About the artist

History

I have always loved making things. From drawing and crafts as a child to fine art at GCSE, then a foundation course which allowed me to delve into the various disciplines of art, and where I was one of only two people out of a year group of 50+ who finalised in ceramics. Next I moved to London to gain a ceramics degree at The University of Westminster in Harrow.

Diverging career path

After finishing my degree in 2001, a move back to Teesside found me on a path which led away from ceramics. I became a receptionist in a vets, which aligned with another passion of mine (animals), which eventually led into my qualifying as a Registered Veterinary Nurse. All along though I still dreamed of having my own ceramic workshop.

The road back

In 2010 I acquired my first home, in Bamford in the beautiful Peak District. We built a large wooden shed/workshop A.K.A. ‘The Lodge’ and over the next few years gradually added the equipment and tools needed. Fitting in workshop time around my veterinary nursing job and the family, I re-explored everything clay, experimenting with earthenware, stoneware, porcelain, paper clays and my still current favourite, a porcelain white stoneware that blends the near pure white and grace of porcelain with the sturdy functionality of stoneware.

Projects

Delving into vastly differing projects such as delicate porcelain jewellery, dinnerware, and sculpture, I regained old forgotten skills of throwing and hand building, and gained new ones. I completed several commissions such as a commemorative garden plaque for the local Primary school in which I chose several children’s images of pond life and transposed them as faithfully as possible into 3D clay form. I helped to raise money for the local preschool through making decorations. I also undertook the running of the annual village well dressing, a community mixed media project particular to Derbyshire.

Commemorative garden plaque

Derbyshire well dressings

Lincolnshire

The latest chapter in my ceramic endeavours has lead me to Lincolnshire, and a move to Fulstow, a village surrounded by agriculture and open fields, nestled between the coast and the Wolds. I have a new workshop called ‘Trafalgar Cottage’ in which I’ve utilised the living room and conservatory as workshop space, and have 2 bedrooms upstairs which in the future I hope to house ceramists for creative holidays. I also have a separate kiln shed located in the old animal stables. 2022 really felt like the start of my ceramic career, as with both children in full time school, and a switch to locum veterinary nursing, I was able to get into the studio on a daily basis. I began getting myself to markets, ceramic fairs, and into my first exhibition.

2023

2023 felt incredibly exciting as I took all the lessons I learnt from 2022 and channelled them into making new pieces. I worked on developing new tableware forms such as teapots and teacups, jugs, and larger bowl and vase forms amongst others, from the porcelain white stoneware clay, using rolled out slabs that are shaped using a variety of hand made moulds, repurposed items or simply shaping by hand and tool. I draw some inspiration from the Chinese Yixing Teapot makers being fascinated by their levels of skill. After bisque firing they are underglazed, dipped in a transparent glaze and fired to a high temperature. Once out the unglazed bottoms are finely sanded until sea pebble smooth.

I developed a new pattern based on the eye of a peacock feather, using bold underglazes ‘painted’ onto an eye shaped sponge which is then printed onto the bisqued ware. I love the semi printed quality and bold repeated eye pattern along with the vivid peacock colours. Occasionally I would recreate an entire peacock feather with the one eye and sweeping feather fronds applied in underglaze pencil and brush strokes.

Platter with squeezed handles,
Carafe and Goblets set

Raku and Sculpture

2023 also saw more exploration of raku work. The Raku technique is essentially when glazed ceramics are taken from the kiln while they are still glowing red hot and are then placed in a material that would be able to catch fire, such as sawdust or newspaper. This technique is used to starve the piece of oxygen, which creates a myriad of colours within the glaze. Raku firing without glaze on them means that the oxygen is taken from the clay itself rather than a glaze, which results in some areas having a matte black colouring.

Shows and exhibitions

2023 saw me completing my first full year of exhibiting at the larger ceramic shows in the uk such as Toastedin Derby, Sheffield Ceramics Festival, Ceramics in Charnwood, Art in the Pen Skipton, Wardlow Mires pottery and Food Festival in The Peaks, and Potfest Melton Mowbray to name a few. By the end of the year I had exhibited in three galleries with two of those and another gallery asking to stock pieces.

Glazes

In September of 2023 I enrolled in a glaze course to refresh my twenty fiveish year old knowledge of glaze chemistry. I began to experiment with glazes based on the colours of the eye of the peacock feather, and out of many cracked test test pieces came a few beautiful successes. I plan to use my updated knowledge to play around with the glaze recipes to increase the fit for my clay body.

2024

This year is starting off at a run with a January exhibition in Village Art Gallery in Skelmanthorpe Library from January 13th to February 10th with 7 other potters from the Northern Potters Association (South East). I will be making and delivering more pieces to three galleries to stock. I have the first few shows of the year lined up: Toasted https://toastedceramicfair.uk/ March 23/24, Sheffield Ceramic Festival https://www.sheffieldceramicsfestival.com/ April 6/7, and Ceramics in Charnwood https://www.facebook.com/CeramicsInCharnwood/ May 12th, with lots more applications in for the rest of the year.

Other aims for 2024 include but are not limited to:

Continuing website development
Creating a mailing list
Starting a newsletter
Making mother molds for my plates and bowls, and creating some hump molds for large bowl forms
Development of some ovenware such as lasagne dishes
Making bigger pieces such as large bowls and vessels
Creating more raku and sculptural work
Continue my glaze development journey with the goals of creating my own transparent glaze, developing my peacock glazes, more raku glazes, and some special effect glazes such as lava and crystalline
Plan some wall pieces
Update my show set up to include new plinths and a backdrop, and better lighting
Run at least two workshops to be held at my studio