Born in the UK and emigrated to Australia in 1988,where I studied at the National Art School in Sydney winning the State Medal in 1993.

I set up a workshop making tableware and handmade tiles in Sydney. In 1997 I moved to the mid-north coast of New South Wales, where I built workshop and gallery, living there until 2002, when I returned to the UK. I set up a new workshop in Lode, Cambridgeshire and have built two kilns for firing glazed and saltglazed porcelain. Another kiln is being built and I am exploring long woodfiring using a kiln near to Cambridge.

ARTISTS STATEMENT

I endeavour to make pots that are beautiful visually and physically, and that are a pleasure to use. Function is important to me because it influences the way a pot will be appreciated. I want my pots to be handled, felt and explored as well as being looked at. Often certain qualities present in the pot are quite subtle and will not be discovered easily or quickly.

I throw all my pots on the wheel, and try to encourage the energy and movement of the process and the softness and plasticity of the clay to show in the final piece. I create undulating rims and put throwing rings into the forms, which though thrown quite loosely have well controlled forms. The softness is within a certain structure. Often I distort the forms from the circular, sometimes cutting them and rejoining bases. This treatment, combined with the throwing marks, gives an added tension to the pieces.

I use porcelain for its smoothness, whiteness and translucency,its fired strength, and for the quality that it gives to the glazes. I have developed a range of clean, fresh glazes that compliment the porcelain. These are applied quite thickly to give richness and depth to the colour, and often move down the form, pooling on ridges, emphasizing the fluidity and softness of the forms.

I am exploring the interaction between form and glazes in the firing, particularly the point at which the glazes start to run off the pot. The resulting glassy rivulets, runs and drips of glaze make the pot seem like a moment in time - captured and frozen.

[Article on my work by Nigel Atkins]