This artist trained at the course at Harrow which was well known at the time for producing domestic potters working in the muted colours of stoneware. Tchalenko’s work broke with this and introduced more brightly coloured decorative stonewares. Tureen with frog lid – Janice TchalenkoShe is also noted as a design consultant for larger scale production notably at Dartington, in the 1980s for the chain store Next and in China. Fantastic animals have been a major theme in some more experimental art productions she undertook in the late 1990s.
The green and lemon yellow were unusual colours to use. The patterns are inspired by textiles and the frog handle seems a cheeky detail although animal knobs on lids are a longstanding tradition found on pottery from many different parts of the world.