Courses Background

Fran has taught ceramics to A level and continues to lead workshops for a wide range of client groups with diverse and demanding needs, largely in conjunction with her husband Rod who specialises in painting and drawing. 

Fran and Rod run regular weekly classes in pottery, print-making and painting and drawing from their Seymour Road Studios in Lady Bay, West Bridgford, Nottingham.  In addition there are some Saturday classes, as well as one-off, privately commissioned and special event courses available at varying times during the year.  

Tailor-made one-to-one tuition is available by arrangement and Fran and Rod also specialise in troubleshooting team and individual training days as well as in the provision of special arts tuition for teenage children being educated outside school.  Please email or telephone for further details.

Current Work

Fran’s work includes high fired domestic stoneware and also a range of burnished and smoked ware.  While both ranges of work are largely wheel-thrown, the domestic range also includes some pinched and slabbed pieces. 
Function has always been an important aspect of Fran’s stoneware range and she enjoys and celebrates the domestic not only in terms of functionality, but also as context and scale for all her work.  The warm earthy colours of her stoneware glazes are inspired by the action of weather on surface and by the Irish land and seascapes of her childhood.
The burnished and smoked pieces, being liberated from the constraints of functionality, celebrate form and strive towards graceful lines and restful contemplative surfaces.

Work generally available from:
Turnstone Gallery, Sandsend, Whitby, North Yorkshire
The Forge Gallery, Walberton, nr Arundel, West Sussex.

Accomodation
In addition to their arts activities, Fran and Rod also welcome bed and breakfast guests to their home – seymourroadstudios.co.uk/bed-breakfast

Further Information

Seymour Road Studios – independent arts workshop programme launched April 2009

Lady Bay Pottery - established April 1993
BTec HND Ceramics, Derby University, 90-92
City and Guilds Ceramics, S Notts College, 87-8

Fran has exhibited widely throughout the UK, including at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Islington Business Design Centre, the Commonwealth Institute, Rufford Craft Centre and Contemporary Ceramics. 
2003 – Fran was engaged by county and borough councils for design consultation in the production of large-scale street sculptures.
1996 – Publication of Fran’s book: Single Firing: the Pros and Cons for A & C Blacks Ceramics Handbooks series.
Fran’s work also appears in Doug Wensley's new Potters Manual (Crowood Press), and in Jo Connell's book, The Potters' Guide to Ceramic Surfaces (Apple Press, May 2002).
1995-2005 – Fran initiated and managed Lady Bay’s annual  Open Studios event which was described as exemplary by Arts Council East Midlands