Having completed five years of training, including a year with Milton Moon at the South Australian School of Art and one with Les Blakebrough at the Tasmanian School of Art, I was particularly well-equipped for a career in ceramics.

    My first exhibition held at the Jam Factory, Adelaide in 1976 was a culmination of what had been a greatly varied student experience. However, by the time of my first Sydney exhibition, a strong landscape theme was clearly evident which has continued to evolve to the present time.

    For over thirty years I have had the good fortune to live and work in a remarkable landscape setting at Cherryville in the Adelaide Hills. My studio window looks eastward across deep timbered valleys and forested ranges that provide a dramatic backdrop to some spectacular weather events, so it is hardly surprising that the colours, moods, textures and events of the landscape should find their way into my work.

    For some seventeen years RAKU dominated my output with many adaptations and variations.  Having taught and demonstrated Raku techniques throughout Australia and widely overseas during this time, it was surprising that I rather suddenly moved in a different direction in 1996. Some residual of the Raku years stayed with me and I suppose always will, however an intense focus on landscape themes gave rise to a radically different range of techniques and processes not commonly known or used in the ceramics world.  This process is ongoing and brings with it both frustration and excitement.  I consider this essential to the nature of ceramics as an art form, even when it makes maintaining a demanding exhibition schedule very difficult.  It also keeps alive the sense of adventure that clay has always had for me. Having survived for thirty years as a full-time practitioner, I still feel a sense of excitement at the prospect of new ideas and possibilities.