Dale Bowen is a master artisan, with a Masters Degree in Ceramics, currently employed by Wedgwood in the Jasper Prestige Department where everything made by artisans for Wedgwood is unique and only for serious collectors. The work presented through Arts to Life is his own work outside of Wedgwood, and likewise for those who recognize that these are the antiques of tomorrow.

Dale was born in Staffordshire, England in 1963 and grew up surrounded by the steamy heady atmosphere of the pottery industries. Dale initially was drawn to painting, and indeed still loves to paint, but peer pressure drew him into Wedgwood and once there he discovered he had a unique talent for working with clay and for throwing pots. Not satisfied with defining himself in one medium he searched for a means of combing his skills as a painter with his skills as a potter. Over the years he visited various ceramic collections notably in the Victoria and Albert Museum and also in the museum collections of Royal Doulton, Coalport and Minton.

It was at Minton that he came across what he describes as the Holy Grail of techniques - 'pate-sur-pate' or liquid porcelain on porcelain (see technique). This technique was to completely change his work, and indeed led to his reviving what until then had been a lost technique to the ceramic world. Dale created relief work on his vessels with delicate figures, underwater worlds, or with scenes drawn from nature, all with a glass like effect on clay. In doing this Dale exploded the boundaries of contemporary ceramic making. He continues to push the medium beyond any boundary that has been achieved for almost a hundred years and he remains the only potter able to execute pate-sur-pate and able to take an ancient form and translate it into a modern idiom.

His commissioned pieces for Wedgwood have included a huge three foot vase for the Naval museum at Portsmouth-to commemorate the Trafalgar Two Hundred Celebrations, and a Commemorative Plaque presented to the Queen at the same event. His own work is more adventurous and pieces have found there way into many private collections in America, Japan, the Stoke on Trent City Museum, and the Wedgwood Museum. His work continues to evolve and he continues to experiment.

What is so remarkable about this potter is that his skill and knowledge of his material keeps him in control of his medium while he pushes it beyond its limits to new frontiers. It will be interesting to watch how his work keeps changing and what new directions he takes as he now looks beyond Stoke-on-Trent to a new public and a new challenge.