Featured Maker's Program 2020

FEATURED MAKER PROGRAMME 2020

We have had another stimulating few months putting together our programme of featured makers for 2020, including the Maker's Lunches which, hopefully, will be held each month throughout the year.

11 January to 5 February

13^th Annual Graduate Show

This will be another great start to the Gallery calendar. A separate Journal entry sets out the detail and the participants who will provide us with a diverse range of new work.

8 February to 4 March

         Debbie Barber and Sharon Griffin

Debbie Barber has shown her fine raku black and white pieces at Bevere before. She has been developing her work over the last year and we look forward to seeing the direction she is taking, however, we know that Debbie's recognisable voice will be sustained.

Sharon Griffin is one of a number of new makers joining us in 2020. She is a skilled sculptural ceramicist primarily of the human form. She particularly seeks an underlying narrative so that one or more aspects of our lives will be evident in this remarkable work. We are also very leased that she will be joining us for a Maker's Lunch when we can explore her inspiration and making processes with her.

Maker's Lunch: 8 February – Sharon Griffin

7 March to 1 April

Ruth Gibson and Christopher Taylor

Ruth Gibson is another new face at the Gallery. She is an experienced and skilled maker in porcelain, combining a love of photography, printmaking and ceramics, to evoke a sense of place; in particular the Shropshire landscape and the Welsh coast and mountains. She certainly does just that and her imagery and the overall quality of her work is striking.  Her Maker's Lunch will certainly be one not to miss.

Christopher Taylor is an old friend of Bevere Gallery and we delighted to be showing his distinctive work here again. He too has been working on developing hid decorative style and we anticipate seeing some exciting new pieces. The combination of traditional and contemporary decorative technique has always been a feature of his work and it will be interesting to see whether this remains a key element of his decoration.

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Maker's Lunch: 7 or 14 March – Ruth Gibson

4 April to 28 April

Chris Carter, Annabel Faraday and Robin Welch

Chris Carter is amongst those we call Master Potters and we are proud to have shown his work here over a number of years. Whilst his work changes direction as he works on new ideas, the quality of his making and the elegance of his design remain a constant, as does his reference to past cultures and his interpretation through a contemporary perspective.

Annabel Faraday has not featured here for some time, although she has shown here at Bevere on a number of occasions, including commissioned pieces depicting Worcester from unusual perspectives. Her main body of work involves a process of printing onto both sides of raw clay slabs that have been coloured with stained slips. The vessels are illustrated with her own (sometimes digitally altered) photographs and often with maps indicating the source of the photos. Her work always fascinates.

Robin Welch has not been well however, as with so many long established makers, his creative drive remains. We are delighted and privileged to have his abstract decorated vessels with us again; we know that this has taken no small effort on his part which makes this feature even more special. We are sure that there will be many ceramic enthusiasts who will look forward to seeing his work with anticipation.

Maker's Lunch: 4 April  - Chris Carter

2 May to 30 June

Wendy Lawrence, Guy Routledge and Sutton Taylor

Wendy Lawrence was shown at Bevere for the first time in 2019. As we write, her fine pieces can be seen in the Gallery courtyard. Her sculptural work and innovative decorative techniques provide attractive features for inside the house and the garden. The inspiration for her work comes from natural form and texture together with architecture and antiquity.

Guy Routledge has shown his sculptural ceramics twice in recent years and it is good to have him with us again.  Guy's sculptures are distinctly his voice with a strong contemporary feel. There are modernist influences, which impact on the shaping of his pieces reinforced by the simple highlighting of features and plain presentation. Always guaranteed to make you stop, look and smile.

Sutton Taylor is another eminent long established maker whose work has been at Bevere before and always much admired. His reputation grew as his making developed.  His skill as a potter is widely acknowledge both in the throwing and decoration of his vessels. He has pieces in many permanent collections, including the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Maker's Lunches:  2 May - Wendy Lawrence

               6 June - Guy Routledge

4 July to 28 July

Akiko Hirai, Ostinelli and Priest

Akiko Hirai is one of makers whose appearance at Bevere always makes an impact. She bases her designs on the Japanese aesthetics of relativity, the beauty of imperfection, irregularity, spontaneity, and impurity. Every piece begs to be held in the hand and for the sheer beauty of the design and decoration to be absorbed, Great to have her here again

Ostinelli and Priest have always thought of their work as a cross-over. On the one hand is sculpture, with pieces created in clay and fired, and on the other is painting where the colour is applied. Bringing both of these elements together builds the character and individuality of each piece. The working partnership  flourishes and develops simply due to the balance of understanding between the two artists. This in turn enables them to continue to create work that pleases and inspires. We look forward to seeing the latest extraordinary sculptures and talking with them about their inspiration when they join us for the Maker's Lunch.

Maker's Lunch: 4 July – Ostinelli and Priest

1 August to 1 September

John Wheeldon, James Oughtibridge

John Wheeldon has not shown his work at Bevere for some time. He is a long established maker with a reputation for high quality and an apparently indefatigable creative curiosity. His decoration is skilfully and imaginatively applied and changes as his exploration of making possibilities is taken forward. He was pleased to accept our invitation to join us for a Maker's Lunch and we know that it will be a revelatory couple of hours when we learn more about his creative drive.

