A unique form that merged traditional pottery with slip casting. A perfect example of this hybrid way of working pottery…..

Oldrich AsenbryI was born in Ceske Budejovice in Czechoslovakia in 1943 and trained as a potter in the Bechyne College of Ceramics.
He moved to Great Britain in 1968 and worked for two years in the Aldermaston Pottery under Alan Caiger Smith. In 1970 he established his first studio in Tisbury Wilts where he made oxidised stoneware.
In 1973 he moved to Sarn in North Wales to set up his present studio for high fired stoneware ceramics. His work is made largely on the potter’s wheel and hand extruder which his wife Jenny also uses for her slab built vessels
Combining expert wheel throwing skills and training as a plaster mold maker led to exciting and unique forms that merged traditional pottery with slip castings. A perfect example of this hybrid way of working are Asenbryl’s “self-pouring” teapots, which elegantly fuse castings of the human hand with thrown forms.
Asenbryl has operated Sarn Pottery, a production studio and storefront in North Wales where he and his wife Jenny sell “the finest selections of handmade craft pottery in Wales.” He has continued learning and incorporating new techniques into his practice, and has started using a clay hand extruder as part of his regular practice.
A serious stroke in 1983 paralyzed Asenbryl on the left side of his body, leaving him unable to create ceramics as he did before. Through perseverance, he has adapted his technique to throw simple forms one-handed using extremely soft clay, and has focused his energy into painting their colourful and stunning glazes, which are inspired by the spontaneity of jazz and American pop art.
In addition, Asenbryl has served as a lecturer in the arts department at British universities in Cardiff, Newport, Belfast, and in Bechyne, Czechoslovakia. He participated in the 1987 ceramic symposium in Aberystwith, Wales, and the 1999 ceramic symposium in Walzbrych, Poland.
His art can be found in the collections of many museums around the world including the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, and the York Art Gallery in England and the Teenessee Arts Commission in the USA.