JOHN Maltby, a distinguished English sculptor and skilled studio potter, based at Stoneshill near Sandford, has died, aged 84.

John was born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, on July 15, 1936, into a family that was in the fish merchant business, but, despite his love of the sea, his mother supported him in resisting his father’s pressure to follow in the family business.?After school John took a degree course at Leicester College of Art, specialising in sculpture, and then spent a year at Goldsmiths covering a broad range of arts.

For a couple of years he was an art teacher at Caterham School, and it was in these days that he met and married Heather Helmore, who was matron at the school and importantly, as John liked to relate, drove a Frog Eyed Sprite!

When John and Heather came to the Westcountry for their summer holiday in 1962, John visited Bernard Leach in St Ives.

Bernard then introduced him to his son David, who had his own pottery in Bovey Tracey. It proved pivotal; John made the critical decision to give up teaching to become David’s apprentice for two years. ?John then took the significant step of starting his own pottery at Stoneshill in 1964 and he was still working there until the last days of his life.

He started by making functional Leach-style pots, but, always one to value work in a personally relevant way, he started producing – very - individual pieces.

Eclectic and enthusiastic, John was interested in so many things, from the sea, through architecture and myth, to music and this became very evident in the form and decoration of his work.

Tall, with a huge frame and crafters hands, massive jumpers and vast trousers held up with the red braces he loved so much, John was an expansive man and he immersed himself and his experiences in his work.

Perhaps it was no surprise that, by the eighties, John had achieved the status, which he retained for the rest of his life, of being one of the best known and most liked and respected ceramic artists in the UK.

As a friend commented: “He belonged to what is looking like being a golden age for ceramics in this country.

“Certainly for me, and I think for quite a few others, John will be remembered as one of the best of that generation.”

His work seemed to have universal appeal, appreciated by artists, students and collectors alike and it was an unusual Maltby show that didn’t sell out on the opening day… or even before!

He was advised by some gallery owners to severely limit his output in order to raise his prices. But this was not John’s way; firstly, he always loved making and secondly, he wanted his work to be affordable rather than exclusive.

So saying, John received numerous awards for his work and he is widely represented in a number of public collections, including the V and A in London and others in Edinburgh, Aberystwyth, Belfast, Exeter, Leicester, and Faenza in Italy and Hamburg in Germany.

He was a member of the Craftsmen Potters Association of Great Britain and the British Crafts Centre, and was an advisor to the Leach Archive at the Holbourne of Menstrie Museum in Bath.

John also shared his love of the arts freely, he was an inspirational mentor, he wrote many articles and he often gave lively talks and demonstrations of his work.

Despite such acclaim and achievement, John often underestimated his potential and talent and he valued the support and good judgement of his wife to guide the business.

In 1996, John had a major heart operation, and this led to a change in his work because he lost the strength to do the heavy work of kneading clay and handling large pieces.

Making both single figure and groups, and, more recently, producing wall works, he introduced a new cast of characters: birds, kings, queens and angels. This was the style that he stayed with for the rest of his life.

Losing Heather 13-and-a-half years ago was a huge blow to John. But he threw himself back into his work and he continued to produce - more slowly but with just as much skill - treasured pieces which gallery owners came to Stoneshill Pottery to collect.

One of them wrote: “I will miss my journeys down to Crediton and the anticipation in seeing the new work (John) had been producing.

“Each piece full of character and a personal narrative that conveyed so much to so many. I can see him now: a Wise man with an Owl perched on his head.”?John died on December 22.

His daughter and son, Philly and Joe – as well as John’s grandson, Sam – are inordinately proud of John.

They have always held him in the highest esteem, but they are overwhelmed at the realisation of just how exceptional he was since receiving so many plaudits following his death.?

Alison Orchard?