Nic Collins is returning to the Harlequin Gallery for his third solo exhibition since 1996, making him something of a regular. However, his work has continued to develop over this period so we'll certainly expect some surprises in the show.

Since his last visit Nic has moved from his original workshop in the centre of Dartmoor to a new pottery, which isn't as yet fully operational. Therefore the work to be shown in this exhibition has been made during a three-month stint "pottery sitting" for Svend Bayer, during Svend's visit to Australia. Nic knows all about Svend's wood-fired kiln, as they regularly help each other out with firing, so that hasn't been a problem and he is very excited by the results.

For those of you not familiar with Nic Collins and this type of work it would be fair to say that Nic is inspired by medieval English pottery and wood-fired Japanese ceramics. Firing with wood gives the pots their warm "toasted" colours and careful packing of the kiln, based on the traditional Japanese anagama kilns, gives some degree of control over the product. The firing can take up to 60 hours, stoking every 15 minutes and after a 4 day cooling period the kiln is unpacked.

Also featured in the exhibition will be examples of individually fired platters and, hopefully, vases. Nic makes these by building a mould for the pot out of straw and then uses a mixture of clay and cut straw to build up the pot. A small kiln is built around this and the whole thing fired from underneath using gas burners, while the clay is still wet. Additionally, coal and charcoal are added to the kiln to develop colour. Simple really and something for you all to try at home!