About

Hi! I hope you like viewing and reading about my clay adventures.…..

I’ve always been attracted to ceramics and remember as a young teenager, drooling over the dinner ware sets in Boots of all places, so when the opportunity to join a pottery class came along, I was there in a flash and so started on the exciting, exhilarating, frustrating and joyous journey of turning claggy mud in to something – with assistance from the kiln gods – good!

I now live in rural Somerset having been brought up in Yorkshire and with the intervening years being spent in North London and Sydney, Australia.  Each place has contributed visually to my life - from the great barren moors along the Pennines, the linear landscape of the great capital cities of London and Sydney, to the stunning beaches and blue blue seas of the Australian coastline, the vast Australian landscape and the trees, Australian eucalypts, English oak and the mighty beeches of Somerset to finally, the quintessential English countryside in which I now live.

Somerset has an ancient rural heart which combines colour and texture and it is this which is at the core of my explorations in this medium. I want to create objects that are tactile, which cry out to be held; objects whose colour melds with the grain, creating layers of interest like the speckled bark of a larch, the grey gradiation of a veined cliff face, or the marbled light of an oozing, oily puddle.

Sometimes, all the processes involved in arriving at a finished, perfect piece come together. Sometimes the results are a happy accident, more often than not, it’s just an accident. Occassionally, the kiln gods smile and it turns out as you hoped – sometimes even better.

My work is driven by experimentation.  I start off with an idea but, “What if……” often pops up as I’m going along and I respond to what the clay is doing, what happens if I mix this with that producing pieces which are utterly unique.  And yet recognisably mine as shape, colour and form stem from all those visual influences, conscious and unconscious, that have gone in to you over the years.  
Who knew that browsing in Boots in Huddersfield would have such a profound effect!

Earlier this year, I decided that I would donate 50% of my profits to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, who have spent the last 45 years “protecting habitats and providing a family for creatures that have lost their own.”  They have thus far raised 282 orphaned baby elephants many of whom have returned to live in the wild and raise their own babies.  So by buying one of my pots you are contributing to this marvellous organisation! Please read more about them on the link on my home page.

Contact me if you’re interested in a particular piece and require further information. Thanks!