Anita's Christmas Show 2010

We are delighted to have 'Anita's Designs' back this year with her amazing seasonal decorations and wonderful flower arrangements.

  Do come and see 'Anita's Christmas Stable -

Open Tuesday to Sunday 10.30am - 4.30pm

POT OF THE MONTH - NOVEMBER 2010

CURATOR’S CHOICE

POT OF THE MONTH

Mark Dally's Platter

This month there is a wide range of beautifully crafted pots in the Gallery’s Christmas Show.  In some ways choosing just one is objectively difficult and so I am responding to a piece which has a powerful aesthetic appeal for me and hopefully everyone who has a chance to experience this work at first hand will make a similar connection.

Mark Dally has to be one of the finest decorators in studio pottery. His patterns are strong and vibrant and each stroke displays innate confidence, visual awareness and a designers focus, which will have been honed during his first and Masters degrees in Ceramic Design at Staffordshire University.

This platter is a fine example of his work. It brings the pot to life and whilst it is clearly a ‘busy’ design it has that sense of completeness that is the hallmark of the master decorator. Hope that you enjoy it too.

POT(S) OF THE MONTH - OCTOBER 2010

 Curator's choice
POT(S) OF THE MONTH

MARTIN McWILLIAM

This is the first time that we have shown the work of Martin McWilliam at Bevere and it has been such a pleasure to exhibit these distinctive "Trompe-l'œil" pieces. Each one has much to commend it however, in a group, they give as much pleasure as a Morandi still life. It is common to talk about volume and the heft of the pot but in this case the pieces generate, through skilful modelling and shading, a presence which is beyond the space they occupy. "Trompe-l'œil" by definition is presenting as real that which is far from real – an optical illusion. This is high craft and Martin has the acute eye which is essential in the making of such compelling work

Stuart Dickens

Eric James Mellon's 85th Birthday

This celebratory exhibition  got off to a great start on this lovely sunny evening  at Bevere.  Eric was in good form having spent the afternoon looking around Worcester  with  Stuart our ceramic curator and enjoying a boat trip on the river.

 He talked to many of the guests
and enlarged on his life as an Artist/ Potter

in his informal speech to open the show.








There were 90 new works of art in the exhibition -  Original prints, pots and paintings

 

Eric signing his new book

POT OF THE MONTH - SEPTEMBER 2010

CURATOR’S CHOICE

POT OF THE MONTH

ERIC JAMES MELLON - DREAMING MAIDEN

It is hardly a surprise that the choice this month should come from this special 85th Birthday Exhibition. This small vessel is not the largest in the show, nevertheless it has so much that is redolent of Eric’s best work. The bean ash glaze has fixed a wonderfully drafted nude maiden and a jaunty spotted horse. If Eric were writing this, there would be more to tell as every Mellon pot holds a story.

The scale of this pot means that it sits very comfortably in the palm of one’s hand. It repays the time spent looking at every angle including a small portrait of the maiden on the foot.

This pot punches above its weight and is one of the treasures amongst an exhibition of extraordinary work.

Pat Tromans's " 'Just Write' Amongst Artists" Creative Writing Workshop

We were pleased to host and welcome Pat and her students to create a picture with words (as one of our facebook friends put it)

They gathered in the Gallery Craft room with many

 paintings around them

 Wandered through the

Sculpture Garden gaining inspiration from many of the exhibits

and chatted after lunch  in the Gallery Café

A piece created  by Penny Cooper one of the students during the workshop-

"A rusty roller

Leans against the ancient oak

That spreads its branches over static sheep

The sheep are lifeless,

Frozen, gazing across the grass.

They cannot hear the wind surging through the trees

Or add their voices to the cawing crows.

But golden dragonflies can flit about

Pausing to rest their gossamer wings

Upon the sun-warmed bench.

And robin can perch

Unharmed on the gorilla's head

While the pig, arms outstretched

Must wait forever his chance to dance.

We can stroll by leafy paths

Through twisted rhododendron tunnels

Past a green man with ivy hair.

We feel the wind on our cheeks

And smell sweet scents of flowers

But the wire woman is forever condemned

To heave herself out of the ground

On splayed hands and outstretched fingers.

