John Leach Obituary – Death: John Leach, of Muchelney Pottery and Gallery, who produces a catalogue range of handmade wood-fired pots suitable for use in the kitchen and dining room, as well as one-off signed pieces for exhibitions has passed away. John Leach died today, August 30, 2021.
Have just written a tribute/obituary on life and times of my old friend John Leach at the request of his family – it’s being given a great show in tomorrow’s Western Morning News where you can read all about one of the West Country’s most talented artist-craftsmen pic.twitter.com/6bYvTL3VQu
— Martin Hesp (@martinhesp) August 30, 2021
InsideEko is yet to confirm John Leach’s cause of death as no health issues, accident or other causes of death have been learned to be associated with the passing.
This death has caused a lot of friends and family of Leach so much hurt. It is in that mourning spirit that the concerned persons have taken to social media to share tributes to the deceased and condolences to the affected family.
Tributes To John Leach
Below are some of the statements shared across social media users’ timelines on the death of Leach.
“A sad day to learn of the passing of John Leach. A lovely and beautiful man, brimming with talent, warmth and philosophy.
As a tribute, I reproduce an interview from 2010 which does not even scratch the surface.
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John’s reason in 1964 for choosing Somerset in which to live seemed no more complicated than it being halfway between London and St Ives. Apart from a brief sojourn to California in 1963, he had until then been based in Cornwall and then Devon, with both his father David and his uncle in the same line of work.
“I think perhaps I had been suffering a bit from tourism fatigue,” he tells me “and then we chanced upon this old 14th century priest’s house completely off the beaten track which had been condemned.”
There is a reassuring and comforting antiquity to the room in which we are sitting. Clay dust lightly covers storage shelves, potter’s wheels and supplier invoices – this is obviously creative H.Q. to the operation, where many hours are spent spinning and fashioning. On a hot summer’s day it’s an effective cold-shelf against the wall of heat outside, the uneven flagstones meeting the base of the stone walls. A wood burner indicates that they do not suffer unduly in winter, but the slightly stark quality to the room is offset by the character of pottery tools and memorabilia decorating ledges and shelves.
What a room indeed, where John and master potters Nick Rees and Mark Melbourne have spent years in close proximity, in Nick’s case 38 of these summers. Remarkable. Mark trained here and returned 8 years ago.
In this room anyone who is interested in creative arts could sit for weeks listening to John’s resolute pot-theology. “We are artist-potters, not liking to be compromised, we will do anything to hang on to our integrity,” John continues. “It would be easy to prostitute the inherent skills in our hands and earn more but we are product-led.”
Now, for any students of marketing or business, that is a huge statement, for those in commerce are taught to be market, or customer-led. Businesses are not meant to make things without giving a tinker’s (or potter’s) cuss as to whether they sell or not.
Perhaps John is not quite so blasé about the end part of the process as it sounds. This is a good business, the gallery, run by John’s wife Lizzie, clearly demonstrates customer demand. It is clear, however, that there is a very deep starting point for the creativity at Muchelney Pottery.
“I have a long coffee in the morning during which time I commune with my maker. Much of what I own and use has a tale of personal experience. The mug I drink from, even the chair I sit on was hand made by a friend. All these things give me a richness, when I think about the emotion and creativity that has gone into it. If I pick up a shard of pottery in a field, I think all about the potter who may have originally made it, and why. We are merely custodians of these objects, not owners. There is a tale from when the pioneers were forging their way across North America and demanded to buy a piece of land from some native Indians. ‘We can’t sell it, because we don’t own it’ came the reply, ‘we are borrowing it from our grandchildren.’”
Bang. Powerful stuff. And you thought you would stop in the car to look at a few pots on shelves.
I am lucky enough to visit during kilning which happens every couple of months. Around 2,000 pots are placed in the kiln which is then bricked up, lit and constantly fed with waste wood from Weavo fencing in Hatch Beauchamp. It takes 3 days.
Some of these will no doubt be in the forthcoming exhibition ‘Greg Poole and the Potters of Muchelney’. As John explains, “This exhibition is an acknowledgement of the journey we potters have travelled together – with a selection of our recent signed work complemented by a wonderful new collection of insightful sketches by Greg Poole portraying life at the Pottery and on the Somerset Levels.”
Go. See. Take your imagination with you.”
You may use the comment section below to leave a statement on the death of Leach. To inform other online friends and relatives about this passing, you may use any of the social media share buttons below to do that.
More information on the death of Leach will be updated as we receive it. Official obituary publication will be made by the family of the deceased.
This publication does not contain information on John Leach’s funeral plans and visitations. You may wait for the family to release a statement on that or reach out to them when it is convenient for them to speak.
Family privacy should be respected at this difficult time. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by the passing of Leach.