Artist's Statement

I make terracotta and white clay, domestic pottery in simple utilitarian shapes. My current passion is to create contrasting surfaces with sharp divisions that suggest a revealing or concealing movement . The endless rebalancing of strong and weak, with traces of something else under the surface. I enjoy the smooth curves that are naturally created when pouring or dipping wet slip onto a three dimensional shape, allowing some control, but always the possibility of some refreshing oddity.

At this stage of making the pot looks deliciously rich and ready for more surface decoration.

The techniques I choose are influenced by traditional English slipware, the design elements are influenced by ancient Japanese ceramics. References come from multiple sources, collected natural objects translated into pared down shapes easily cut from paper or sponge. I use slip trailers, brushes, scraffito, paper and latex resist. All the surface decoration is made with coloured slips (liquid clay) and biscuit fired, then a transparent glaze is applied and fired.