2026 Taking part in Potfest in the Pens Penrith – Spring and Potfest in the City – Glasgow

I graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1987, and from 1988-1993 I was a member of The Dalhousie Lane Potters’ Studios, Glasgow, before moving to Dumfries in 1994. I am currently based in the Kilncraft Studios at Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries.

I have been a practicing ceramic artist for over thirty years and have always tried to maintain a playful approach to clay, allowing the material to be evident through torn edges, cracks, texture and surface, enjoying the random, organic quality this brings. I greatly admire potters such as Voulkos, Pearson, Maltby and Peascod (who I was privileged to be taught by) for their affinity with their medium and the real integrity their work has.

My work must have similar integrity at its core and the material itself must be clearly manifest in the finished pieces. I enjoy “the potness of the pot”; something to be handled and appreciated in a tactile sense, not just through an aesthetic eye. I remain fascinated by the same themes, the interplay between positive and negative space, the layering and distressing of surface, the unpredictable and the accidental. These are constants in my work.

Andrew Adair