James Oughtibridge has also not been at Bevere for a number of years. Every time we see his work the elegance of his sculptural pieces and their presence whether they be large or small is very striking. An individual voice that has matured into work of artistic significance now produces pieces which make an immediate impact on the viewer. He constructs curved sections of clay with numerous planes and perspectives, inviting the viewer to peer inside to a world of contorted shadows. A world that is always worth exploring!

Maker's Lunch: 1 August – John Wheeldon

5 September to 29 September

Grainne Watts, Mark Smith

Grainne Watts is new to Bevere, She has an established reputation in Ireland where she lives and works. Her work is stunning and original and few would fail to be bowled over by the beauty and elegance of every one of her fine pieces. In recent years, her work has developed into specific themes that explore and expand through limited edition series. There are unifying sources of inspiration that run through each body of work. Many of these influences relate to colour, pattern and the visual and tactile marks evident in nature. She works with porcelain and stoneware clays and uses layers of vibrant under-glazes and slips to create interesting surface detail.

Mark Smith is a Bevere favourite who has shown often at Bevere and his work has always sold very well. It is his use of mixed media and distinctive making often with a quirky twist that appeals. Each piece of Mark's work draws inspiration from the sea, and each has it's own unique appearance and story to tell. Objects found on travels or by shoreline often become part of the work. Mark uses a variety of techniques to achieve the finished look of a piece, focusing mainly on decay and repair. The work is constantly changing due to the materials found, each piece can never be replicated.

Maker's Lunch: 5 September – Mark Smith

3 October to 27 October

Matthew Blakely, Tony and Jack Laverick

Matthew Blakely is an exceptional maker with an unusual approach to his craft. In recent times he has been making pots from materials gathered from different areas of the country. As he sees it, of all the arts, ceramics is the most fundamentally linked to the physical make up of the planet and best illustrates the link between science and art. Pots represent our relationship with and dependency on the planet, making things for human use from the dug earth beneath our feet. It is fascinating to see how the use of different materials produces such varied effects. Great to be able to see his work at Bevere again.

       Tony Laverick has exhibited at Bevere before and it is always a privilege to show his          exquisite vessels which have changed and developed over the years, but retain the         distinct Laverick voice. His work draws on various sources and cultures, and he        is always evolving his own original vision, which is a juxtaposition of             controlled, linear designs with areas of loose, painterly decoration. He uses           the surface of the pot as a painter uses a canvas.

His son Jack Laverick studied at Leek College of Art. He has been working for some time in porcelain and his portfolio now consists of slip cast porcelain lighting with smaller items such as tea lights and planters. He uses the translucency of porcelain for his lighting which has, in the main, industrial themes. It is great to have Tony and jack exhibiting here together.

Maker's Lunch:  3 October – Matthew Blakely

31 October to 5 January (2021)

Yo Thom; Richard Heeley: Lara Scobie

Yo Thom has been a friend of Bevere Gallery for a number of years and the last time she was here, she joined us for a memorable Maker's Lunch when she gave a very open and frank account of her making career and her creative drive. Yo makes thrown and hand-built functional stoneware with influence from the traditions of both British and Japanese pottery and food culture. She aims to create tableware, which will become “clothes for food” as Rosanjin, a famous Japanese potter and restaurateur once said.  Yo’s pots perform their function as tableware in harmony with the food whilst retaining their strong personality.

Richard Heeley is another friend of Bevere who has shown here for a number of years. He practices free flowing brushwork and spends long hours repeating his designs to gain a fluid feel and simplicity that matches the thrown clay and fits as part of the pot, working in harmony with the form. His work is Influenced by a deep appreciation of Korean 16th century ware from the Chosôn dynasty. We are pleased that he is joining us for what will be a fascinating Maker's Lunch.

Lara Scobie is a highly skilled ceramic designer and decorator whose work will be familiar to regular Bevere visitors. It will be twelve months since she last featured here and we know that many will delight in the use of colour and the precision of her decoration. The theme of balance is a constant, significantly underlining her current work in which ideas of dynamic interplay between form and surface develop. By integrating drawing, surface mark making and volume she plays with the balance of space and pattern alongside hue and texture on both the decorated and void surface areas. Her work is a delight to eye and hand.

Maker's Lunch: 31 October     

        21 November   - Richard Heeley

THE MAKERS LUNCH 9 NOVEMBER 2019 SASHA WARDELL

Once again we have had the pleasure of  a most informative and enjoyable two hours over lunch with Sasha Wardell.

We have had the pleasure of showing Sasha's work here over a number of years and there is no doubt that the skill and elegance demonstrated by her work adds so much to the pleasure of our visitors.

Sasha's hallmark style, a distinctive combination of pure white slip cast bone china, treated with unique decorating techniques and finished in a carefully chosen palette of muted, subtle colours, has made her work highly sought after by private collectors, museums and contemporary art galleries worldwide.

