Amy Cooper is a ceramicist who is now based in North Devon and has a contrasting body of work. Many of you will have seen her brick sculpture (including the brick sofa in the grounds of Broomhill) and also her delicate porcelain lamps in the form of sea urchins. Amy discusses her work and career to date.

Amy grew up in idyllic Cornwall, spending much of her youth in the countryside and on the beach. After travelling and a series of menial jobs she attended Falmouth School of Art for their foundation course, with a view to furthering her painting skills. She quickly grew disillusioned with aspects of the fine art world and realised that painting wasn't the direction she wanted to take. Ceramics reared it's head as part of the course and Amy quickly became hooked on the infinite properties of clay and the myriad techniques that go with it.

After graduating from Falmouth, Amy went on to the University of Wolverhampton and studied for a B.A. in art and design (ceramics and sculpture) where she channelled her passion for clay into two main (and completely contrasting!) bodies of work - delicate porcelain lamps and large scale brick sculpture. Graduating with a first class honours degree in the summer of 2002, her career was kick-started by a hugely successful degree show and she has gone from strength to strength ever since showing regularly at craft design shows and major ceramics events, as well as supplying a host of galleries both at home and internationally. For more information, see her website at www.amycooperceramics.co.uk

If you have a talk or an evening you would like to present at a North Devon Arts meeting or if you would like to suggest a Speaker who you would like hear at a North Devon Arts meeting please contact chair@northdevonarts.co.uk.