Coleg Sir Gâr and Coleg Ceredigion are very proud of Janet Morgan, a popular member of staff who successfully reached the quarter-finals of The Great Pottery Throwdown.
Janet’s friends, family and colleagues had always joked that she should apply for the Channel 4 show and it wasn’t until she had a health scare after being cancer-free for nine years, that she took the plunge.
After more tests and biopsies, once she had the all-clear, it came as a reminder to Janet that it was a push to get on with her life.
“I had always been a fan of the show, so I thought there’s no time like the present so let’s go for it,” she said.
To get on the show, and there are thousands of applications, an online submission is required then as applicants progress (or not), they receive a telephone call, an online interview and a face to face interview.
“Every step of the way I thought, well that was nice, but did not expect to get through to the next stage,” said Janet. “So, when the final call came and the offer to be on the show, I was flabbergasted and the first person I contacted was my college principal and he and my line managers were hugely supportive and I can’t thank them enough.”
Thriving on new encounters, the programme offered Janet weekly challenges with a task using skills she hadn’t experienced before but using her experience in research and problem solving as well as learning off her fellow competitors who she said became more like family as the process progressed.
“Everyone pitched in and supported each other,” she said. “I never really felt as if we were being judged either. Keith and Rich were so full of positive feedback and guidance it was more like a 24/7 masterclass. The whole experience was amazing and I learned hundreds of new things and although initially terrifying, there is something extremely satisfying about pushing yourself outside your comfort zone, in my case, way outside.”
Being part of a very popular entertainment and arts programme, Janet said that after the first week, having cameras around and being pulled from her work for constant interviews became the norm and the crew came to feel like family.
“I enjoyed every single second, from the application process to every single challenge, every failure; a chance to learn what not to do in future was really helpful. Watching my friends find alternate solutions and methods and learning from each other was a joy. The most challenging part was the extensive travelling, our unpredictable train services and having to leave my husband and family fend for themselves. I have learned so much from taking this chance. First of all, if you don’t put yourself out there, accept the risk of failures but do it anyway, you will never progress or see the amazing things you can do that you had no idea where possible. I have learned that anything is possible with clay even when you have limited experience it can be very forgiving and amazingly versatile.”
With every week on the show, there was a new task which brought its own set of challenges. Week one had contestants making a Sunday dinner set based on what they enjoy about Sundays which brought Janet’s family, board games and her dog Hero into the clay.
Hand-coiled gluggle jugs had to be dedicated to a VIP in contestants lives so Janet based hers on her two pond fish dedicated to her VIP husband Noel who enjoys watching them since becoming unwell since the pandemic.
Slab-building was another skill she learned on the show and Raku with its live, rapid outdoor firing which was pure theatre and to get to that week for Janet was she says, ‘amazing’. “I really want to explore sculpting more in the future and may even consider trying to build my own raku kiln on the patio,” said Jan.
“My favourite piece was possibly the ancient woodland themed water feature as this really stretched me and I had limited experience at throwing large items. To see it all complete and intact and the effect of the trickling sound of the water was a delight. Everyone loved my belly dancing majolica teapot and mugs and I had some wonderful feedback on my abstract porcelain and black clay abstract light surrounds. These I would never have considered making and had no previous experience of abstract anything, or working with porcelain.”
Janet Morgan is head of curriculum at Coleg Sir Gâr and Coleg Ceredigion with responsibilities for automotive engineering and animal and equine science.
