Well it has been 18 years since I last fired my own kiln in my own workshop. What a great feeling – that is apart from the large number of pieces that just didn't make the grade. One can know a lot about the technology of glaze but if the skills of application, firing etc have been neglected then one can expect variable results. After 18 years where does one start with form and glaze - I decided the best thing to do would be to pick up from where I left off!

I first touched clay way back in 1972 and got serious in 1974 when I resigned my primary teaching job and went full-time working in North Canterbury, New Zealand with my lovely wife Judith at a small town called Cust not far from Rangiora. They were exciting and optimistic times for both Judith and I initially but twelve years later the climate had changed – import restrictions on ceramics were lifted and it become harder to survive on the craft alone.

Fortunately the School of Art at Otago Polytechnic was looking for a full-time ceramics lecturer about this time so I applied for the job and in February 1986 commenced teaching. It was a major shift leaving kiln and workshop behind in the move to Dunedin.

During the last 18 years in Dunedin my special area of research at the school has been in the field of glaze technology. Over this period I have developed the software for glaze analysis called Matrix and an interactive instructional software package called GlazeTeach that is now being used by potters and schools in many countries throughout the world.

In 2003 Otago Polytechnic initiated a major restructuring that involved redundancy for over 60 staff members including myself and it was this event that completed a turn of the wheel ... so here I am starting again as a part-time potter (still doing some teaching at the School of Art). With a large gas kiln installed and a workshop alongside Judith's painting studio we are again in the business of art and craft.

I still remember the feeling of looking forward to the next firing and this feeling is returning though I am also passionate about the growth of the distance teaching of the Diploma in Ceramic Arts. This is already showing signs of revitalizing the teaching of ceramics at a regional level in New Zealand. I hope to continue my involvement with the glaze paper in this course.

Selected Awards

Fletcher Challenge Merit Award

Otago Polytechnic Staff Research Award

QEII Funding for workshop and kiln.

Major Exhibitions
2004	Guest Exhibitor & Selector - Canterbury Potters Society Canterbury Museum - Christchurch - New Zealand
1986	N.Z. Craft Council Exhibition Canada
1985	QEII Arts COuncil Touring Exhibition
1983	N.Z. Contemporary Ceramics for Australia
1981	Solo Exhibition - Canterbury Soc. of Arts, Christchurch, N.Z
1977	Fletcher Challenge Ceramics Award

Collections
Bishop Suter Art Gallery	Nelson New Zealand
Canterbury Museum	Christchurch, New Zealand
Cinquanntairi Museum	Brussels
Dowse Art Museum	Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Govett Brewster	New Plymouth, New Zealand
Hawks Bay Art Gallery	Napier, New Zealand
Manawatu Art Gallery	Palmerston North, New Zealand
McDougal Art Gallery	Christchurch, New Zealand
National Art Gallery	Wellington, New Zealand
New Zealand Foreign Affairs Embassies
Otago Museum	Dunedin, New Zealand
Royal Scottish Museum	Edinborough

Reviews
Ceramics Monthly,	June/July/August, 1998,	"A Look At Glaze Calculation Software"
Christchurch Press,	March / April 2007,	"Tea Service: ceramics at Form Gallery - Reviewed by Barry Allom."
Pottery in Australia,	Summer 1996,	"Matrix - New Glaze Software"

Professional Activities
2004	Commenced work in my own pottery studio after an absence of 18 years.
2003-4	Glaze Workshop Tours for New Zealand Society of Potters supported by Creative New Zealand
2003	Developing an on-line distance course in Glaze Technology.
2003	Creation and management of a data driven website for the New Zealand Society of Potters