I consider myself very lucky to have lived my life as a maker … a creator of things.
I have been creating things for half a century. In that time I have become a ceramicist, a painter, a gardener … the ‘alchemy of making’ is a lifelong journey.
For decades I was a professional sculptural ceramicist. In later years I added painting in oils, layering colour and scratching into the surface as I do in clay. My intention for life is to stay curious. I still find out so much about the world every single time I make something. My process involves a push and pull between memories and the natural world as I play and struggle with the materials in my attempts to layer them into each other. I am still so excited by that process, and I have always felt grateful that those who buy my work seem to share in that excitement.
Andi trained as an Art teacher, but quickly found she wanted to create not teach. Ceramics was a part of that training, and from the 1990s she escaped to become a professional ceramicist.
Andi believes you should never stop learning, so she decided to put together her own ongoing professional development scheme. she chose courses that helped her work at different stages. This became particularly important once she introduced painting into her practice.
In the last 20 years I have therefore taken many short courses in drawing, painting, ceramics and art history at wonderful places including:
To this day Andi continues with her own curious curated development scheme, and finds it refreshes her practice as well as providing feedback in what can be a rather lonely profession. In addition one of the tutors from the Royal Drawing School is now her Art Mentor, and they connect once a month. This has proved to be a wonderful way of organising her goals and intentions, as well as getting constructive criticism.
