I work predominantly with stoneware clay that will take the heat of the oven and the extreme weather outside. I love throwing large open forms and choosing glazes that contrast and add texture to the clay body. My work includes thrown bowls with expressive lips; ceramic and leather handles; drawn and modelled animals; pouring spouts; noodle bowls and some with additional coils and detail. Conventional jugs and some with arms for handles. Lamps with integral lampshades fully wired and functional. Platters of whole imprinted leaves with decorative coils or even a mouse or snail. Garden features include windchimes and birdbaths, sculptures on ceramic stacking stones, platters and tiles, some hand-built with coils and impressed plants. Animals and birds feature in a variety of my work, true to life and sometimes quirky. Larger animals or birds come alive, with a flick of an ear or tilt of a head.
I started playing with clay in my late teens and so my work is heavily influenced by my childhood in New Zealand and love of nature.
I strongly believe that any functional pottery must be a thing of beauty that you can leave out on display to enjoy and yet have ready to hand for daily use. I want it to be tactile and aesthetically striking, so I play with my glazing and surface features.
I also make Raku. I love the organic nature of this pottery firing method, that is so instantaneous, it is pure chemistry in action with the fluxing glaze and the oxygen reduction. I am influenced by the native New Zealand bush and the wildlands of England.
I have discovered a seam of ‘Roman Clay’ nearby. Dug from the Earth, it echoes the past, as I clean it and mould it into shape with my hands as people would have done 2000 years ago. Full of iron oxide it first turns a rich terracotta-orange in fire and then under reduction a deep black. I have discovered it is ‘stable’ to stoneware temperatures and produces a deep crimson clay body - Heat that our forebears may not have achieved with their crude kilns and fire pits.

I am never happier than when I am in my studio making and creating. I love experimenting with glazes and effects. With the chooks outside for company as they excavate below the shrubs nearby. It is just the best place to be.
I love sharing my ideas and listening to others. Exhibiting from home means there is always time to talk and you can understand more about me in my natural habitat. I am excited about meeting people and look forward to meeting you this Christmas at my home or at one of my Christmas fayres.