I have used a wide range of techniques to achieve the works I have produced over the years.

I have often experimented with creating abstract sculptures using the plasticity of the unfired ‘green’ clay to allow piercing, modelling and manipulation of the clay to produce sculptures that, when fired, offer new possibilities and exciting shapes new to the world of ceramics. Consideration is then given to decoration, with colour, gold, or both, or to retain the stark simplicity of the original.

The skills handed down to me by my father, who is a carpenter by trade, I have frequently used in the creation of my wooden sculptures over the years. Cabinet making and marquetry skills are apparent in the creation of my chess board which I felt would be practical both in the protection of the delicate ceramic chess pieces and their platinum and gold decoration, and also be aesthetically appealing as a ‘treen’ piece in its own right.

My metal sculptures rely to a large extent on the ‘found’ object being used as the basis of new abstract forms, whether singly or in multiples, to create something that has a lasting quality beyond our throwaway age. Looking back I realise I was ‘green’ before ‘green’ was invented!

In this day and age with the use of computers and machines, a lot of the original processes involved in producing a piece of pottery have been mechanised, and as a result it has taken something away from the very heart of the piece in question. All of the hard work and attentiveness of human hands to bring this piece to life has been lost, almost as if the heart of the artwork has been removed!! It is for this reason that John's hobby of making fine bone china pieces by hand should be treasured. He has been doing this now for a number of years and to that end has now got hundreds of examples, some of which are located in our galleries.