Pot making became a consuming passion for me in 2003. Before that I studied acid etching and enamelling on kiln fired glass at Roehampton in the early nineties, followed by a career in teaching.
Pottery, Bowls, Mugs, Jugs, Salt Pots, Plates
Pot making became a consuming passion for me in 2003. Before that I studied acid etching and enamelling on kiln fired glass at Roehampton in the early nineties, followed by a career in teaching. My first encounter with clay came at an adult education class on the Harrow Road in North London led by the potter Anna Silverton. It was she who introduced me to the potters wheel. Those who make pots on the wheel will attest to the meditative and compulsive nature of this craft and I was immediately taken up with its joys and challenges. A move from London to Hampshire introduced me to West Dean College where I took classes with Alison Sanderman whose infectious humour and ability to impart age old traditional methods of making and best practice proved invaluable in building my skills base. I developed my throwing skills with the help of Master Potters, Chris Keenan and Tim Andrews and as Bernard Leach would say, "learning by doing'; sitting at the wheel and practicing over and over. I combined making with teaching ceramics and after completing my studio in 2012, stopped the teaching to focus on developing my range. I create functional tableware – bowls, cups, jugs and dishes that we use every day to eat and drink from; serve and celebrate with, and that form part of the fabric of our lives. At the same time, I try to make vessels that elevate ordinary rituals through being tactile and aesthetically beautiful, each piece having its own character yet remaining part of a unified whole when grouped together with other pieces in the range. I continue to seek a perfect marriage between the form and function of the pot, the clay body and its glaze. From Autumn 2016, I will be working in a renovated farm building near Frome in Somerset, where I hope to make pots till I am old and crooked.