My interest in ceramic art is mainly influenced by the Oriental-Japanese Tradition. After 18 years working and experimenting with clay, I find the Reduction and Raku techniques, where the ceramicist becomes but an observer, the most effective means to express myself. I create one-off pieces or small series of works with a focus on the surface and its relationship with the form. If the balance is right, the lines created on the glaze turn into a 3 dimensional landscape or story. The ceramics I make are not necessarily functional pieces; they are more like objects or containers - very primal and universal symbols in the human consciousness. In early times the first containers were created for ceremonial purposes to represent the human body; today we mainly use them for their functional properties. In my work I would like to connect and reawaken the consciousness of those primal feelings towards ceramic objects.

I was very fortunate to be invited, twice now, to Japan - first to Tokoname, in 2004, for an International Workshop of Ceramic Art (IWCAT), and more recently to Shigaraki for a two months Art Residency. Meeting face-to-face with Japanese Heritage Master Potters, working with local clay, and learning their techniques at first hand deepens my connection with the oriental tradition on many levels.

Showing my work back in Ireland after each journey is very rewarding; to see my pieces come alive among other makers' work in exhibitions like Collectors Event at the Hunt Museum, the National Craft Gallery, and Sculpture in Context at the National Botanic Garden. Twice a year I launch a new series of works at the RDS National Craft Fair and at Art in Action, in Drogheda.