I grew up in Northumberland. It seems to me that I was shaped by its weathered places: hills, seas or rivers. This became a need to express, in sculptural form, those feelings of being at one with the eroding landscape and its history.

My ceramic vessels are built from coils of clay. The surface patterns arise from smoking the already burnished and fired pots in fires of locally collected seaweed, sawdust or seedpods.

Some are fired in wood, with oxides sprinkled amongst them. As the wood burns, the oxides react with the heat of the flames, leaving explosions of pink, red, orange and grey on the surface of the pots.

Having controlled the shape, I love the unpredictability of the emerging markings. The bare, unglazed vessels seem ancient and invite touch. Like the landscape of my childhood, their journey of formation is a process of erosion.

All images are also available as prints.