ANTHONY DIX
After studying for a degree in 3D Design Ceramics in Cardiff in the 1980’s, Anthony Dix emerged as a potter, who to this day has wanted to make functional ceramics for everyday use. Distracted by a thirty-year career teaching Art and Design in secondary schools around the country, he finally settled in Warwickshire sixteen years ago. Antony managed to work as a teacher as well as develop a range of salt and soda fired work following a two-year break from teaching on an MA course back at Cardiff in 2000.
Making his own work has been a balancing act between teaching, school senior leadership and having a young family. With a workshop established in the garden and a kiln space in the adjacent garage, both Anthony and his wife Alison have been able to make their own work and exhibit together. Finally, in Sept 2019 Anthony retired from teaching to focus on the family and his art. He built a new soda/salt kiln and set about developing his work that is initially thrown, then constructed and altered to make the functional forms. Inspiration is drawn from utilitarian architecture, engineering precision and the natural world, with a particular focus on fossilised forms like ammonites and other spiral structures found in nature.
His MA focused on divine proportion and his work reflects the balance of components and forms carefully crafted for function and aesthetic. His work never stops developing. He constantly alters and experiments with surfaces in the soda kiln and with the refining of shapes and forms to challenge his own perceptions of what makes a good pot.
