Geoffrey Eastop at River and Rowing Museum exhibition, 2005

Geoffrey Eastop (16 January 1921 – 25 December 2014) was an English

potter A potter is someone who makes pottery. Potter may also refer to: Places United States *Potter, originally a section on the Alaska Railroad, currently a neighborhood of Anchorage, Alaska, US * Potter, Arkansas *Potter, Nebraska * Potters, New Je ...

. Eastop was born in London, where he studied at the Croydon School of Art and

Goldsmiths' College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

. He also studied at the Academie Ranson in Paris. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Eastop served as an officer in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

, seeing action in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and being lucky to survive. After the war, he spent a year at the Odney Pottery in

Cookham Cookham is a historic River Thames, Thames-side village and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the north-eastern edge of Berkshire, England, north-north-east of Maidenhead and opposite the village of Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, Bourne ...

, Berkshire. From 1956, he collaborated with

Alan Caiger-Smith Alan Caiger-Smith MBE (8 February 1930 – 21 February 2020) was a British ceramicist, studio potter and writer on pottery. Life and work Caiger-Smith was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He studied at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts ...

during the early years of the

Aldermaston Pottery Aldermaston Pottery was a pottery located in the Berkshire village of Aldermaston, England. It was founded in 1955 by Alan Caiger-Smith and was known for its tin-glaze pottery and particularly its lustre ware. His first assistant, Geoffrey ...

(established in 1955) in the village of

Aldermaston Aldermaston is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. In the 2011 Census, the parish had a population of 1015. The village is in the Kennet Valley and bounds Hampshire to the south. It is approximately from Newbury, Basingsto ...

, staying there for six years. He then started his own pottery in Padworth. He remained in the same area around south Berkshire throughout his working life, finally being based near Newbury from 1985. Eastop was a potter throughout his working life and collaborated with the artist John Piper, sometimes working at Piper's family home at

Fawley Bottom Fawley Bottom is a small village in south Buckinghamshire, England, north of Henley-on-Thames. It is in the civil parish of Fawley. The artist John Piper and his wife, the librettist Myfanwy Piper, were notable long-term residents of Fawley ...

in south Buckinghamshire. He first met Piper in 1968 and they started working together in 1969. Eastop set up a pottery at Piper's home in Fawley Bottom and the partnership lasted until 1985. Eastop made the pots and Piper decorated them. From 1985, Eastop established his own pottery in the village of Ecchinswell near

Kingsclere Kingsclere is a large village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. Geography Kingsclere is approximately equidistant ) from the towns of Basingstoke and Newbury on the A339 road. History Kingsclere can trace back its history to a p ...

, Hampshire. Eastop's work has been exhibited at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, London and the

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

. In 2005, he had a solo exhibition of his work at the

River and Rowing Museum The River & Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, is located on a site at Mill Meadows by the River Thames. It has three main themes represented by major permanent galleries, the non-tidal River Thames, the international ...

in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. Examples of his work are in the Ashmolean Museum (

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Portsmouth City Museum Portsmouth Museum (aka Portsmouth City Museum) is a local museum in Museum Road in the city of Portsmouth, southern England. It is one of six museums run by Portsmouth Museums, part of Portsmouth City Council. The museum is housed in a Grade II l ...

Reading Museum Reading Museum (run by the Reading Museum Service) is a museum of the history of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire, and the surrounding area. It is accommodated within Reading Town Hall, and contains galleries describing th ...

, and

Southampton City Art Gallery The Southampton City Art Gallery is an art gallery in Southampton, southern England. It is located in the Civic Centre on Commercial Road. The gallery opened in 1939 with much of the initial funding from the gallery coming from two bequests, o ...

. Eastop lived at Ecchinswell near

in Hampshire with his wife, Pat Eastop

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(died 2014). They had three sons and one daughter. Eastop died at Oak Lodge, Oakley, on Christmas Day, 2014.

References

External links

Pottery Studio information
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eastop, Geoffrey 1921 births 2014 deaths Artists from London Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London British Army personnel of World War II Royal Artillery officers English potters Piper family People from Oakley, Hampshire