CENTRE FOR MODERN & CONTEMPORARY
STUDIO CERAMICS AND ORIGINAL ARTWORK

Richard is an established professional potter whose work has been exhibited throughout the UK and can be found in collections internationally. He is a Fellow of the Craft Potters Association, and is on the Crafts Council of Great Britain's Index of Selected Makers.

His latest work primarily focuses on honey and clear glazed finishes. This work demonstrates the evolution of his own personal style by his emphasis on creating more depth and texture to surfaces combined with his traditional ‘slip-trailing’ and ‘sgrafitto’ techniques. He brushed as opposed to dipping base colours on the terra cotta, building up layers of thin slip washes. Using paper resist and sponge-printed motifs, the decoration became geometric and analytical, the forms concave and stylized.

Richard spent two years working as a volunteer on a crafts project in the Papua New Guinea highlands from 1985 to 1987. This had an overwhelming impact on Richard, both emotionally and politically. This led to a radical reappraisal of his work as a craftsman, and marked a return to classical vessel forms. A looser decorative style was accompanied by a sombre palette, and a matt clear glaze.
In the mid nineties saw a move back to the essential spontaneity and warmth of domestic earthenware pottery. Slip brushwork became less formal, and Richard returned to the use of glossy glazes.