Clay has determined Hannah's life path for almost twenty-five years. An obsession that began, when she discovered the material’s seductive properties as a student, implanted a passion for clay, which from that moment has never waned.
It was clay that took her to South West Scotland, where she still lives, to undertake an apprenticeship at the beginning of this century and it is clay that has created the opportunities for her to travel the world with her work ever since.
The essential elements of her work come from her love of pots with a purpose, pots for use in the home, and while preserving functionality is of paramount importance to her, she explores her own distinctive approach to decoration. A jug might suggest it be a vessel for holding liquid, but may also be brought in to the home, simply because it is a thing of beauty.
Hannah draws influence from the ancient British folk heritage of country pottery, whose makers demonstrated extraordinary, intuitive skill, a high benchmark to which she aspires. Tradition develops and moves forward and her work references classical form, however it embraces contemporary style, ensuring that it is not simply a pastiche, but very much ‘of our time’.
Throughout her eighteen-year career she has honed the finest of traditional craft skills, experience and practice allowing her to draw freehand, accurately composed designs in slip, that fit comfortably on well considered and balanced forms.
Hannah's work has been particularly well received in the United States, where she has been invited to deliver workshops and lectures, as well as exhibit at several prestigious venues. Japan too is a prolific marketplace and her work is represented in the Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art.