Council & Team
The CPA Governing Council
The CPA is governed by a Council made up of elected members from across the Association, alongside Associate member representatives. Together, they bring a range of experience and perspectives to guide the organisation’s work.
Council is responsible for the overall direction, governance and long-term stewardship of the CPA, supporting its role as a leading voice for contemporary ceramics.
Irena Sibrijns
Chair
Irena Sibrijns has been a potter for over thirty years. Inspired by an avid interest in 20th century English decorative arts tradition, Irena creates exquisite, and entirely unique, ornamental and functional pieces with equal enthusiasm.
First trained in Wiltshire, Irena moved to work in the South of France before returning to the UK in 2001 to establish her workshop in Suffolk, where she still lives and works today. Often inspired by locations, including the Suffolk coast, Irena references Charleston House and Farleys House and Gallery as places that have had a great impact on her work.
Billy Adams
Council Member
Billy was born in Northern Ireland, studied Ceramics in both Belfast and Cardiff, but is now living and making in West Wales.
He has exhibited nationally and internationally, and was a lecturer in ceramics for over 30 years. He is currently a Director for the International Ceramic Festival and the Chair of King Street Gallery. He has been a Fellow of the CPA for almost 40 years.
His work is influenced by how we see / view the landscape, and the perceptions this experience provokes. He works within a vessel format, exploring the texture and colour that enhances the wild, rugged beauty and dramatic land and seascapes that surround us. His aim to prompt the viewer to question the relationship we have with the landscape.
Jo Davies
Council Member
Jo specialises in wheel-thrown porcelain, hand-making her collection from her studio in Herefordshire. Her individual approach to wheel-thrown ceramics, where high-fired porcelain often appears paradoxically to be fresh off the wheel, balances softness with rigidity, smoothness with weight and tactility.
As a Royal College of Art MA graduate, she exhibits internationally and has worked with, amongst others, the National Portrait Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the Hepworth Wakefield, Somerset House, Heals and the National Trust. Her practice has been supported by the Crafts Council and Arts Council England.
She has also worked as a named-designer for companies like Mulberry and Union Coffee to design and make limited-edition ranges.
Rachel Wood
Council Member
Rachel Wood is a ceramic artist based in Nottinghamshire whose handbuilt works are shaped through touch, time, and material intuition. Her surfaces, built with bespoke slips and glazes, reveal the visible traces of their making which embrace imperfection as a record of process and presence. Rooted in the landscapes of Derbyshire and the wild untethered textures of the Australian bush, her forms do not describe place directly, but distil its atmosphere, weight, and rhythm.
Rachel achieved a BA in 3D Design (Ceramics) from Loughborough College of Art & Design, alongside earlier studies in Modern Languages, which contributed an international perspective to her practice. Her work has received international recognition, including the Neue Keramik Award (2016) and the Diessen Ceramic Prize (2017), and has been supported by residencies in Denmark, UK, Italy and Australia. She is also a selected member of the International Academy of Ceramics. Alongside her studio practice, she is an active educator, teaching across Europe and Australia. Her work is held in public collections internationally, reflecting her established position within contemporary ceramics.
Jemma Gowland
Council Member
Jemma first trained for a BSc in Engineering Product Design, and worked in the fields of industrial design, production, and architectural model making before becoming a teacher of Design and Technology. With experience in making using a very broad range of materials, for a wide range of purposes, ceramics has become the abiding interest with it’s unique versatility and surface possibilities, the technical challenges and opportunities seem endless. She has taken part in many ceramic events and fairs, as well as her work featuring in Art fairs and exhibitions.
Jemma is also involved with both Kent Potters and London Potters associations, and has a strong interest in the wider community of ceramic makers.
Sue Mundy
Council Member
With four decades of experience in making and teaching ceramics, Sue’s
practice has constantly evolved.
Working with clay allows Sue a secondary voice, a line of communication
through form. Her work explores the fragility and hidden strength found
within the natural world.
Sue is a graduate of North Staffordshire Polytechnic and has enjoyed
exhibiting and selling her work through galleries and specialist ceramics
events ever since.
She now works from her studio just outside reading.
Carol Sinclair
Council Member
Carol Sinclair is an exhibiting ceramic artist known for her sculptural vessels and limited edition porcelain collections, decorated with her signature inlay technique. A graduate of Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen, she has been developing her practice for over 35 years. Now living in rural Angus, she is inspired by her surroundings and committed to working sustainably. Carol is also a freelance business adviser and project manager, designing and delivering development programmes for creative individuals and organisations across the UK and internationally.
Louisa Taylor
Council Member
Louisa Taylor holds a Master’s degree from the Royal College of Art, London. She is known for her contemporary porcelain vessels and distinctive approach to glaze pairings. Her work is held in both private and public collections across the UK, and she has received numerous design awards and accolades.
Alongside her studio practice, Louisa lectures in ceramics on the BA (Hons) 3D Design and Craft course at the University of Brighton. She is the author of four books: The Ceramics Bible, Ceramics Masterclass, Glazes for the Contemporary Maker, and Glaze Inspirations. She is based in Brighton, UK.
Craft Potters Association Management Team
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