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There is a sign in my studio: "Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want"

This pretty well sums things up. I don't really have a CV as such because I've always been too busy making pots to put one together. A few awards came my way, which was very nice.

In 1977 when my children were in their early teens, I took basic throwing lessons almost on a whim, and fell hard for clay. After about three years of "experience" and hard work I began making a living at pottery. The next 15 years or so were a blur of production....... Now that I'm older life's a bit more leisurely and there's time for creativity in other fields (like making this website).

I've been fortunate to have been able to attend many workshops and seminars given by prominent potters from all over the world--Robin Hopper from Victoria of course, Harlan House from Ontario, John Leach and Walter Keeler from Britain, among many others. Traveling in Crete, Morocco, Myanmar and Sicily on pottery tours with Discovery Art Travel (which has a focus on pottery) was tremendously interesting; we visited many potteries ranging from remote places where one or two potters produced wood fired work using local clay to more modern potteries using electric kilns and employing many people.

Meanwhile, as a hedge against getting too old to make pots (which hasn't happened yet) I had some wonderful lessons from Victor Arcega, a well-known teacher of expressive drawing and painting. You can look at some of my paintings here.

This pot was fired in a container called a saggar, with weeds, grass and other materials to make interesting marks. Saggar fired pots are decorative art pieces and not meant to hold liquids.

I love copper red glazes and have developed one that I really like. It runs badly; you can see it has almost run of the pot at the bottom, so I have to be careful not to have it too thick on the lower third. But I feel that although it's somewhat problematic, it's worth it! Here is more about copper red glazes.

I've lived on Vancouver Island almost all my life, in logging camps and cities and small towns. Huge cedar trees and Douglas firs, sadly now more and more falling victim to logging, have always been an overwhelming presence. These big vases and jars (up to 36" high) are meant to evoke the feeling of the west coast landscape in Fall, with its mountains and ravines, trees and underbrush. The celadon glaze is the colour of the air: wet, dim and gray-green.

Since 2011 I've been conducting classes in handbuilding
at Clements Centre in Duncan. They are fun for everyone and it's exciting (for the staff as well) when I bring the fired pieces in. This is some of the pottery made by the students.

This photo is from a workshop I gave at my studio for a group of Uruguayan students. That's my gas kiln in the background. I can just be seen at my wheel in the bottom left corner behind the lady in blue.

This is the outdoor gallery at the entrance to my studio. The planters, birdbaths, sundials and garden tables can remain outdoors all year in moderate climates. Fountains and vases should be emptied and stored under cover in freezing weather.

These are some of a series of large salt-glazed figures I made a few years ago. They now look down upon pottery visitors from my deck.

Freshly thrown pots