Jim Behan

Jim Behan set up Dolmen Pottery Studio at 113 Green Rd., Carlow, Ireland in 1970. He has been an active member of The Craft Potters Society of Ireland (Ceramics Ireland) since its foundation and has co-edited the Society's journal Ceramics Ireland . He is also on the Irish Crafts Council Register of Craftworkers. He has exhibited widely and won many awards. In 2009 Jim was awarded First Class Hons. B.A. in Ceramic Design by The Glasgow School of Art, Scotland.

"I came to pottery through the work and writings of Bernard Leach. That early passion has been modified since by all that I have seen and read. I now find satisfaction and fulfillment in a wide range of styles and techniques. All things clay interest me but the pots I admire most still hearken back to that tradition which has its roots in the simple country pottery of the Far East.

Most of my past work has been in handthrown stoneware pottery from my reduction fired gas kiln. I regularly build kilns for specific firing techniques such as salt/soda glaze. I have been involved for many years with group firings of large woodfired kilns and enjoy interacting with other makers. Recently I built a small woodfired kiln at my studio and am working with that at present. I occasionally divert to making sculptural pieces informed by my interest in the poetry of W.B. Yeats and local history. I am in my seventieth year this year and a major concern for me at present is to ‘unlearn’ much of the craftiness I have accumulated over a lifetime of working with clay. It is so easy to kill a pot with cleverness. Allowing the pot to live is always the challenge."