Objects, stories and lost spoons ‘Objects can tell stories’ is a tag line that I use for my work and its an idea I find I keep coming back to. Objects both found and made can speak to us in so many ways, evoking a real memory or suggesting something completely imaginary. It’s a thread running through my work, …
The muted colours of Sussex in Winter and Spring must have been seeping into my thoughts and into my work over the past few months. Some new ideas and pieces have been emerging as a result. Colour palette I’ve spent some time looking at the colour palette I use and working on a range of colours, textures …
‘Pursuit of Intrigue’ is the title of a new short film made about my work. The film offers a sensitive portrait of my current work; focusing in on my ceramic and mixed media objects; dipping into my thought processes, taking a peek at how I work with clay and incorporate found materials. The film can be viewed online …
I’m endlessly inspired by the sea and my visits to the beach, even if I don’t actually fancy a swim right now! But recently I’ve been enjoying the local hills and woods, whilst the trees are damp and the skies are gloomy. On some walks through the Sussex downs I’ve been finding a lot of joy …
I was a tad busy this Autumn/Winter. If I try to put it all down I realise it looks a bit like a Christmas round robin letter – a lengthy listing of what I’ve been up to, regardless of the audience! So, no obligation – feel free to enjoy only the pictures and skip the rest! I …
I’ve been developing an idea based on buoys (the kind that are often used by boats, or on fishing nets) and particularly the broken and tangled versions I sometimes found washed up on the beach. I wanted to make something that took elements of the buoy and the open shape of a vessel. I also wanted to …
I have a special liking for slightly deserted landscapes with that abandoned dilapidated look going on. Dungeness on the Kent coast has to be my favourite place to experience this kind of atmosphere. It’s a massive coastal ‘desert’ where fishing boats lie stranded on the vast stretch of shingle, slowly rusting and weathering away. There …
Last week I went on a very exciting trip to London to go ‘Mudlarking’ on the banks of the River Thames. Beach combing, to seek out unusual ‘found objects’, is one of my favourite activities, but I’d never had the opportunity, or courage, to go foraging for finds in London before. My friend and fellow potter …
Right now I’m in the process of selecting work to show at the Contemporary Crafts Festival at Bovey Tracey in Devon which takes place next weekend. Some new pieces that are heading for the festival are all about the details and the little things. Teaspoons, thimbles, tiny bottles and surface decoration. Come and visit my stand at the show from …
I’ve just unpacked my kiln after a reduction firing. The firing contained some pieces intended for the Contemporary Craft Fair at Bovey Tracey in June; some are for a couple of galleries right now and some for a very exciting teabowl exhibition I’ll be taking part in later on in the year (more info to follow …
My spoons have been travelling. The surprising adventures of the ‘curious utensils’ has taken my spoons all the way to the USA. One of my spoons has been selected to be part of an exhibition entitled OBJECT:SPOON 2014 organised by Vipoo Srivilasa at Harvard University. The exhibition will feature 25 ceramic spoons of all different shapes and …
There’s something a bit fascinating about spoons. Their pleasing shape can be played with and distorted to create at once familiar and yet subtly altered objects. For a little while now I’ve been making a range of delicate willowy handled spoons like the ones below, in porcelain, stoneware and terracotta, and grouped together in clusters …
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