John started potting in the late 1970’s and is self taught developing his pottery skills by attending many workshops with talented tutors such as Merv Feeney, Ian Currie, Ian McKay, Gwyn Hanssen Piggot, and many more. His pottery interests are with the making of wood fired tablewares that are produced entirely from local materials.

John and his wife Lois live on a small acreage near Warwick in South Eastern Queensland.

“I enjoy using handmade pots. You shuffle through the mugs in the cupboard to find the one that somehow makes your morning coffee nicier, or the bowl that makes your breakfast cereal taste better, these are the good pots, with the qualities you strive to achieve.

My pots are thrown on kickwheels, glazed using a single firing process whereby the glaze is applied at leatherhard. The glazes are entirely from rock dusts, plant ashes, and clays collected locally. Pots are then fired for 18 to 20 hours in a 100 cu ft woodfired kiln to 1300 centigrade. I am also making some of the throwing clays I use from local materials.

I want my pots to be an expression of these handmaking processes and the local materials that I use.”