Born in Essex in 1952, I moved to Devon to Exeter University and never went back.

My BA degree is in English, and American Arts and Film. I studied for a year in Toronto for an MA in Commonwealth Literature, then moved back to Exeter to start a Phd in the American Arts Department.

A year of research gave way to a long held ambition to learn about Ceramics, and I moved to Exeter College of Art and Design for post graduate study. I was part of the Fine Art Ceramics department, one of a few ‘mature’ students learning how to make pots with a view to setting up a small Studio Pottery. I was taught by Brian Southwell and Lawson Rudge, and have both of them to thank for enabling me to achieve what I wanted to do. They were both exceptionally talented artists and ceramicists.

The first pottery was established in the late 1970’s, in Cheriton Fitzpaine, Devon. In1982 it was moved to Exeter, in the heart of the West Quarter. In 2018 the studio was moved to Newton St. Cyres, a village just outside Exeter.

I am a Founder member and Honorary Academician of the South West Academy of Fine and Applied Art (SWAc), and a long standing member of MAKE South West.

I have been exhibiting in both Independent and Craft Council Selected Galleries across the UK since 1978 and my work is owned worldwide.

Awards:
1977 British Crafts Council New Craftsmen’s Award
2003 Arts Council of Great Britain Major Award: study in stone carving and etching.

Galleries now exclusively stocking current work:
Coombe Gallery, Dartmouth www.coombegallery.com
MAKE South West, Bovey Tracey www.crafts.org.uk
Penwith Gallery, St Ives www.penwithgallery.com

Teaching:
Coombe Farm Studios www.coombefarmstudios.com

"I am a Potter. I’ve been a potter for forty seven years and it’s still interesting. I’ve won awards, I’ve had spectacular kiln failures, and still it’s interesting."

My work has been taken around the world and people return years later to tell me: “See what I have of yours” they say, and I see work made when I was a different person in a different life.

But here, I persist, making and showing and exhibiting work, and exploring new ideas with the same joy that I felt when I was a child trying to cook wet clay pulled from a river bank in my Mum’s gas oven. My pots do their job without me; they are a gift of communication from me to you.