Clare has lived in the Wittenhams since 1986, after many years in Greece and it was there she started collecting pottery in a small way, mostly decorated plates. She still has one jug and bowl made in Euboea in the 1970s. When she returned to England and got her own home these plates went up on the wall, since when they have proliferated as she has learned to make them herself. Clare was a late arrival to the ceramic world. After a few years in Zambia on her return she spent the three weeks of Oxfordshire Artweeks deciding which art she would try; she tried precious metal clay, but finally settled on a weekly class at the Oxford City College to study practical pottery making. She has carried on ever since with Jane Hanson in Waterstock. She does not just make and decorate plates, but also makes quite tall jars, recently specialising in painting threatened species. and many small useful items.

One of Nandi’s favourite subjects is painting Birds on Wood, She likes to blend the bird shape in with the flow of the wood. She also enjoys painting people’s Dogs. This can be fun but has to be painted from photographs as a dog would never sit still for long enough. Once she was given a photo of a very very muddy Spaniel and was asked if she could paint him clean! Nandi doesn’t like writing too much about her work and thinks the best thing is to look at it and hope others might like it.