Exactly halfway between Bath and Bristol lies the ancient South Gloucestershire village of Bitton, where the Romans forded the River Boyd and Jane Seymour's brother lived. And all around there are artists; some painters, some photographers - and a sculptor or two might well be lurking.

This page displays the work of one of these artists. It was diplayed until the end of December 2006, when the work of another was similarly featured. The previous artist was Kate Ward.

Jane Bisby

I have dug up earths, clays and ochres in my local countryside and also on holidays in Europe and Africa. These materials are used to make pots, jewellery and paintings.

My hand built pots are fired at home, either bonfire-fired or wood-fired in my crossdraught kiln built of bricks. Firing the pots is the most satisfying and enjoyable part of the pots' creation. In order to keep the shiny burnished surface on the pots they have to be fired at quite low temperatures. This has led me to use a bonfire method that I learnt from a demonstration by some women from Benin, using a special heat-shock-resistant clay. The whole firing process only takes half-an-hour, from lighting the fire to removing the finished ceramic pot.

Other pots have been fired in my wood-fired crossdraught kiln. This I built as an up-draught originally, but I have altered and adapted it over the years. It takes me 6 to 8 hours to get up to temperatures above 1,000°C.

The 'Toast' art started when I was doing my foundation art course at Filton College in Bristol. It grew, from Christmas cards made of designs burnt onto toast, to a mosaic of Bob Dylan in profile made of toast tiles.

After enjoying a holiday looking at rock art in Namibia, toast seemed the perfect medium to reproduce some of the rock paintings I had seen. My toast art then moved on to Spanish tile designs and various sculptures.

Recently, I have become fascinated with the wild orchids that grow near my home. I have been making large drawings, ceramic sculptures and paintings of them. Some orchids are small and insignificant - I am trying to bring them to people's notice by dramatically increasing their size. The paintings are done in the many different earth colours I have collected. The most surprising is the strong red and maroon ochres, which I also use on my pots; it is dug up near Wick at the disused ochre works beside the River Boyd.