My interest in pottery developed as a child with visits to potteries during family holidays. I grew up in Inverness so the Culloden Pottery, near Inverness, and Edinbane Pottery, Skye, were the standout places in my formative years. On leaving school I became a Cartographic Planning technician and worked as a technician with the Highland Council, Angus Council and Aberdeen Uni, ultimately obtaining a PG Diploma in Urban and Regionaly Planning in 2007. I began my pottery journey through evening classes at my local Angus College, Arbroath, in 2002, when I was in my late 20's. From the outset I was determined to master throwing pots on the wheel.

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With a break from pottery between 2005 and 2012 for work related studies and having children, I returned to pottery classes, this time with Fran Marquis at Springfield Creative Arts in Arbroath. There, I developed a new understanding and appreciation for decorating and glazing ceramics as well as developing my throwing technique alongside learning about alternative firing techniques.

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After the summer of 2014, with my children now settled at school, I went to college to study for an NC in Art. After a year at college, I was keen to get back to ceramics with a new focus and determination to pursue some sort of career in it. Our garden shed was then converted into a pottery studio, initially with no electricity or running water, and I have been happily working there on my wooden Leach wheel (manually powered treadle) since 2015 with my work mostly electric kiln fired, this being located nearer the house in the garage. 

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In January 2016 I began teaching ceramics at Springfield Creative Arts in Arbroath. Teaching weekly classes there I realised how rewarding teaching was and in October 2022 opened my own teaching studio in Montrose, the Clay Half, 55 Murray Street, Montrose DD10 8JZ.

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I continue to develop my own skills all the time and am delighted to be involved in a group of Scottish potters who meet regularly to wood fire a kiln located in Angus. It is a labour intensive firing process which gives amazing results when we get it right. It's a great group and we're enjoying the skill sharing and learning process. I am enjoying learning about the wood firing process and the results over the past year have been really interesting.

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I have been a member of the Scottish Potters Association (SPA) since 2014, attending many workshops and exhibiting work with them at venues across Scotland. I was the Secretary for the Scottish Potters Association from March 2021 - November 2022.

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I am a member of the Angus Creatives, a group of artists connecting makers from all areas of creativity within the Angus area and working and exhibiting together, engaging with the public through workshops and exhibitions.

 

In December 2025 and March 2022 I was delighted to have been awarded VACMA (Visual Artist and Craft Maker Awards) funding which has enabled me to further my learning and improve my skills and knowledge of ceramics.

I am due to attend a glazing course at the Scottish Sclupture Workshop in Lumsden, Aberdeenshire in March. And in 2022 I attended a sculpture course and spend time working on my own sculptural pieces for the wood fired kiln.

 

In August 2022 the Angus Creatives had an inaugural Festival of Making and held an exhibition of work at Arbroath Library of which my sculptural Wave Tiles (bottom photo) were part, along with another tile composition and a set of 3 nesting bowls, all of which are wood fired. This special project was more experimental than my usual functional forms, with their sculptural forms and various clays and decorating techniques enabling all sorts of development of my work in a way only made possible by the funding through the VACMA project supporting local artists annually in each local authority area.

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