I completed a course at Plymouth College of Art & Design after studying ceramics and jewellery in the early seventies, I then trained as a production thrower with Hugh West & spent a number of years producing tableware under the West pottery  mark, that discipline and attention to detail still shows in my work today,.

 In 1980 I set up my own workshop and started producing my own range of stoneware which was sold in galleries throughout the UK.  After setting up a number of different workshops in different locations I moved to my present workshop in 1996 which is set in woodland on the banks of the River Tamar in the Tamar Valley, an area of outstanding natural beauty.  

Alongside  producing  my own work I also worked as a  technician  &  part-time lecturer in ceramics at Plymouth College of Art & Design from 1978 – 2000.  

I then moved to South East Cornwall to be closer to the workshop and for the past 10 years I have concentrated on the Raku process, years of trial & error have been spent trying to perfect the copper matt technique.  

I am a member of the Cornwall Crafts Association &
 Cornwall Glass & Ceramics Group  aswell as Westcountry Potters Association

My work is handthrown on the potters wheel, trimmed when dry to refine the form, it is then biscuit fired to 1000°c.      After unpacking the kiln glazes are applied and the work  then fired with two distinctly different processes.

I have recently applied my copper matt raku glaze to some textured handbuilt pieces and had some great results

RAKU
The colours of my raku work are inspired by the iridescence of the damsel & dragon flies that frequent our large ponds next to my workshop.

My raku pots are rapidly fired until glowing hot (1,000° c); they are then taken from the kiln whilst still glowing and placed in a container on wood shavings and sawdust: these instantly combust and the flames inside the container consume the oxygen causing the clay and the glaze to react. This reduction atmosphere draws the metal in the glaze up to the  surface  creating  the  rich  iridescent colours found on my pots

STONEWARE
I have spent a number of years developing glazes for my range of reduction stoneware, observations of the ruggedness colours and textures of Dartmoor have inspired a range of glazes which echo the granite, lichen & moss that are to be found on the tors of Dartmoor.  I have also taken some of the colours from my raku to the stoneware process to create vivid reds & blues.

All my stoneware pots are fired in a gas kiln to a very high temperature resulting in a fusion between the clay body & the glazed surface, the clay becomes dense and vitrified and from soft clay it turns to stone, hence stoneware.