Top of the pots  Turner nominee Grayson Perry's first artwork
was a plate depicting a crucifixion, called Kinky Sex. His new
pottery features child abuse. Weird? You haven't met his alter
ego Claire yet. By Stuart Jeffries Grayson Perry dressed as his
alter ego Claire Vulnerability, sweetness, preciousness and
impracticality: Grayson Perry dressed as his alter ego, Claire
The Guardian can be a callous newspaper. Its review of an
exhibition of Grayson Perry's pottery had the headline "If I had
a hammer..." and the text was a pendulous wrecking ball of
hostility.  "When I opened the paper and saw that, I was really
hurt," says Perry. "It's not good for your ego to read that in
something you regard as your newspaper. But it's particularly
upsetting because you can't just simply fall back on the good
reviews you get. Because if you discount the bad ones, you have
to discount the good ones too."  But that review was two and a
half years ago. Today, Grayson Perry has stuck himself back
together again and become ce