I love clay. Based in the beautiful South West of England my surroundings, especially the coast, have always influenced my work. I have been making with clay since I was 15 and on leaving school completed a diploma in craft design and then an HND in Ceramics and Glass at Plymouth College of Art. At this time I made individual hand built ceramic pieces that celebrated the form. This vessel-based work was often left, unglazed in its natural state or smoke fired and was sold through shops and galleries across the UK.
After a break from making I returned to Art School for the final year of a BA (Hons) Ceramics to re-examine my practice. It is here that my love of ceramic material has not only been renewed and deepened but I have also found a new direction to explore.
The pieces I am currently working on are concerned with encouraging some of the natural properties and reactions of porcelain. Looking to the material to be itself, without having the conforming view of what is perfection within ceramics dictating the finished surface or final form.
These porcelain pieces follow on from my degree work, they start to explore a finer quality of those reactions. With the porcelain, I have been led by the clay, not only in the final forms but how the edges are created and finished. The purity of the porcelain as a material remains but also these pieces celebrate the makeup and the more eccentric properties of the material as well.