Once home to several thousand chickens, the sheds became a place of retreat, space for Bob to experiment, throw, glaze and fire countless ceramic pieces.
'If it wasn't of a high enough standard, he would smash it there and then' - Maurice Barrett would later recall.
As well as a place of work, it also afforded Bob space to organize and sequence his work, to step back and reflect upon his craft.
In the early nineties Bob's skills as a painter and potter converged. He would create a new and exciting series of panels. His approach to ceramics at this time is best illustrated by 'Pearl Diver', a panel which is both an impressionist painting and a ceramic object.
He explains:
'Brushing, dragging, palette knifing - all the tools of the painter, all the tools of the potter, all the potential of the kiln.'