Walter Keeler has been a potter for over forty years and has just been made Welsh Artist of the Year. He studied at Harrow Art School under the esteemed Michael Casson. He works from his studio just outside of Monmouth in Wales, where Marsha O’Mahony caught up with him to talk pots, wales, awards and art.
Congratulations on your Welsh Artist of the Year Award. Can you tell me a bit more about it?
Around seven years ago St David’s Hall in Cardiff inaugurated the competition to find the Welsh Artist of the Year. And last year I was asked to be a judge for the Applied Arts section of the competition. However, the number of entries wasn’t great and I was surprised at the low standard of the work. For this year’s competition I was ‘encouraged’ to enter and I did because I wanted to give it my support and I felt it was important that artists with a higher profile should put in for the competition. Generally, however, I am not a believer in competitions in art and didn’t think I would win anyway. So it was quite a surprise when I did win. It was good that an applied artist won in a fine art area because it completely opened up the competition. The hope is that even more people doing interesting work will put in, artists who really believe in what they are doing. I definitely wanted my work in the competition because it represented visual arts in Wales and it takes people out of their studios and into the public arena.
