I am a British ceramic artist based in southwest France.
After completing an MA in Ceramics at Bath Spa University in 2021, I have now restarted my practice creating unique handbuilt pieces in porcelain, stoneware, and wild clay. My present work also includes drawings on handmade paper, using ink made from foraged materials.
I completed my first degree in ceramics and glass (1979-1982) at Leicester Polytechnic and continued to produce sculptural ceramics selling through galleries and shows, whilst teaching pottery in London for 10 years.
Artist Statement
Reflecting on home, place, and habitat my practice focuses on the landscapes and environment where I live in SW France. My surroundings are both wild and tamed – farm, field, and woodland. Since moving here I have used photography to study and document the undulating formation of the land and the traces made by human intervention. Focusing deep into the landscape I search for line, form, and detail created by the integration of human work and natural landforms. These studies, in turn, inform my mark-making in clay and on paper. I work with a variety of materials, methods, and techniques connecting my practice directly with the environment.
Originally, the pond in our garden was a clay pit where clay was taken to build our house, at a time when materials were locally sourced and prepared on-site. It has become increasingly important to me to incorporate locally found materials to use within my practice. I dig and prepare clay from the pond and experiment to gain a workable clay body, integrating porcelain and recycled stoneware clays I have collected over the years. The clays are randomly mixed, aiming to produce a subtle, earthy palette.
I make ink and paper from foraged and recycled materials for works on paper, incorporating clay, pigments, and natural fibres to aid strength and add colour and texture.
Pond·Clay·Brick·
Pond · Clay
Our house was traditionally constructed using unfired clay bricks over 100 years ago. The bricks were handmade prepared from the clay directly sourced on site. The resulting clay-lined hollow became a pond, a habitat attracting an abundance of wildlife.
The pond fills with the winter rains, becomes a haven for wildlife in spring and dries in hot summer months.
Clay·Brick
Unfired clay brick
These bricks were made here, on site; the clay dug from the land, strengthened with stones, sand and straw then batted into wooden formers and dried in the sun. At a time when materials were sourced locally and a local 'tuilerie' made the fired canal roof tiles. Occasionally pieces of fired tiles are tucked in as support in an irregular part of a wall. These bare bricks, exposed to the weather, have worn, revealing stones and organic matter still intact after all these years.
Studio
Studio