Striving to free herself, and go

We know not where.

Penny Cooper August 2010"

and another by  Linda Hutton

Moon-gazing

"Ellie knew it was him long before she saw him. The smell of Balkan Sobrany from his pipe wafted ahead of him, and she heard the sound of him marching down the gravel path.

“In here,” she called.

He stuck his head around the first tree trunk to look into the glade.

“What are you up to now, cariad?” he asked, then spotted the sculpture. “Bloody hell, a dancing pig! Whatever goes on in your head sometimes?”

His words might seem brusque but they were delivered with affection, and Ellie knew that he’d be smiling when she turned and looked at him. Her big brother hadn’t an artistic bone in his body, but was very proud of her.

“Are we still going riding, then?” he asked, putting a hand under her arm to help her up.

“Oh yes! I just had to put this little chap in place.”

“You could’ve done that tomorrow.”

“I know, Bob, but somehow I feel he needs to be out here today.”

He rolled his eyes in mock despair, then took her heavy shoulder bag off her and arm in arm they walked away, him slowing his long stride to match her limping one.

Dusk came, birds twittered their evening chorus, and with the departure of people from the gallery and sculpture gardens a pleasant hush fell over the place. Long shadows stretched further out and beneath the trees a quiet tension began to build.          

“Are they gone?” the smallest of the sheep statues communed to its  companions. Together they had stood beneath the spreading arms of the great oak since spring. Flowers had come and gone with the seasons but now they were going. All day they had been practicing their farewell song, and soon it would be heard.

 “All clear!” The gorilla from by the front door swung into the garden, nimbly swinging over the garden wall and locked gate, and knuckling his way over the lawn to meet them.

  “Your last full moon here, then?”

“Yes,” the lead sheep baahed. “We’re off to a garden somewhere.”

“I’m scared,” the small sheep bleated. “It’ll be strange and we won’t know anyone.”

“But at least we’re together..,”

“...together..,”

“...together,” the other three baahed in unison.

“But what if there’s a dog?” the little one persisted. “The one here’s friendly but others might not be.”

“Don’t you fret, it’ll all be fine,” the gorilla said reassuringly. “You’ve got your leaving song all ready for us?”

“Oh yes...”

“...oh yes..,”

“...oh yes..,”

“...oh yes!”

Together the sheep and the gorilla moved across the darkened lawn. A Green Man plaque on the wall whistled to attract their attention and the gorilla lifted him down by standing on the back of one of the sheep.

“Can’t think why they stuck me on the wall out here!” the Green Man sighed, “it’s going to be interesting next month if I’m still here.”

“Don’t you worry, mate, I’ll get you to the gathering somehow,” the gorilla assured him.

Moving into the wood they found the other Green Man and the Green Lady and some of the other sculptures who could roll their own way to the assembly beneath the trees. Moonlight fell on parts of the garden, but not here, deep in the thicket and far from the prying human eyes inside the house.

“We have a newcomer!” the Green Lady announced from her vantage point on the tree. “Over there!”

            There in the middle of the tiny clearing stood the terracotta pig. His arms spread wide, snout in the air, nostrils flared as if waiting for some unknown thing to happen. His tail was curled in anticipation as he sat on his stone stump, frozen in time. Together the others began a soft humming, and, as the last of the warm herb scents from the courtyards faded and the cool night air awoke more earthly scents, the pig blinked.

“Welcome,” the gorilla said. “For whatever time you are here you are one of us. Do you sing?”

“Sing?” the little pig blinked, seeming astonished that he had been freed from his solid state. “I don’t think so.”

The other looked from one to another. It was rare that an awakened piece lacked a voice, but sometimes it did happen.

“Not to worry,” the Green Man called down. “Just listen and follow us in the choruses.”

Together they settled into a circle as near as they were able, and then they each sang their song, led first by the Green Lady. After the gorilla had rumbled his way through a shanty he gestured to the sheep, who were the only ones left who hadn’t sung besides the pig.

“Time for your farewell song,” he said. “You know the code now: to awaken others whom you encounter, keep the faith, and don’t let the humans see!”

