This series is called “of the earth” inspired by the great French ceramicist Jean-Nicolas Gerard. The writer Sebastian Blackie describes the man and work; “his forms are robust and energetic and have the simple but profound beauty and spontaneity that shines out from those who are alive and happy”.

His pots, plates, cups and bowls are made and decorated with a bold and eccentric playfulness that gives joy. Made of clay his work is literally “of the earth”. The light and colour of his local Provençal landscape, a great source of inspiration for Van Gogh, is also embedded in every piece.

Used daily as inspirational vessels for food and drink his work has that grounded, every-day spiritual quality that reminds us what to value, enjoy and how to live. 

The paintings in my series “of the earth” are likewise intended to give that same daily pleasure and reminder…

“Into the tiny chapel at Vence, Matisse poured an encyclopaedia of global art. What sustained Matisse was his conviction that people shared the same universal message. What the Matisse chapel delivers is the instinctive sense that redemption and the pleasure of the senses belong together; the idea that you got salvation from happiness. He thought ultimately that’s what art had to deliver and what we need now.”