this year I am showing my two ranges of tableware - paintbox and storm, and also one off vases, bowls, tall jugs and more. All my work is in porcelain which gives a wonderful base for colours and, in the tableware the translucence only porcelain can give. I am inspired by abstract expressionist painters, and love the feeling of movement and spontaneity that painting my glazes with big brushes gives. I will be displaying all my work in my workshop and small garden.
This year I have just exhibited in Craft Festival Cheltenham, and in April, just before Artweeks, I will be at Potfest Glynde near Brighton. During Artweeks I will have some work in John Lewis Oxford as part of the Artweeks exhibition. In July I am exhibiting at ‘Celebrating Ceramics’ and in August at ‘ArtinClay’ Windsor.
I have recently moved from living in France, where I both taught and exhibited, to Oxford. I have been part of Artweeks for many years, both before I left for france, and also during the past three years before I made the permanent move back. I originally trained with a city and guilds course in the 1990s and shortly afterwards set up my first workshop, and at that time began teaching in community education. Then there was a move to Worcestershire, with a bigger workshop, and then France where I had an enormous workshop, with a barn for my large gas kiln. Over the years I have moved from earthenware to stoneware, then around 5 years ago to porcelain. This last move coincided with visiting an exhibition of abstract expressionist painters in London, and completely changed the way I use glazes. I paint my work with large brushes, and layer the glazes trying to use the form as a guide for the brush strokes.