Leaning close to one another the sheep sang a beautiful chant, noses lifted and eyes gazing at the flickers of moonlight which peeked now and then through the canopy. If a human had opened the window they would have heard nothing, but the spirit song was heard by all those gathered, clear and true.

“Go in peace to your new home, we’ll not forget you,” the Green Lady said, then turned to the pig. “And what of you little one? What does your heart tell you to do?”

The pig waved a trotter experimentally, then another. Then, as a shaft of moonlight finally found a hole and sent a shaft of white light to the woodland floor, the pig slipped off his stony seat and began to dance. He pirouetted on wobbly legs at first, then as stars twinkled above and he gained confidence he began to move more rapidly. Like a tiny shaman of old he danced with a love of life, little feet tripping across the fallen leaves, forepaws outstretched and a smile on his face.

“Will that do?” he asked when he stopped.

“That’s just perfect,” the gorilla said. “Welcome brother!” 

Feedback comments from a couple of students :-
  " Inspiring venue & excellent food & facilities."
     " . . . the setting is wonderfully inspiring."

From Pat: I liked the way the writers wanted to pick up where the artists left off.  The artists captured living forms in static materials;  the writers' response was to re-animate them in their stories and poems.


 

 

Amelia Humber's - Solo Exhibition in the Gallery

Amelia Humber visited Bevere and enjoyed exploring the Gallery areas and talking to Stuart our Ceramic Curator

also  the Sculpture Trail.











We are pleased to show her paintings in the Main gallery throughout August

They strive to relay the atmosphere and emotion of the landscape through a personal and momentary experience. They contain the ideas of capturing the sublime and those immediate feelings of drama in a continuously changing landscape

Her interest in the landscape was stimulated by her childhood in the countryside of West Sussex where adventures on the South Downs with its ever changing skies and their dramatic effects on the land beneath became her inspiration when she discovered her passion for painting

TWO BOOKS BY ERIC JAMES MELLON

These two books will be available during Eric James Mellon's special 85th Birthday Exhibition here in September. This is a great opportunity to get your book signed

DECORATING STONEWARE
Eric James Mellon and Paul Foster
University of Chichester 2007
158 pages

This lavishly illustrated volume was written at the behest of Mellon aficionados who were concerned that his extensive and innovative research into ash glazes should be written up for practitioners as well as the ceramic enthusiast.

It sets out with great clarity the concern that he had to translate his drawing to high-fired stoneware without the inevitable loss of definition that occurs at high temperatures. This book is an important survey of his ceramic output and the themes of decoration which have defined his work over many decades.



65 YEARS OF PRINTMAKING
Eric James Mellon
University of Chichester 2010
128 Pages

This is the second beautifully illustrated book by Eric James Mellon, this volume is a survey of the printmaking of this prolific ceramicist and artist. It covers four techniques – wood engraving, etching, aquatint and lithography with numerous examples of his output over many decades. The human form is an endless fascination for Eric and this is evident in nearly every print. Although many of his themes are concerned with mythology and religious iconography there is nevertheless a sense, as the cliché has it, that all human life is here. This volume will be of interest to student and art lover alike.

Eric signing his new book during the weekend of the launch of his celebratory exhibition in
                                 The Gallery at Bevere during September 2010

Eric James Mellon's Birthday Celebratory Exhibition coming soon

ERIC JAMES MELLON

Capturing the Light

85^th Birthday Exhibition

September 2010

Plans are now well advanced for this milestone show. The exhibition will show past as well as recently made work and we hope to have around seventy ceramic pieces as well as paintings and prints. We are particularly delighted that Eric has produced a special limited edition birthday print called ‘Mermaid and Fox’ which will be available for sale, along with all the work in the show, at the opening on 4^th September.

We are particularly pleased that Eric will be here for the private view and opening. He will be happy to talk about his work as well as sign copies of his two books. The most recent -’65 Years of Printmaking ‘- is beautifully illustrated and a fitting testament to the Mellon legacy in printmaking.

We are also delighted that Eric has made available a small number of the paintings of his late wife Martina Thomas.

This show is a must for anyone who is interested in ceramics and printmaking. A short monograph has been written by Stuart Dickens, the Gallery’s Ceramic Curator, to accompany the exhibition and to provide insights into EJM the man as well as the artist/potter.

