The work lies within the tradition of maiolica and celebrates this rich historical medium through the diverse influences ranging from the sophistication of Italian Istoriato dishes through to the simplicity of humble folk wares. I strive for a poetic mastery through pictorial representation with a freshness of palette that belies the difficulty of the process. Once dipped in glaze, the functional objects: dishes, vases, become like primed canvasses awaiting a subject, a fusion of the observed and imagined. The portrait dishes are softly coiled, their painted images built up of composite features observed from friends and characters in films and magazines, garlanded within floral motifs. The cat vases too are portraits whose gentle humour is offset by the suggestive poise of their condensed forms, camouflaged within the painted surface. Influenced by characters from painting and literature the modelled animals and figures take on a more animated nature.
Price range: £25 - £400
2008 Piers Feetham Gallery, London
2008 - 2002 Ceramics in the City, Geffrye Museum, London
2008 Lewis Gallery, Rugby
2006 Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno
2005 Ceramic Art London, RCA, London
2005 Blooming Broadway, Broadway Ceramics, London
2004/03/02 Ceramics in the City, Geffrye Museum, London
2004 Two x Two, Broadway Ceramics, London
2001 The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
2000 The Scottish gallery. Edinburgh, UK
2000 The Oxford Gallery, Oxon, UK
Regular private commissions for commemorative ware.
Private commission for collection of door handles.
2005: Extravaganza, Ceramic Review, March/April, issue 212
1999: The New Maiolica, Mathias Ostermann, publ.A&C Black
1993: Tin Glazed Earthenware, Daphne Carnegie, publ. A&C Black
1983: The Potters Manual, Kenneth Clark, publ. MacDonald
Piers Feetham Gallery, 475 Fulham Road London SW6 1HL
020 7381 3031