Current Work

 My first workshop was set up in Gloucestershire in 1976 where I made domestic stoneware and later small decorative pieces in high-fired porcelain. In1985 I became interested in Raku and smoked lustres and worked with glazed Raku for a time.

My current work is burnished and unglazed, thrown and slab built in porcelain clay.    The work is fired at about 1000c and decorated with painting printing and resist  techniques.  The pots are fired again at about 800c taken out while still hot and smoked in sawdust.  I am also now doing some new work which is saggar fired. Pots are set in clay boxes with sawdust, salt, copper and layers of sand and fired in a gas kiln. These firings produce a variety of soft marks and colours which are not predictable, but can be very beautiful.

Recently I spent a year back at College on a course, which included drawing, painting, print making and photography This was an exciting time of exploring and broadening ideas.  It is taking time to discover how this will change my work. 

My ideas come from many sources including the traditions of pot making which use burnishing, African, Native American, Indian and Mediterranean cultures.  My interest in Ethnic textiles has influenced the surface decoration.  Objects from Ethnographic and Archaeological collections, and at the other end of the time scale, modern architecture and sculpture, all feed into the system and over the years many sketch-books and photographs provide reference and inspiration


Work generally available from:
Contemporary Ceramics, Marshall Street, London
Bettles Gallery, Ringwood, Hampshire
Stour Gallery, Shipton on Stour Warwickshire
Gloucester Guild Exhibitions ( usually all August)
and, by appointment, direct from the workshop at Painswick.

Technical Information

My work is thrown and slab built in a fine porcelain clay. It is covered with coloured slips and burnished. Burnishing is the process of polishing the clay when it is firm but before firing, with a smooth tool such as a pebble or spoon.

The pieces are then biscuit fired to 1000c and decorated with resin lustres - mixes of resins and precious metals such as gold platinum and silver. The lustres are applied by painting, printing , and resist techniques.

The pots are fired again in a small electric Kiln to about 800c , taken out while still red hot and smoked with sawdust. Many pieces are fired and smoked several times with layers of lustres being added each time.

History

Born:
25 January 1937

Education:
Alexandra College, Dublin
Belfast College of Art
Hornsey College of Art

Qualifications:
National Diploma in Design (Ceramics and Printed Textiles)
Art Teachers Certificate, Hornsey College of Art.

Employment:
1964 to 1966 - Ceramics teacher at Parliament Hill Comprehensive School.
1966 to 1995 - Various Adult Education Classes in Ceramics. Gloucester College of Art and Stroud College of Art.
1978 to 1985 - Part Time Lecturer on full-time Workshop Pottery Course, Stroud College.

Memberships

Fellow of Contemporary Ceramics.
Member of Gloucestershire Guild of Craftsmen.
South Wales Potters Association.

Exhibitions

Work has been exhibited at the following Galleries:
Peter Dingley
Oxford Gallery
Kettles Yard
Stour Gallery
Alpha House Gallery
Bettles Gallery
Torquil Gallery
Woodbury Studio Gallery (Tim Andrews Gallery)
Round House Gallery

Books

Examples of my work can be found in the following books:
" Sawdust firing" Karen Hessenburg.
"Ceramics and Print" by Paul Scott
"Raku" Tim Andrews, first and second editions. 
"Smoke fired Pottery" Jane Perryman
"Smoke Firing" by Jane Perryman
"Encyclopaedia of Ceramics" Janet and Frank Hamer.