ELECTED IN 2023
I've loved and made ceramics from an early age. In fact I grew up watching my mother make pottery figures and sculptures.
I gained my first degree in illustration and graphic design, but ceramics was my first love, so after many years in the arts industry, I went back to university in 2000-2003 to do my MA at Wolverhampton. Since then I have had exhibitions in Theatre Clwyd, Aberystwyth International Ceramics Festival, North Wales Potters exhibitions, and individual exhibitions at Ffin-y-Parc.
Taking influences from stories, myths and legends, plays, poetry, overheard conversations in a pub…. I listen, I observe, and I always have a sketch book with me.
Animals appearing in my work are ones I see everyday - dogs, cats, horses, hares, rabbits, owls, chickens, pigs, foxes, goats and cows all make appearances - perhaps a reflection of my childhood.
Images and metaphors are mixed up, hidden, explored, dissected, twisted, subjugated, and obscured. Figures are made fun of, posed as fools and idiots, lost, lonely, daft and playful, sometimes in compromising positions. Humour and word play is an important part of my work.
I focus often on a single figure bearing witness. Some are resigned, some angry, and some seem to be waiting, watching the sunset and listening for a whisper on the evening breeze. But they all stand before us honestly.
I strive to turn the dull, mute clay into something which catches the light, and illuminates the human condition, allowing contemplation of the marks and scars that life inflicts. Through all the unpredictability and randomness of the firing process, its accidents, failures, and disappointments, most survive and emerge perfectly flawed, unique and beautiful.
What better expression could there be of the nature of hope?
