I am a ceramic artist based in the Yorkshire Dales, balancing my own making with teaching and community engagement. My practice transforms traditional making with contemporary finishes.
My work is socially engaged and pushes accessibility within the arts. Leading workshops and facilitating community programmes, I use clay to build connections with people from all backgrounds. Committed to making the arts accessible, I use clay as a medium for creativity, communication, and positive social change. Meeting makers and learning from ceramicists all over the world inspires my practice. My making focuses on the audience's interaction with the finished piece.
Utalising a range of ceramic techniques I am constantly learning from the masters around me. I have thown pots in Mashiko, Japan, decorated tableware in factories in Indonesia and worked with masters of the craft, Shelly Simpson, Duncan Hooson and Simeon Featherstone. I am driven by the connections formed around clay, the community that easily grows around the wheel and how those who make are so excited to share knowledge and ideas. I am evolving my practice, allowing it to change as my context does.
My latest collection, Earth Tones, is a series that plays with ceramics and sound. Inspired by the whistle of wind through the crags and scars found on the Yorkshire moors, I have created a series of vessels that amplify the tunes played beneath them. I throw on the wheel and assemble the pieces, using large brushstrokes and a dash of lustre to finish the work. I hope to invoke wonder and curiosity in the audience. Inspired by teaching and sharing ceramic knowledge, I am constantly adapting my work through the conversations that are born around clay. My work is designed to spark conversation, ignite connections, and challenge traditional practices, encouraging audiences to see the material, and one another, in new ways.
