Laura HancockCeramics

Laura Hancock learned to throw pots as a child in her father Alan Ball's workshop in Washington, then apprenticed at Biddick Farm Arts Centre through the late 1980s and early 1990s before settling into her own studio on Dairy Lane in Westerton, near Bishop Auckland. Since 2005 she has worked mainly in smoke-firing, a technique that leaves each piece with an irregular, smoky surface rather than a glaze, drawing on forms she has studied in African and Southern Alaskan Native pottery. Alongside her own domestic ware and vessels, she runs full-day Pottery Experience sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays for groups of up to four, covering wheel-throwing demonstrations, hand-building and a biscuit firing, with a separate glazing session offered on a later visit. Gift vouchers are available for the classes.