My husband, Roger Owen, who has died of cancer aged 66, was a talented artist and potter who spent much of his life teaching and inspiring others.
After his retirement from City of Bristol College in 2015, he was able to concentrate on making things again. He combined his talents of craftsmanship and mark making to create huge platters, beautifully decorated with large brushwork designs. These he sold in the Potters, an artist-led co-operative in Bristol, and in many galleries throughout the south-west of England.
He also continued to be involved in education by teaching evening classes in ceramics at the Folk House in Bristol and by volunteering with Koestler Art, which helps prisoners to explore possible careers in art. His way of teaching even the simplest things made people feel important and worthy.
Roger was born in Newport, Pembrokeshire, to Noel, a postman, and Audrey (nee Jones), who worked in domestic service. He spent his childhood playing on the local mountain, Carningli, and around the nearby estuary, known as the Parrog. After attending Fishguard school, in 1975 he went to South Glamorgan Institute of Higher Education (now Cardiff Metropolitan University) to do an art-teaching degree.
While there he built his own salt kiln and was fascinated by the glaze effects he could achieve by throwing handfuls of sawdust, leaves or pine needles into the kiln when it was firing. After completing his studies he moved in 1979 to Bristol, where he had been told that the art and creative scene was exciting.
His first job there was carrying out a bus survey – sitting on every bus in Bristol with a timing device and handfuls of passenger questionnaires, generally annoying the bus drivers. He then spent time as a self-employed potter, building his own wood-fired kilns, experimenting with salt glazes and supplying commemorative mugs for the Bristol city docks festival in 1983.
However, it was a precarious existence and eventually he turned to teaching art in the city, first at St Mary Redcliffe school and then at Hartcliffe school. In 1983 he got a job at Nailsea school in Somerset, where I was a science teacher. In 1990 we gave up our jobs and went travelling for a year. On our return Roger joined the City of Bristol College, where he taught the college’s art and design NVQ. During this time there he took students on art trips to Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. We got married in 1998.
In his spare time Roger was also a talented guitarist and singer, and played in bands throughout his life, the last one being called Two Way Stretch, a group of friends he played with until his death.
He is survived by me and our three daughters, Rosie, Elen and Neve.
