Born in Stoke-on-Trent, I left school in 1960 at the age of 15 and went on to Art College. My aim was to gain enough experience to apply for an apprenticeship as a face painter of Doulton figurines. I was deeply enamored with the 1950s Beatnik/Bohemian Art School lifestyle and continued to study painting until a summer job at Alton Towers theme park pottery inspired me to follow in my ancestors' footsteps and become a potter.

​

By 1970, I had achieved an M.A. at the Royal College of Art. I worked as a Lecturer at York School of Art until 1975, then moved to Cardiff College of Art (now Cardiff Metropolitan University) as a lecturer, where I remained until 2003 when I decided to focus 'full-time' on my work in porcelain.

​

Some people describe my ceramics as resembling washed-up sea creatures, some still alive, others turning slowly into dust. Others perceive them as unidentified objects from a distant galaxy, unsure whether they are organic or constructed, friendly or malevolent.

​

My initial artistic journey was as a painter, learning to create classic illustrative images before transitioning to canvases that expressed emotion through abstract use of colour and texture. When I transitioned to pottery, I carried this fascination with surface qualities over to my ceramics, creating objects where form and surface are inseparably linked.

​

For over fifty years, I've been driven to make these curious forms. Most are vases, but some defy naming. Their creation has brought me joy, despair, friends, financial gain, and backache. My work has been featured in numerous international exhibitions and publications, with solo shows in London and New York. My pieces are held in over forty-five museums and public collections worldwide, including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

​

I craft all parts of my pieces on the potter's wheel, creating a thick section that I later trim and thin with sharp steel tools once the clay reaches a leather-hard state. Some pieces are textured by tapping the surface with a multi-pointed wire brush, ball-ended tools, and various sticks. The fine, characterless texture and the whiteness of the porcelain serve as an excellent, bright base that enhances the colour, much like a pure white canvas. I use an airbrush to spray the surface of the forms with colour, allowing me to build up overlapping layers of slip, glaze, and oxides.