Artists Statement

I have been fascinated by the technique and creative potential of throwing from my initial discovery of a pottery kick wheel in the art room of my secondary school over 40 years ago. My love of throwing has never diminished and consequently all my work begins its life on the wheel.

My current interests lie in the exploration of tensions between shape, proportion and balance through a personal exploration of materials and technique. I frequently alter shapes after initial throwing is completed by combining sections or re-shaping while the clay is still malleable.

I prefer to produce work in small batches of up to a dozen or so pieces at a time with each piece evolving and altering slightly from the previous one. Surface qualities are an important aspect of my work and a variety of decorative firing techniques are employed in order to achieve a range of surfaces from the shiny and intricate patterns found in crystalline glazes, through to low temperature, smoked pit firing and stoneware temperature for pitted volcanic surfaces.

Most recently I have been experimenting with smoking crystalline glazed surfaces. Apart from the relative complexity of firing techniques required to achieve crystals and by their unreliability, which both fascinates and frustrates in equal measures, I enjoy altering what can sometimes appear a sterile surface into one which reflects ready evidence of having come into contact with smoke and heat.

Current Work

Individual thrown pieces and slab constructed layered bowls and platters. Work is produced for exhibitions and includes objects based on natural and organic forms and elements of landscape, often incorporating heavily impressed decoration.

Work available from:
The Barewall Gallery, Burslem, Stoke on Trent
The Stani Gallery, Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes

Technical Information

Stoneware glazed work is fired to 1260 deg. C in electric top loading kilns. A white stoneware body is used for most crystalline glazed pieces and also for low temperature burnished and pit fired pieces.

Industrial Crank and Raku bodies are used for the larger slabbed and layered bowls.

Crystalline glazes use Ferro and Potclay crystal fritts as a base and range in soaking temperatures between 1190 – 1045 deg. C.

A matt white dolomite glaze in conjunction with oxides is a frequent choice for ‘sculptural’ pots in combination with unsieved locally gathered wood ash.

Career Background

1951 - Born in Lauria, Southern Italy
1956 - Moved to Britain
1969 – 73 - Attended Worcester College of Education
1974 – 79 - taught for five years in secondary schools in Worcester and Solihull.
1979 - Left teaching to set up his first pottery studio and opened ‘Gallery 21’ (a pottery shop and small exhibition gallery) in Yardley, Birmingham.   
1983 - Returned to education  – became Head of Art and Design at Milton Keynes College and introduced the first full time art and design courses there.
1994  - appointed Head of School of Art and Design at Rugby College and later became Assistant Principal.
July 2006 - After a lengthy period of ‘ceramic inactivity’ of some 16 years between 1989 and 2005, returned to potting full time.

Publications and Articles

Author of:
- CREATIVE POTTERY (First published by Ebury Press, 1985)
- THE POTTERS’ PROJECT BOOK (First published by Windward Press,1987)
- THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POTTERY TECHNIQUES (First published by Burlington   Books, 1990 and now published and translated into 9 different languages)

- Article published Ceramic Review September/October 2008
- Published in www.arttoartpalette.com (March 2009 issue)
- Article published in Ceramic Review (November/December 2010 issue)
- Included in the book of 'Studio Potter's Marks'
- Work included in 'The Potter's Bible' by Marilyn Scott,  Published A&C Black 2007

Membership

A member of the Midlands Potters Association (MPA).
A member of London Potters
Included in the British Craft Council Register of Makers

Exhibitions

Group
1983   The Library. Milton Keynes
1985   The Fenny Lodge Gallery. Milton Keynes
1989   Central Gallery, Milton Keynes
2006   ‘Where I fell in love’ Gallery, Shipston-on-Stour
2006   Christmas Mixed Exhibition - The Portrait Gallery, Blakesley. Towcester    

2007   The New Studio Gallery. Rose Court. Olney. Buckinghamshire
2007  'Coast' exhibition - 'Our White Room' Gallery, Rugby
2007   Midlands Potters Association selected exhibition 'Diversity in Clay' at  Himley Hall, Dudley
2007   'Potfest in the Peaks', Bakewell, Derbyshire
2007   Potfest, Frome
2007   Stoke on Trent selected Ceramic Arts Festival
2007   'Gorgeous'  selected - Shropshire Guild of Contemporary Crafts
2008   Craft Fair. Hangar One, Aviator Hotel. Sywell Aerodrome, Northants.

2009 Weekend of Art, Little Preston. Northants.
2009 Wirksworth Arts Festival, (selected) Derbyshire.
2009 Group exhibition, The Lewis Gallery, Rugby.
2009 Hangar One, Sywell. Northampton.
2009 MPA Group Exhibition, Nuneaton Museum & Art Gallery
2009 Our White Room Christmas Exhibition, Rugby.
2010 MPA Exhibition, (selected) Nuneaton Art Gallery & Museum
2010 MPA Exhibition, The Brewhouse, Burton on Trent
2010 MPA Exhibition, UCMK Gallery, Milton Keynes
2010 S.O.C.K, (selected) Craft Exhibition, Loughborough
2010 Wrest Park Craft Festival, Bedfordshire
2010 Hangar One, Sywell. Northampton.
2010 London Potters' Open Exhibition, Morley Gallery, London
2010 Merge, (selected) Crafts, Oundle

2011 Living Heritage Craft, Sculpture & Art Fair, Chelmsford
2011 Living Heritage Craft, Sculpture & Art Fair, Sandringham
2011 Design and Craft Fair, Wrest Park, Bedfordshire
2011 Wirksworth (selected) Arts Trail - Designer's Market
2011 London Potters' Annual Exhibition, Morely Gallery, London
2011 Designer Fair (selected) South Hill Arts Centre, Berkshire
2011 MPA Exhibition, Woodbridge Gallery, Moseley, Birmingham
2011 Midland Arts Centre, Craft Market (selected), Cannon Hill Park, B'ham

2012 London Potters' Annual Exhibition, MorleyGallery, London
2012 Living Crafts Christmas Fair, Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire
2012 MPA Exhibition, The Barewall Gallery, Burslem, Stoke
2012 Living Crafts, Hatfield House
2012 MPA Exhibition, Winterbourne House Gallery, B'ham
2012 Potfest in the Pens, Cumbria
2012 Wirksworth Festival Arts Trail (selected)

Solo
1975   City of Worcester Museum and Art Gallery
1976   Compendium Gallery. Moseley, Birmingham
1977   Midlands Arts Centre. Cannon Hill, Birmingham
1977   The Daventry Library
1978   The Library Gallery. Solihull
1979   The University of Aston Gallery, Birmingham
1979   The Opening Exhibition. Gallery 21. Yardley, Birmingham
1979   The Birmingham City Art Gallery
1981   The University of Aston Gallery, Birmingham
1981   The Moot Hall Museum. Daventry
1981   The Willow Gallery, Weobley, Herefordshire
1985   Cecilia Coleman Gallery. St John’s Wood. London (Incorporating book launch for ‘Creative Pottery’)
1987   The Malt Barn Gallery, Aylesbury
2007   Daventry Library Gallery
2007   Guest exhibitor at 'Potters' , Bristol
2007    Solo exhibition 'Our White Room' Gallery, Rugby
2008    Solo exhibition 'Our White Room' Gallery, Rugby
2009 – UCMK Gallery. Central Milton Keynes
2012 Surface and Shape, Solo Exhibition, Floor One Gallery, Rugby

Collections

The Stoke on Trent City Museum and Art Gallery
Dudley Museum