Maria's initial training and work was in graphic design specialising in information design and working for both Social Services and the Museum Service developing teaching materials. This was during a period when the industry was changing from using drawing-boards to computer screens. As graphic work became more computer-based, she realized she missed using her hands and creating physical objects. With the encouragement of an enlightened studio manager, she revisited ceramics which had been part of her Art A level syllabus. Starting with part time courses, lots of reading, and experiments in her garden shed, she eventually took an MA in Ceramic Design at Bath Spa University. Since graduating, Maria has received the Crafts Council Development Award, is a member of the Crafts Council Directory and a Professional Member of the Craft Potters Association. She exhibits both nationally and internationally with her work featured in many collections, she now works from her studio in Frome, Somerset.
Inspired by mid-century design and the minimal aesthetics of artists such as Carl Andre, Donald Judd and Richard Serra, Maria makes both 2D and 3D pieces. Three dimensionally the work is based on the vessel - using line, colour and form to explore themes which are based on observations of the human condition - connections and relationships, boundaries and divisions, sameness and difference.
Her work as a graphic designer is a major influence - the qualities of material, techniques and even some tools have come with her into working in clay. The precision she learned when creating artwork on a drawing board combined with the organic nature of clay is the basis of the way she works in clay today. An important part of her process involves painstakingly scraping and sanding the work at various stages, aiming to create the clean lines and balanced forms of her pieces. Line has always been a fascination, from a small child watching her father, a structural engineer, draw perfect black lines on his technical drawings, to her own as a graphic designer producing artwork for print. Now she attempts to create equally perfect lines in 3 dimensions around a form. They are seen as the boundaries, containing and coming between, defining the form and the spaces both inside and out.
