In the studio

摘要

What drew you to ceramics? The medieval pots in Winchester Museum, especially the tall jugs, spied when I was seventeen. I was interested in Anglo-Saxon history. Where did you learn? I did a sculpture BA course in Portsmouth in 1971, but got disillusioned with it. I vaguely knew the ceramic technician there, so thought I'd try that instead. I visited Alan Caiger-Smith's pottery at Aldermaston while they were firing their big wood kiln and something just clicked. I started to relate to pots in museums and thought I could be making them, if I became good enough on the wheel. I worked at different potteries, then set up my own in Lincolnshire. There was no electricity, so I built a momentum wheel. Then I set up a workshop on Anglesey, and a pottery at Coniston, before I came to Devon.