Artist Profile

Tour Status:
Both indoor and outdoor set-up. Face masks are optional in the showroom. I will have some available for those who prefer to wear them but don't have one.

Check out the video (by clicking on the link below) which shows my wood kiln in action and gives a bit of background about the kiln and my work in the studio.  The video was created by former OCAG member Eli Melet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SOk335ATTs

FOIGHIDINN and BUIDHEACHAS - The Scots Gaelic words for “patience” and "gratitude" respectively, reflect my life's journey with its origins in Canada, then Scotland, and eventually the eastern US before finally settling in Hillsborough where I currently have my home studio.

I attended the public school system in Elizabeth, NJ before earning a masters degree in architecture from Clemson University. I have made the transition from decades of practicing architecture to the making of pottery. Along the way, I have been privileged to associate with and learn from many accomplished potters and to have been welcomed as an active member of artist groups along the way.

Experimenting with form, texture and color is one of the most pleasurable aspects of working with clay. I use stoneware clay bodies, mix my own glazes from raw ingredients and implement a number of glaze application methods to include dipping, pouring and spraying.

Creating texture by imprinting and incising the clay with tools and stamps or cutting the surface with wires or stretched springs is often part of a day's work in the studio. The effect these surface treatments have on the applied glazes offers both visual and textural satisfaction.

Many of my wares are fired within the relatively controlled environment of a gas fueled kiln, however, I prefer the wild-and-wooly process and serendipitous results achievable only through the ancient practice of wood firing. It's the love of the "process" that has drawn me to that medium and I have designed and constructed three wood fired kilns, the latest sits outside my home studio.

Supporting my community by donating work to non-profit causes such as the "Empty Bowls" is important to me. I cherish the growing fellowship with my brothers and sisters in the fire and clay community and have come to acknowledge "FOIGHIDINN" and "BUIDHEACHAS" as integral parts of my wood fire experience.

One of my wood-fired teabowls was recently juried into the Kansas City Clay Guild's 2022 Teabowl National exhibition.