The Pelican in her Piety Sculpture

In my past career I have been working in the Animation Industry. Over the years I worked my way up to the position of Director, and have received several Awards for my films. I was responsible for the script development of the English Christmas Classic, “The Snowman” on which I was an Animator and Storyboard Artist. I boarded and Directed “The Bear” another Christmas Classic and also co-wrote and Directed the recent sequel to “The Snowman” - “The Snowman and The Snowdog”. I have recently embarked on creating sculpture, a love which was kindled when at Art School and which had to be set aside when I was younger and the ecomomic facts of life intervened! Awards: Peabody Award for Best Direction - United States Best Film/Direction - Annecy Film Festival Best Film/Direction - Cinnima Festival Portugal Best Film for Children - Audience Award Rio de Janeiro Best Film/Direction - Cairo Film Festival Best Direction - Cartoons on The Bay, Positano Italy. Best Direction - Kidscreen Awards Audience Award Best Children's Film- Anima Film Festival Brussels My work has also been Nominated for an Oscar and three times for the English BAFTA awards. When producing hand drawn animation one is deceiving the eye, making a two dimensional drawing appear to be three dimensional. It it a natural progression from this to produce three dimensional sculptures. I work in stoneware ceramic. All my pieces are hand-built using the traditional coil technique. They are all based on The Natural World, especially that of birds. I am inspired by primitive sculpture and also the simplicity of Inuit Art. In many of my pieces I use the technique of scrffito – drawing directly into the slip before the first firing at 1200 Degrees Centigrade. I then paint coloured glazes into the drawn line before firing the piece in the kiln for a second time.