About Me
I was nearly 40 when I first touched clay and it was love at first ‘sight’, I have always felt exceedingly lucky, it was such a random event that it should lead me to this life of art and enthusiasm. I had left my career as a chef to find another life of long hours and poor pay, but it has been the most fulfilling choice I could have made.
I quickly found porcelain and the potters wheel, both suited my nature perfectly, the clean white surface of porcelain and the speed and spontaneity of the wheel spoke to me like nothing else. Over the next twenty-five years my work has won awards, been exhibited all over Great Britain and Europe and been featured in numerous books and magazines and though, over this time, my work has changed, through it all has been the wheel and porcelain.
My constant problem is boredom, I was born with the attention span of a butterfly, so though initially overcome with enthusiasm for my latest project, soon need to move on, when either the failings of my temperament or circumstances force me.
Translucency 1999-2012
Pit 2011-2013
Pit-fired work is much simpler with few if any glazes, the work is almost complete after the bisque firing, all that’s left is the flame. The catch of course is I had nowhere to fire at home so it all had to be taken else ware and when I could no longer use this site my work moved again.
Coloured 2013-2015
Up until this point my work had contained little colour, this was not through choice but simple stylistic demands. With this body of work, I started to introduce colour and some textures, also areas of naked polished porcelain as a foil to the glazed sections. However, my health, always a little fragile, for a time left me less able to work.
More recently
Latterly, I returned to education and a Master’s degree in ceramics, with textural glaze research at its heart. These new glazes are intended to focus the viewer on the tactile qualities of the form, creating pieces that need to be caressed. That touch, direct and intimate, transforms the dispassionate observer into my participant.