Research underpins my practice but the choice of clay body, glaze and firing temperatures is also an integral part of what I do.  Many months of clay body and glaze experiments are done to achieve the colour, durability and surface of these latest towers.   

Photo by Dewi Tannant Lloyd

Inspiration can come from almost anywhere, from a casual event on the street to research into the depths of art history.

Most of my recent inspiration has come from visits to Europe, seeing Goya’s black paintings in the Prada, Madrid for the first time, walking the Coulée Verte René-Dumont in Paris, shopping in the Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria in Barcelona and spending thoughtful time immersed in Eisenman’s Holocaust Memorial in Berlin.

Modernist and Brutalist concrete architecture of many European cities is a constant source of inspiration as is the photographic typologies of Bernd and Hilla Becher, the food related work of Miralda and wide range of ceramics by artists such as Hans Coper, Betty Woodman, Julian Stair and Kazimir Malevich to name just a few.

Recently viewed work by the French photographers Mame Diarra Niang  and Laurent Kronental, as well as Carl Kleiner’s photography for the IKEA cookbook titled ‘Homemade is Best’ are the latest inspirational work viewed.

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Click on the images below for more information about the artist(s).

Bernd & Hilla Becher

I fell in love with Bernd and Hilla Bechers black and white documentary photographs of water towers...This was the beginning...  but continues to constantly inspire.

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Peter Eisenman

Berlin Holocaust Memorial

Francisco De Goya's Black Painting

'Two Old Men Eating Soup' 1819-1823

Carl Kleimer IKEA 'homemade is best'

Mame-Diarra Niang

I love the diversity of the material that is clay. There is such a huge range of outcomes that are possible from ceramic processes, from industrial and engineering uses,  architectural and structural, sculptural and domestic, even medicinal.

Clay has unique physical properties enabling throwing, casting, stretching, rolling, etc.,  a material that will hold any shape but has little or no value in its raw form until it is fired, becoming a permanent substance.

I thrive on the ceramic processes that are involved in developing an initial idea through to a completed artefact, reveling in all of the technical challenges that occur in the making and firing elements.

I have always enjoyed juggling with the balance between form about function and engaging in the necessary decision-making in achieving that balance, what clay body? what techniques? what processes? what glazes? what kiln temperatures? How to display?

Drawings and inspiration from my sketchbook and studio wall

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 Mixing Clay:

the clay is dried out and weighed before water and stain is added to create a thick slip.  

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Drawing and Throwing:

I sketch out my ideas before I begin making.  Clay is weighed out, and as each piece is thrown to a specific shape and size to create one individual tower, each individual piece is measured to fit precisely into the next. When all the parts are  dry enough to turn, precision measuring begins again.  More information and Images coming soon...