THE CURATORS VIEW JANUARY 2018

 The Gallery's Annual Graduate Show which is being held throughout January  2018 is now open  and all the work is on the website http://www.beveregallery.com  and available to purchase online

 As regular visitors will know, the Gallery is completely emptied and then devoted entirely to our selected exhibitors from the 2017 crop of graduates. This year has been a good one and we have fourteen makers, including a textile artist, who together will make for a stimulating show. Indeed, I know that you will tell us if you don't share our view.

 It has always been one of the popular events of our year. There is an appetite for the new and this is one of the opportunities to see what direction ceramics is currently taking. The list of makers covers a nationwide range of university applied arts departments, including for the first time Limerick, where the Head of Ceramics is Mandy Parslow whose work is featured at Bevere.

We are not saying that these are the best graduates from the last year – that would be an extraordinarily bold and somewhat reckless claim – however these are makers that impressed us on a number of levels – technical skill, originality, quality and visual impact. The latter is important as we know that our view of art and craft is so often shaped by our first contact with the work. Visitors, as always, will have the opportunity to vote for their favourite graduate. The one with the most votes will be represented by us during 2018 and if your name is pulled randomly from the usual large number of voters,  you will get a £100 voucher to spend at Bevere.

I have purposely avoided naming names – they will all be on the website – so as to not show favour to one maker or another. The choice will be entirely yours  - based on what you see in the show. Surfice to say, we are delighted with our short list this year and hope that you will be too.

Stuart Dickens 

Ceramic Curator

MAKER'S LUNCH TIM ANDREWS 2nd DECEMBER 2017

Given the popularity of the Maker's Lunches during 2017, it was particularly satisfying to have arranged, by popular demand, a lunch with Tim Andrews  to end the year on a high note. We were most grateful for Tim making the journey from his home near Exeter to be with us.

Tim was apprenticed to David Leach in Devon before attending nearby Dartington Pottery Training Workshop and eventually returning to share Leach’s studio. He is now based in Woodbury. The issue for me is that this early experience was a major contributor to the range of skills that Tim clearly possesses. Once again we see a classic  example of the essential relationship between skills and creativity.

The latest work from Tim represents so much of what we associate with this master potter - quality skills, subtle decorative techniques and such elegant design. Tim talked about a wide range of issues but emphasised from the outset that he saw his and every other maker's work in the historical context of pottery making over several millennia. There was considerable interest in found shards of ancient Roman and Chinese pots which he had gathered over the years.

Tim talked about and responded to a number of questions about his approach to raku firing. It was clearly the physical intervention in the firing process that fascinated him rather than the attenuated wait for extended conventional firing. He talked about the design of his vessels and the need for them to stand well with an evident presence.

Tim emphasised the significance of his early years with David leach and at Dartington. This was the crucial period when he developed the range of skills which he felt were essential to express his creative thinking.

During the lunch a wide range of topics came up including the changes that there had clearly been in the ceramic market over the last decade, the equally significant changes in the teaching infrastructure of ceramics and the limited opportunities for acquiring the range of skills which he had clearly gained in his early years in making professionally.

There was a very positive feel at the end of the lunch with a shared view that the two hours together had provided so much insight into the working ethos of this eminent maker and the wider ceramic sector.