Who am I?

What am I?

What on earth am I doing?

 

I am a martial artist, potter and teacher.

 

I gained a BA (Hons) Combined Degree in Modern History and Politics from Reading University in 1975.  After working as the Chief Executive of a National Governing Body of sport for 15 years, and a period of self-employment, I re-qualified as a teacher of Secondary History with the Open University, obtaining my PGCE in 1997.

Concurrent to my jobs as a Sports executive and schoolteacher I worked as a self-employed sports coach and ran my own ceramics studio in London.

 

Formally a member of Greenwich Open Studios and Kent and London Potters I specialised in making ceramic pieces that were inspired by organic forms found in the natural world, also by classical pottery shapes such as amphorae. My particular interest is in the lovely tactile qualities of clay and its materiality.  As part of the process of doing an MA in Ceramics at UCLAN (University of Central Lancashire), my focus has altered to consider the ways in which the materiality of clay can be used to explore notions of energy and the fundamental essence of human forms.     My work has moved towards figurative and personal themes.  I mainly hand build, using  coiling and slabbing  techniques.     The progress of my work has become much more personally orientated – which will continue to be a focus during the next phase of reflective practice.

 

I have been doing karate and more lately tai chi and chi qong for over 50 years.   I'm very good at the former and very much a student of the latter.  Along with the immersion in oriental martial arts goes a fascination in oriental art and philosophy.   In so far as I would label myself, I consider myself a follower of the Taoist approach to Life, the Universe and Everything.    In the martial arts the object is to achieve Mushin/WuWei (no mind) through finding and harnessing Tandien/Hara (centre) and ying/yang (positive/negative)   The aim is to begin to see ‘virtue’(Te)  and to see the energy inherent in the void and empty spaces.

The principles inherent in WuWei/no-mind apply to all physical and mental endeavour – and they cannot exist without first acquiring skill.   

The martial artist must learn how to fight to be able to fight intuitively – the potter must learn and strive to perfect the skills used in ceramics to be able to make intuitively and to seek for virtue in her work.

Alongside and complementary to this personal journey is a deeply held belief that human beings – indeed all life forms – are ultimately neither more nor less than tubes.

People are imperfect vessels – energy is absorbed and dispersed in our tube-like forms.

BUT this process of absorption and dispersal is in itself wonderful, and is made more complex by the way the tubes interact with each other to create wholly different flows of energy : at times negative, at times positive, and always fascinating. *

 

As far as a new contribution to previous work in the field is concerned – there are perhaps few Occidental ceramicists exploring specifically the theory of WuWei and Te and their link to Western concepts of Void, Emptiness and – possibly – modern pre-occupations about ‘mindfulness’.

 

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”
― douglas adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

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* paraphrase of Alan Watts - The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are