I just love pottery. I love curves and love to experiment – a true experimental potter filled with wonder and exploration for all the endless possibilities yet to be discovered.
It all started in Brisbane in 2001 when I worked with a lady who ‘went to classes’ and she convinced me to give it a try. She had always raved about this older guy who was a brilliant teacher; so I went along to his commercial studio and from the first class I was hooked.
I’ll never forget, Thursday nights 6 – 9pm, was the highlight of my week and what initially started as stress relief from a busy work schedule turned into a passion for 6 fabulous years.
I didn’t realise at the time that I was being taught by a Master Potter – Trevor Torenbeek – a passionate artist who had dedicated his whole life to clay and glaze. If I was struggling, he’d have no hesitation in placing his hands on top of mine to help push, pull, and feel how the clay should be moved – 40 years of experience onto my hands, it was a brilliant learning experience. To this day I still hear all his funny little sayings – is it a jug with a handle or a handle with a jug… I made a lot of functional stoneware during that time but then started to hand-build at home with brighter colours and lower firings. I then bought my first electric kiln and a pre-loved old Venco wheel so that I could do more at home. Pure heaven.
We moved from Brisbane to Cairns in 2008 and it was then that I joined the Cairns Potters Club…. shortly after I had a motorbike accident and smashed my shoulder – no more pottery – I was totally devastated. It was hard to imagine a life without clay where I couldn’t even wedge 200g without pain. I decided to concentrate on my photography and mixed multi-media to keep the creative juices flowing and kept ’trying’ to work with clay in the hope that one day it would all be ok again. I was still able to do some wood turning on my lathe which was just like throwing a pot on the wheel, only in the other direction – but without the pain, so that helped. There is a happy ending….for the past 5 years, I’ve persevered and have eventually been able to throw on the wheel again, albeit in smaller pieces and have fallen in love with clay all over again.
I’m in the middle of converting our garage into a ’studio’ where I can do my “nutty professor” experiments – haven’t worked out where the cars will go but small price to pay for being back in clay heaven. I’ve just tried ’Nerikomi’ with coloured clay (what a challenge that is!), have made textured coloured slips, tried to make my own glazes and am about to attempt making some molds for slip casting. The only problem now is that there aren’t enough hours in the day! I’ve created a little website, still in progress where I pop up some pictures of my little creations –