What does an African Man, Gypsy Woman and a Russian Peasant in a red hat and coat, have in common with a Mandarin with a white goatee? Well they're all around the same height (about 40cm) and wear richly glazed and colourful garments.

Poulton's hand-built figures are more about form and surface then representation. The faces are small, dark and minimal as the head is not the focus, the torso is. The figures are elongated and sheathed in flowing robes, their proportions manipulated to give the form a liquid line and increase the surface area of the work. This allows the artist an interesting shape to host her spectacular glazes.

One has to look around each work to see how every shift of light changes the colour on the surface. So the Stylish Lady wears a gown of iridescent blues and greens with copper tones that shift and change intensity with each step we take. She appears to be dressed in silk or satin, certainly not clay. And we do appreciate the 'couple' Princess & Priest where the cleric bows before the upright noble. They compliment each other in pose and surface treatment. The rich high gloss of the high born's elaborate garb is off-set by the matt finish of the servant's cloak to denote their respective stations. But if she is the princess born, we know by the rich glaze accents on his garment, that he is a high priest.

Poulton's mini temples are quite mysterious. We're not sure if they are from the past of our world or some other place and time. Temple Tower involves a weather-worn rectangular pillar supporting an ancient looking reliquary. The rough, peeling face of the 'ageing' ochre pillar intrigues, so too the blues and mauves rubbed into surface of the reliquary. We assume it holds a precious relic as it wears a trim of iridescent glazes to give it a look of importance. And one has to appreciate the sense of ancient mysteries contained in the simple Temple, with its gloss glazed ball perched atop a matt finished obelisk rising from a low-tech platform.

There are small helmets mounted on limestone stands and masks hung on the wall that evoke fantasy, fun and expertise with the raku technique. Somehow we get the feeling from these works that when Poulton removes them from the kiln she's just as surprised and delighted by the results as is the viewer.