NANCY PICKARD studied Ceramics at Cardiff University, where John Maltby was an influential visiting lecturer in the 1980s. A multi-disciplinary artist, she makes paintings and sculpture as well as the jewellery which incorporates ceramic, silver, enamelling and semi-precious stones.  Motifs within her work hark back to the symbols and runes of far distant times, as well as being peppered with references to fossils, crosses, plants and animals.  What entices her most is the magical transformation of materials and colour when subjected to heat and flame.