005. They co-wrote The Potter's Dictionary of Materials and Techniques first published in 1975, with the sixth edition published in 2015.

Details

• Dates: b. 1929