A Stoke Virgin

Well it was my first ever trip to the city at any rate!! The only time I'd ever seen it was from the train on a rainy day on a visit to Keele Uni a couple of hundred years or so ago.

The chaps were off to see Thor at the flicks so Mater and I grabbed the opportunity to pay [except it's free] a visit to The Potteries Museum. I had a hornet in my bonnet about seeing the Saxon hoard and we weren't disappointed- unfortunately I didn't have my camera wielding Mr GBT at my side so I have had to erm "borrow" a few photos. As ever the objects were smaller than I had imagined - I think I've got used to seeing the close up photos but with the aid of the magnifying glasses they provided the details were breathtaking- the filigree work is so detailed and on such a miniature scale. The gold is so delicate that the finds team had to clean the pieces with a mixture of cotton wool buds and thorns so they wouldn't scratch it. A few of the pieces that were on display
The famous "seahorse"- it is now thought to have been a double ended horse.

Not surprisingly, given the area, there are also extensive ceramic displays. Some makes me go aah and some definitely makes me go ewww. They were hosting a ceramics exhibition last week- reading up on some of the artists' inspirations frankly some it went straight over my head [what my brain actually is thinking is "load of old pretentious twaddle"]...I must be one of those people who Tracy Emin kindly refers to as "leading dull parochial lives" then ho ho! One person whose work I was bowled over by though was Claudia Clare. She makes the most fantastic huge vases using everyday experiences and stories as her starting point.

Arilx