It is curious to consider how one's career twists and turns often intentionally but sometimes quite accidentally Almost four years ago, purely by chance, I became associated with the Pucker Gallery in Boston, USA. Now, two solo shows on, my work can be seen in more than ten American and Canadian Museums including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Minneapolis Museum of Art and the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe. Americans have no reservations about showing their enthusiasm in an open and engaging way and I never tire of going there. Two recent developments in my work have resulted from adversity For almost two years my salt kiln turned out bad firing after bad firing. I tried everything I knew to rectify the situation until eventually after many changes to kiln, clay and slips, I discovered that the flue into the chimney was the wrong size. During this time one of the corrective measures that I took was to begin to use a stoneware glaze with my salt glazed pieces. This was the only way I could retrieve something worthwhile from the kiln. I have now adopted this working method and find that I am fascinated by the often unexpected and spectacular effects of the salt upon the surface colour and texture of glazes that otherwise would have been fired in a normal stoneware kiln.
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