Stuart Dickens our ceramic curator has chosen

POT OF THE MONTH

August 2010

CHRISTIANE WILHELM

Grey vessel with Silver Leaf

This wonderfully crafted pot appeals at a number of levels. The dimensions and shape of the vessel are well proportioned. The contrast of the textured body with the applied silver leaf on the neck and lip gives an added touch of opulence. Importantly, the piece has a distinctive voice and great presence.

I have admired the work of Christiane for some time and every piece from her small, simply decorated bowls to her larger more complex pieces shows thoughtful design and a high level of artistry and skill. In some ways it is invidious to select one well crafted piece from another but this particular pot is one of the ‘stand out’ pieces in a show full of excellent ceramics.

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

Henry Sandon Drops in

Well known Television personality from the Antiques Road Show dropped in to the Gallery

He, together with Stuart Dickens our Ceramic Curator admired the work of ceramic legend Lucy Rie

Some pieces were brought in by the collector/potter Lorraine Gilroy - Lorraine's work was exhibited  in  the Midlands Potter's Association Show last month April 2010

These pieces included cups and Saucers made jointly by Rie and Hans Caper

POT OF THE MONTH - May 2010

                               Chris Carter's Waisted Stoneware - thrown and altered

We really are spoilt for choice this month. Almost any one of
the fifty six pieces in this show could have been selected. However
there is one vessel that stands out for me and it is this Waisted Stoneware. It
is 37.5cm high with a burnished flinted copper glaze. 

It needs to be touched. It has a genuinely sensuous quality and Chris Carter’s passion for throwing and his undoubted skill as a thrower are reflected in the volume and lines of this wonderful pot. 

As with so many of the pieces in this show, the interior is matt
black and this gives the illusion of added volume – a sense that the pot has
the capacity to be even greater than it is. Chris Carter’s talks about a‘sense
of rightness’ when a pot is finished and if objective evidence of this sense
were needed then I think that this pot will do very well.


Stuart Dickens - Gallery Ceramic Curator

MILE STONE - 6000th Pot

6000th Objects D'art item posted to web site -
Chris Carter's Barrelled stoneware pot ( Thrown and altered)
This special pot will be on show and for sale in his solo Exhibition "Of This Earth" starting on May 1st 2010

"When I heard that we had inputted 6000 pots on to the Gallery website since the re-launch of the gallery in 2006 it was quite a revelation. We have had the pleasure of showing some of the most exciting studio potters in the UK and beyond and yet, there is some wonderful serendipity in the fact that the 6000th should have been made by Chris Carter one of the country’s unsung masters of his craft.
This simple vessel is anything but simple. It is modest in size but its volume is considerably enhanced by the barrel shape and the matt black interior which gives the pot – as with all Carter’s work – the potential to be ‘something else’.
We know that Chris puts great store by ‘rightness’ and this vessel seems just right from the signature carved foot to the elegantly thrown shoulder. This pot is part of a wonderful solo show of Chris’s work which is running for the month of May. The range of pots is stunning and some of the best of his work I have seen. Not to be missed."

Stuart Dickens
Ceramic Curator

UNUSUAL PAINTINGS OF WORCESTER BY TOM WHITE

We are delighted to have the opportunity to exhibit these rarely painted views of Worcester.  They are for sale in the Gallery and are available to purchase on line


 Tom says
"Inspired by the ordinary, my interest is in taking a snapshot of everyday urban
life and preserving the beauty of something that is often overlooked, using canvas and paint.

  My paintings range from impressionistic to photo-realistic, the latter being the style selected for the show in Worcester, in order to most effectively translate that freeze-frame moment onto canvas.
Influences range from Lowry to Hopper and of course the American photo-realists of the 1960s and 1970s such as Goings and Estes."

Most  of Tom White's paintings, such as the ones at  we have at The Gallery at Bevere are a result of an on the spot sketch using the pochade box with acrylics ( or oils if he have time for them to dry) and photos, from which the final painting is completed in the studio.




                         

                                  

Some of Tom's paintings and prints which are available from the Gallery

 
 He has  also got preliminary sketches for 2 more Worcester paintings which should be completed soon".