Curator's View July 2017

The Bevere Gallery Featured Maker programme gives us the opportunity each month to enhance an already high quality range of studio ceramics. Someone recently asked me how we choose the makers we show here. In truth, we have to have an emotional response to the work. Whilst quality and individuality is important, It is the impact on the senses that registers most and hopefully we will have struck the right chords with this months makers.

The maker here for the first time this month is Justine Allison. She is clear that her work addresses the boundaries between function and decoration; looking at objects that are used on a daily basis, like the form of a jug, and creating pieces that move away from function and are more concerned with the aesthetic and the visual. She works in porcelain and the luminescence that the material brings to her work adds to its attractive qualities.

The last time Rowena Brown showed her extraordinary groups of ceramic houses they were sold out. They have great character and an atmosphere that is derived from their colours and texture. She raku fires her pieces and this gives them much of the distinctiveness that they display, as well as adding to the presence of her pieces. I believe that the appeal of her work is not just the originality,  but the response we  all have to the man-made landscape.

Craig Underhill has been showing his abstract expressionist pots at Bevere for many years. We are pleased that we will be having a group of his latest pieces and for the first time a number of his paintings. Craig will also be the focus of our Makers Lunch this month and I am delighted that we will have the opportunity to explore his approach to making as well as his influences and what sparks his creativity. Do book a place at the lunch which is being held on Friday 30 June, as they are invariably stimulating and enjoyable events.