After many years as a teacher Heather Morris trained as a potter in the mid 90s, taking an HND course in Studio Pottery at North Warwickshire College, Nuneaton. Since then she established her own studio.
Her major sources of inspiration include ancient pottery forms, prehistoric art and sea and shell forms. She is interested in the contrast and tension between the inner and outer surfaces of a form and how one encloses the other.
She has always been fascinated by complex painted or aged surfaces and enjoys the variation of texture and colour to be found on them. At first, she explored this in her work by using coloured slips or Raku glazes but now uses pit-firing techniques which have an exciting unpredictability. Very rich surface colours can be achieved which combine satisfyingly with the soft sheen produced by burnishing. She no longer uses glazes and all her work is finished by burnishing and polishing.
