1000th Potter - Robin Welch

1000 AND COUNTING!!

Milestones are inevitably a feature of our lives and no less so for Bevere Gallery which has in the past year registered the 6000^th pot on our website. Now, we are happy to celebrate our one thousandth exhibitor. It could hardly have been more apposite for that exhibitor to be Robin Welch a doyen of contemporary studio ceramics and someone we have long wanted to feature at the Gallery.

Robin has been a singular figure in British ceramics for at least forty years. His freely constructed vessels – hand-built and thrown - are three-dimensional abstract expressionism. He is the archetypal potter/painter. Whether his work is on paper, board, canvas or in clay, there is a constant and consistent creative flow.

The fit between pot and decoration is extraordinary, whether it be a beautifully thrown cylinder or a part hand-built, part thrown organically developed vessel.

The pots and paintings in this show were selected by Alastair and Kim Taylor and we are in no doubt that this intimate group of work represents a potter still full of creative energy. There are a number of potters that we have shown recently who seem to be as creative and innovative as ever, notwithstanding their advancing years. Robin was born in 1936.

The pictures and pots sit very well together and as we prepare for this show I am in no doubt that the pleasure that we have in putting the exhibition together will be equalled only by the pleasure and stimulation we anticipate it will provide for our visitors.

New Bevere Café

Café Upstairs moves downstairs.........

Following a remodelling of the gallery spaces in February we are delighted to now announce a new location for the café on the ground floor of the coach house with direct permanent access to the café garden

This has enabled us to use the upstairs rooms in the coach house for display of local scenes and original prints, both rooms can also be hired privately for a maximum of 14 persons for lunches or meetings. Please enquire for a bespoke costing

We are continuing to serve tasty and interesting light bites in the café with ingredients predominantly from local suppliers and special menu items introduced each month

In April our specials are

·      Checketts of Ombersley minute rump steak sandwiches

with a Stilton or roasted vegetable mix topping

·      Herefordshire brie with red and green grapes as a filling for sandwiches or jackets

·      Warm chicken and bacon salad with red onion and crumbled goats cheese

·      Hazelnut caffe latte

Opening hours are 10.30am – 4.00pm Tuesday – Saturday

(Plus Sundays in June, July and August)

Plenty of free parking and free admission

Family Visit to Robin Welch's Studio

A few weekends ago Alastair and Kim Taylor, proprietors of Bevere Gallery, along with sons Cameron 7 and
Billy Bob 5, made the journey from Herefordshire to Suffolk to meet with Robin Welch at his studio and gallery in Stadbroke near Eye....... Kim explains, We were invited to meet with Robin at 2pm, so having made an early start we arrived in Suffolk around Noon where we settled into our accommodation and enjoyed a local lunch bought from the nearby country farm shop. Having rested and recharged ourselves we set off again to meet with Robin, this had all the makings of a very exciting visit as we hold Robin, his reputation and his work in very high esteem.  It is indeed a very great coup to have him exhibit with us at Bevere Gallery. 

 On arrival Robin showed us into his studio and workshop and made the boys very welcome albeit it with a little trepidation – although he and Jenny have a number of grandchildren he had to admit it had been a few years since such small children had been amongst such a large collection of his work! Happily all went well and we were able to see the current firing in progress and were invited to an upstairs room which housed Robin’s private collection of work.  At Robin’s suggestion he then went off to make some tea leaving Alastair and I to look over his work and make our selection to return to the gallery with – what a task, we could have honestly chosen everything!  After much deliberation and input from Robin too, we settled on 14 wonderful pots, two etchings, three limited edition prints and two original mixed media paintings.
By now the boys were getting ever so slightly restless so whilst Al and Robin carefully packaged the work for its journey to Worcester, myself and the boys joined Jenny in their wonderful garden for a game of tag and fun on the 40 year old tree swing.

 Two and a half hours after our arrival with  a car packed full of wonderful original pieces and a camera full of fantastic memories we all bade our fond farewells and thanks for a privileged time spent in Robin and Jenny’s very hospitable company.

Whilst we are privately enjoying the work in the stock room at the gallery we are all very excited about being able to publically share them in the gallery in April, please keep an eye on our website for full details of the pots and paintings we brought back.