About me

"Although born in Britain, I grew up in the South Island of New Zealand. Witnessing the power of nature in action generated a lifelong fascination with the forms that wind and water can create. I completed an honours degree in botany at Otago University, adding an abiding love for plants. These two elements are the foundation for organic interpretation in my ceramic work.

My journey with clay began in 2016. My first encounter, during an art foundation course, led to the completion of an NCFE in ceramics, then on to the first year of an Applied Arts degree at Glyndwr University where I gained a good grounding in hand-building and throwing. I recognised a lean towards usable art in the form of tableware and in 2019 transferred my studies to Clay College, graduating in 2021.

My throwing skills were refined during the two year Clay College diploma course, where repetition taught the sequence of actions needed to create each basic form, mug, bowl, jug and so on. When the making process became second nature, my own influence on pieces emerged; my hands, through instinctive movements, creating physical representations of visual inspiration.

While throwing, I feel a link between the rhythm of the wheel, the texture my fingers create in the clay and natural forms I am drawn to. I allow my hands to express both the rhythm and the unpredictability of natural forces, creating powerful throwing lines with an element of chaos rather than regularity, often pushing the vessel to a point just short of collapse, yet retaining a degree of resolve at the rim.

I like to interrupt the flow of a surface, swiping tools across the soft clay to represent ruptures of land slide and earth tremor. I have also come to recognise these marks with reference to our human condition; when life events cause sudden and devastating change and punctuate the flow of our existence with illness or loss; challenges that we, as humans, all face.

Relationship between maker, place of origin and eventual user is important to me. The texture of my pots encourages the user's fingers to explore the ridges my hands created, while the inclusion of locally found materials forever ties each vessel to the place it was made.