Sunday 3rd and Bank Holiday Monday 4th May 2026
On a personal journey to explore the potential of textiles and ceramics combined,to form their own artistic language.
Both my birthplace near Manchester and home near Wirksworth are areas rich in textile heritage. The proximity of Stoke-Upon –Trent, an area shaped by the pottery industry also seems somehow appropriate to my choice of media; Ceramics and Textiles.
In my former life as a Head of secondary Art & Design, I encouraged students to combine techniques and processes in original ways. I apply the same experimental approach to my own practice now.
Each new piece takes a minimum of six weeks to produce. Most is textile in origin; originating as a ‘collage’ of old clothes, wallpaper samples, hand prints and hand cut paper before I even open the bag of clay! It’s a very labour-intensive process, involving three firings including a digital transfer. The outcome is quite unique. The small blemishes and imperfections on the final ceramic tiles are due to the handmade quality of the tiles.
Recently my focus has turned from the outside world to a more introspective subject matter. Abstract pieces reinvent the scribbled wire trees of earlier work on a much larger scale to represent an internal landscape of endless possibilities.
