Clay is an innately expressive medium, revealing not just the intent of the maker but their character. Di Barraclough has an intuitive relationship with clay and her work radiates an unmistakeable creative energy as well as her love of the birds, sea and landscapes - especially of Cornwall - that inspire it.

Drawn to ceramics originally by David Ballantyne at Bournemouth Art School, Di worked as a production thrower with David Leach in Devon and then Mary Rich, learning the trade from the ground up. She returned to figurative work in the 80’s, often making bespoke tile murals for private clients, by now from her own Berkshire studio, where she still works.

Di has borrowed the totem form from the North American cultures whose reverence for nature she admires. She uses it to great effect in her joyous, painterly use of coloured stains and glazes. Ignoring the early advice she was given to stick to one genre to succeed, Di remains enamoured of clay’s versatility and the scope it gives the potter: “you can slab it coil it dent it squeeze it model it throw it”... and she does.

For more info and to contact Di directly, visit her website here