Penelope Bennett was a student of Ewen Henderson's in the 1970s, and has combined her ceramics with her work as a journalist and gardening writer. She is a gifted maker of bold hand-built earthenware; the pots have a distinct freedom and softness of approach more akin to the natural expression of their African and Pre-Columbian forebears than much other contemporary work in this idiom.

Her bowls and variously formed jars and dishes have a directness and simplicity, smoke-fired red clay with burnished surfaces. Some are incised, others painted with geometric earth colours, akin to the designs and hues of African and South American textiles and ceramics. Avoiding over-wrought, technique-led making, Bennett's pots are vigorous and refreshingly intuitive.

David Whiting