Scotsman Obituaries: Janet Adam, respected Scottish potter

Janet Adam, sculptor. Born: 14 January 1940 in Edinburgh. Died: 1 September 2021 in Edinburgh, aged 81

Janet Adam shared her passion for pottery with friends

Janet Adam was a skilled potter admired for experimenting with glazes. A respected founding and 47-year Scottish Potters Association (SPA) participant. A keen gardener. A dancer of reels. A party lover. A dressmaker. A thoughtful and witty hostess with a capacity for laughter and one-liners. An encourager. A principled Christian. An individual of constancy, loyalty and discretion willing truly to observe confidences. A beloved friend and family member. A zestful traveller, from the fjords of Norway to Burma and Japan but with an enduring love of Scotland’s landscape, especially its west coast and sailing there.

Her enjoyment of travel matched that of kinsfolk: two ancestors went to live in St Petersburg with Princess Dashkova at the time of Catherine the Great, while two Scottish sisters travelled to Japan in the early 19th century.

Jan was born in Edinburgh in 1940 to Barbara Eunice Marindin – known as Nic – and Captain Charles Adam, who was serving in the Royal Navy. She was a toddler in Belfast when her father was Captain of the Ulster Queen, engaged in protecting convoy PQ18 on the Kola run to Russia. By 1944 she was in Calshot, Hampshire, her father being involved in planning the D-Day landings.

The family later returned to Scotland, to Blair Adam, the family home of Jan’s illustrious architect forebears which had been requisitioned to house the Polish Free Army Cadet division. Blair Adam remained dear to Jan’s heart, as a descendant of Robert Adam who created so much of Edinburgh’s New Town.

Her father, a one-time Lord Lieutenant of Kinross-shire, received a DSO, and also served in Southern Russia and with the Colombian Navy.

Jan attended West Heath School. She worked as Secretary to the late Lord Macleod of Funiary, moving later to the Japanese Consulate in Edinburgh. In the late 1960s she moved to Mull, learning to pot while helping the Macdonald family with their pottery. Her skills were further enhanced by involvement in the Ceramics Workshop and via Edinburgh College of Art tuition.

Jan had three siblings, Clementina – known as CC – and twins Keith and Rita. Sadly, C.C. died some years ago, but the twins survive her. Equally, she meant much to her family, and that of her late partner David Findlay. She gave to them – as to so many – thoughtful, sensible advice at every turn of the tide. That generosity of time and spirit, as indeed of home and hearth, was to the fore in tributes at the Memorial Service in Edinburgh’s St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral. It was mentioned first by her nephew Peter, then by Anna Brown on behalf of those currently involved in the Adam Pottery and, equally eloquently and poignantly, by Christopher Hartley.

Others have also written of Janet, including of the 1977 established Canonmills Pottery in a delightful (and later destroyed) 18th-century cottage beside Edinburgh’s Water of Leith, just beyond Canonmills.

Craft Scotland chairman Catherine Holden, writing about the Henderson Row Adam Pottery when Jan moved there, has called it “a real beacon”. Fellow potters used words such as “generous with her time”, “exceptionally talented”, “a wonderful person to be around” and “a great mentor”.

Fiona Robertson, Scottish Potters Association Chairman, wrote: “Janet was one of our founding members and a guiding light within the Association throughout its 47 years.”

Jan’s passion for pottery was shared with friends and pottery tenants alike, evidenced by tenant colleagues at the Adam Pottery, some of whom now exhibit nationally and internationally.

A lasting joy for me is owning pots, dishes and vases by Jan, along with two splendid bread crocks. A lasting regret is that National Museums Scotland never purchased her remarkable series “Bark Shards”, from the SPA 30th Anniversary Exhibition Clay in Bloom held in 2004 at Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Gardens. The exhibition moved to Benmore Botanic Gardens and subsequently toured Scotland, starting in Falkirk in January 2005, then Gracefield Arts Centre in Dumfries, Highland Galleries in Inverness, then on to Thurso, Wick, Kingussie and finally ending in An Tobar on the Isle of Mull.

The tour allowed many more people to appreciate Jan’s talents and provided a link to Inniemore, Mull, where her love of potting had begun – something of a full circle.

Jan’s serenity, pragmatism, courage, optimism and humour never waned, even in those last few months of unexpected and punishing serious illness. She was a shining example of a consistently generous, ethical, courageous human in whom old-fashioned values were innate.

Family, friends, pottery clients and colleagues will miss and honour Janet Adam far more – and far more widely – than she would have imagined. She enriched our lives.

Obituaries

If you would like to submit an obituary (800-1000 words preferred, with jpeg image), or have a suggestion for a subject, contact [email protected]

A message from the Editor

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers. If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.