Did you know that AMCAW is managed and run by a large team of volunteers? All metal clay artists, they share their professional skills and energy to help AMCAW create and bring you more programs, tutorials, and fun. We thought you’d enjoy meeting some of these fabulous volunteers – and perhaps become a volunteer yourself!
Fiona first started working with metal clay about 20 years ago after taking a few metal clay courses. She loved the potential of the material, but as a full-time mom and teacher, didn’t have much time to experiment with it. After a time, she left her teaching job to pursue writing from home, and finding that she had more time on her hands, she took up creating with silver clay again. She attended as many classes as she could and eventually started up a small jewellery business.
She also took classes in glass fusing, polymer clay and silversmithing. Years of painting and drawing have also informed Fiona’s work. She gleans many tips from other disciplines and loves where metal clay intersects with mixed media.
Fiona completed her level 1 and 2 Art Clay Silver training with Julia Rai in 2016, and earned an Art Clay Silver Higher Diploma in 2017. Her work was featured in the AMCAW Calendar of Exceptional Work in Metal Clay in 2020 and 2021. She teaches jewelry courses and enjoys running her jewellry business, loving the creativity and variety of the work she does.
At the moment, Fiona is busy restocking the galleries she is in. She recently recorded her first Craftcast class combining ceramics, Art Clay overlay paste, and Art Clay paper clay.
The You Can Make It conferences in the UK were probably Fiona’s favorite education venue, as they offered a huge variety of talks, workshops and master classes. She has also taken face-to-face classes with metal clay masters including Julia Rai, Tracey Spurgin, Joy Funnell and Wanaree Taylor, and has taken online courses with Holly Gage.
Fiona joined AMCAW in 2019, and has written tutorials as a member. In 2023, Julia Rai asked for her to assist a team to organise SINTER 24 in the UK. She especially enjoys being on the working group that evaluates the workshop and presentation applications. Fiona is really looking forward to SINTER 24, especially seeing old friends, making new ones, and learning something new about clay.
Fiona is a metal clay designer-maker and Art Clay senior instructor. She particularly enjoys working in silver, bronze and 24k keum boo gold. Fiona is drawn to making elements from paper clay to create texture and pattern and loves to doodle! Eastern and tribal jewellery influence her work and she gets the most creative pleasure from experimenting with new techniques and materials.
Fiona’s “claim to fame” is appearing as an infant in the movie Sunday Bloody Sunday, starring Peter Finch and Glenda Jackson, when they were filming at the maternity hospital when she was born.
She loves the wild coastlines of Cornwall and Pembrokeshire and loves to be around trees and historic buildings. Fiona lives with her family and two black cats in Salisbury in the south of England.
Would you like to join one of our volunteer teams? If you’re interested in volunteering, please contact us at hello@amcaw.org.
