Louisa Riley

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Hello, I am the face behind Fancy Frog pottery. 

I love working with clay and can't remember a time that I have not enjoyed using this wonderful medium.  I have always gravitated towards artistic pursuits, but clay is what I always come back to.  As a child I loved playing with plasticine and making a huge mess with mud pies in the garden.   At school,  art lessons involving clay were my favourite classes and my fascination with clay continued through sixth form where I was very fortunate to be taught by the very talented Peter Hough.  It is because of him that I had my first short go on a pottery wheel, and was introduced to raku firing.  His enthusiasm opened up a new world for me.  I found and processed my own wild clay from a local beach, I did a pit firing in my garden (making a nice mess of the lawn) and set up my first mini pottery studio in my parent's basement.  Receiving a kiln for my 18th birthday was a dream come true. I was hooked!

 

My degree in art and design enabled me to focus on ceramics as well as gain QTS (Qualified Teacher status). After university, I worked for a short time as a primary school teacher before realising that I don't agree with the way schools educate children in this country ( far too much stress for the children and the teachers and not enough time for art!).  I decided that the healthiest option was to home educate.  Financially this was very challenging but I'm so pleased we managed to follow this route.  It was a very busy time, as well as educating my three kids, I also set up a support network for home educators in this area and ran art and clay classes for the local home ed. families.  My kids (now adults) were educated at home until college age and so there was not much time for clay (especially in the early years) but any time it did manage to find was a great escape for a bit of 'me time' during those very busy years.

In 2018, I set up Fancy Frog Pottery as a teaching studio from the beautiful 1920's shop on the corner of Beechville Avenue and Dean Road.  At this time, I taught various pottery classes from the corner shop space as well as making pots as a hobby from the basement studio.  As time went on and more and more pots were made, I decided it was time to help some pots find new homes and I had my first proper selling event at Staithes Art Fayre in 2023.  After the success of this event, I changed the corner shop from a studio space into a permanent display area for my work. The basement was then made into a studio space that doubles up to be used as my main workshop but can also accommodate students for occasional workshops and courses.

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I now focus mainly on my own making but the teacher in me still enjoys passing on pottery skills and so from time to time I offer courses and taster sessions to those who are keen to learn.  Please visit the "Events" page for upcoming classes.

I consider my pottery making to be a form of play and it is vital for me that it continues to feel like that.  I think everyone can benefit from taking the time to play and get back to the simple things in life and you can't get much more simple than a lump of clay. 

 

I usually only make in small batches so as not to get bored and many pieces may be one offs.  This makes for an ever evolving variety of pottery, some of which is available to buy from my online shop (more to be added soon)  When my shelves are overflowing, I also open up the physical shop for an OPEN STUDIO EVENT where you are welcome to pop along and view the pottery for sale.  Visits are also welcome by appointment.

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People often ask why I call my business 'Fancy Frog Pottery', really it is just for a bit of fun.  Throughout history the English have called the French 'Frogs' as a mild insult,  but my grandad was half French and I happen to really like frogs :)

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Thank you for visiting my website, I hope that both my work and my classes will bring you joy.  Feel free to browse the items for sale in my online shop and follow me on instagram and facebook for shop updates and to follow my creative journey—there’s always something new taking shape in the studio!

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