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My practice as a ceramic artist has been defined by an exploration of surface, as well as the curved form. My work is usually unglazed and always low fired, meaning softer surfaces that appear to breathe. Full, generous bodies taper to narrow bases. Forms are grounded, rooted, held in a quiet tension between weight and poise. The openings too are deliberately small; a language of introversion, reflecting the private interior spaces we all carry.
I do not limit myself to any single technique. Instead I adapt and innovate to achieve the form and surface I am looking for, whether through throwing or hand building, smoke firing, carving or layering different clays, often leading me beyond conventional norms.
I make ceramics much as I learned to sail: partly an accumulation of study and knowledge, but also intuition and remaining open to unexpected outcomes. Relinquishing complete control is not incidental to the work - it is fundamental to it.
My work is shaped by empty places, above all the Highlands of Scotland where I lived for eight years. These places are not merely influences but presences which inhabit the work. Running through my practice is an anxiety about the present and a recurring turn towards nature, or themes of decay. My work seeks to communicate the stillness and quiet authority of the places that will outlast us and their indifference to our existence.