POT OF THE MONTH - JULY 2010

CURATOR’S CHOICE
POT OF THE MONTH

JAMES HAKE  NUKA BOWL

The work of James Hake is new to this gallery. His stoneware vessels are clearly rooted in tradition but with a strong contemporary feel.

This large bowl is beautifully decorated with a nuka glaze and two tenmoku stripes – simple but boldly effective. The scale is right too. It may need just the right setting but it will enhance any space.

The Curator’s Choice is about quality and technical excellence – however pots engage at so many different levels. This substantial bowl is aesthetically satisfying and to hold it is to experience the energy of this talented young potter. I am sure that there will be few who do not recognise the qualities of this impressive piece.

The Gallery at Bevere

Anrew Palin at Bevere

We are pleased to show many of Andrew's pots in the Gallery's  June Summer Show  and  a regular exhibitor in the Gallery

 Andrew Says -   The Scottish sandstone, granites and slate are a beautiful and intriguing surface teeming with wildlife.
With my development of the volcanic glaze textures being applied to both thrown vessels and hand-
built landscape forms, the Cumbrian and Caithness coasts have now overtly manifested themselves in
my work. 

He and his family visited the Exhibition and it was good to see him encouraging his daughter  in the art of pottery

Andrew at work on his potter's wheel

To see a vidio of the exhibition go to the following blog ........

Lunch with Eric James Mellon

As the September 85^th Birthday Exhibition for Eric James Mellon approaches, planning is progressing apace. Stuart Dickens, Ceramic Curator and Kim Chesters, Exhibitions Coordinator visited Eric in his Bognor Regis home to talk through the details of the show and to begin the selection of work – pots, paintings and prints.

Eric provided a delightful lunch of lemon sole and true to form provided both of them with a rich diet of anecdote and philosophy around which so much of his work has been developed.

His house is an absolute treasure trove – every room filled with his work and that of his late wife Martina Thomas – three of her paintings will also be shown.

He has been drawing since the age of seven and continues to this day. The word prolific seems to understate his output.

We are confident that the exhibition will be a fitting tribute to one of the original voices in studio ceramics.

The Garden and Woodland Sculpture Trail

POT OF THE MONTH - JUNE 2010

This month Stuart Dickens has made his choice from the Gallery at  Bevere's  June exhibition
The Summer Show

CURATOR’S CHOICE
Susan Nemeth Large Matisse Bowl

Susan Nemeth set up her workshop in London in 1979. This wonderful bowl selected itself as
‘Pot of the Month’. The decoration alone demonstrates the way in which Susan’s work continues to develop. Whilst she is not unique in using integral decoration where laminated sheets of coloured clays inlaid with hand cut patterns are beaten, rollered and stretched over moulds forcing a form from one single flat sheet of clay, she does it with such élan.

This bowl is one of the stars of the show involving three other excellent craftsmen/artists. The decoration, as always with Susan’s work, fits the pot extremely well and the painterly style of this pot rewards close inspection from every angle.

- Chris Carter -Monograph - 'Of This Earth'

This booklet - a monograph written by the Ceramic Curator, Stuart Dickens, to accompany the
Chris Carter Exhibition, which runs throughout May, has illustrations of some of the pots in the show and exclusive images of his workshop.


Printed on high quality paper by
The Gallery at Bevere

12 pages and 15 plates including the cover
Measures approx: 21mm X 15mm
Cost £4 
UK - Free P & P
World wide shipping not included in the price  - Charged at cost

Further details  and to order -  Contact The Gallery

Additional Notes- Lots more in the book

‘The farming landscape has always been the inspiration for my work. Today's pots have moved closer to the source of that inspiration. In them is reflected both my landscape now and a search for those ancestors who farmed it thousands of years ago. The new pots fill my benches like Coptic jars preserving the viscera of this landscape’.

Chris is a singular potter. He is not remotely concerned about the craft mainstream but highly focused on what he calls a ‘sense of rightness’. His journey, which he hopes has some way to go yet, is a potent mix of landscape, memory and high craft. His standards are exacting and his search for ‘rightness’ underpins the continuous development of his work.

 Chris visited the Gallery to talk about his work