Once again, we see very clearly demonstrated by her individual pieces  an issue we have discussed many times during these events which is 'presence' – the ability of an individual piece to communicate with the viewer – indeed to make an impact. I admire Sasha's work on a number of levels – her skill and precision, the elegance and at times understatement - perhaps subtlety of design would be more appropriate – of each vessel and her choice and combination of colour. You want to look – you want to pick them up and feel that texture and shape of this fine work.

She was very open about the way she works and over time how much of the apparent precision was now almost intuitive which says much about her eye for detail and her innate making skills. It was also evident that her early years in industrial ceramics – both in her training and a number of attachments to major makers including Limoges plays a considerable part in her technical prowess.

Bone china was her choice of material early on in her career and given the translucency of so much of her work and the response to light and shade it is not difficult to see why. She responded to a range of questions about her making processes which fascinated everyone.

As always, it is difficult to summarise such an extended conversation. It was interesting to hear about her divided time between England and France where she also has a studio and the time that she devotes to teaching, which has been a major aspect of her career to date.

Surprisingly, Sasha had only returned from Vancouver two days before the lunch and it was interesting to here of her experience running workshops  and teaching in Western Canada. We have to be most grateful for her added effort in travelling up from Wiltshire for this event – she certainly deserves a few rest days!!

 Stuart Dickens

Ceramic Curator

November 2019

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Curator's View November/ December 2019

THE CURATOR'S VIEW

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019

It is remarkable how quickly our exhibition year goes by.  However, we always try to ensure that our end of year programme is a stimulating and enjoyable event,  fitting for the Season and a pleasure for all our many visitors. All of our five makers have shown at Bevere a number of times before and it is a delight to have them with us again.

Sasha Wardell

Sasha's hallmark style, a distinctive combination of pure white slip cast bone china, treated with unique decorating techniques and finished in a carefully chosen palette of muted, subtle colours, has made her work highly sought after by private collectors, museums and contemporary art galleries worldwide.

Cristy Keeney  
 

In the early 1980s, when he was at College, Christy visited a retrospective exhibition of Picasso at the Tate gallery and many of his influences derived from seeing that work – especially a collection of small card-board cut-out and folded, figurative sculptures. These simple two dimensional pieces opened a world of possibilities on how he would approach his own work. We always have examples of his fine work in the Gallery, nevertheless we always look forward to a new group of his pieces with anticipation.

Lara Scobie

Lara emphasises that it is the balance between composition and form, absence and presence, that offers some of the most exciting opportunities for expressing her creative voice. She describes the space between pragmatic considerations and artistic intent – where technique, material, and creative insight meet – as the driving force behind her work. Her work always adds something special to the Gallery which immediately attracts our attention

Ross Emerson

Ross's quite unique work has not been at Bevere for some time. His work now consists of a range of ‘ hand-built ‘ clocks, vases, dishes, candelabra, candlesticks and anything ‘funky’ enough to grab his imagination. He uses a great variety of colours and decorative techniques to get the effects he is looking for. We can predict that this work will make you smile.

Francoise Dufayard

It is particularly pleasing to have one of our favourite French makers here again after too long a time. She has developed a very personal interpretation of terre vernissée or slipware, which creates a translucence in her work and gives her decoration a quality one sees only in painting; something of a rarity in this medium. The elegance of her decoration and her choice of colour always appeals.

Finally we have two Maker's Lunches during this longer feature programme. We have had a particularly enjoyable programme of Lunches this year and I am no doubt that these two Lunches in November and December will sustain that reputation.

Sasha Wardell – Saturday, November 9  (1200 -1400)

                                         Ross Emerson – Saturday, December 7 (1200 - 1400)

BEvere Gallery's October's Maker's Lunch

BEVERE GALLEY

MAKER'S LUNCH OCTOBER 2019

SANDY BROWN

Each month, we have the privilege of showing studio ceramicists with well established reputations for their skills and creative endeavour. Sandy Brown, by any criteria, is a maker of international standing. The very fact that her work is in 45 museums worldwide is testament to her status. It was immensely enjoyable having her join us for the Makers Lunch celebrating her feature here at Bevere.

Sandy's abstract decoration is instantly recognisable and her work has a timeless quality. She has undertaken huge projects, which are well known but, by contrast, she continues to make tea bowls, plates and strong sculptural pieces. This is an important show of her work for Bevere Gallery as it is a number of years since she last had work here.

Personally, I feel she epitomises ceramic art; she has produced original and striking work -  year on year - for several decades. I know it is another cliché but it is so true; her creativity is boundless. 

Someone once described Sandy's studio and gallery in Appledore as an inspiring and wonderful place. Indeed, I still have vivid memories of my visit  although it was a good few years back and I can only agree – it is the essence of creativity and the spirit which pervades Sandy's work.

We were surprised to hear that she only became engaged with ceramics during a five year stay in Japan where she worked with a number of eminent makers. What she welcomed about the Japanese approach was the freedom of expression which now defines her pots and their decoration. She talked very clearly about her approach to colour and her free flowing brush lines as well as her innovative combination of different clays for contrast and texture.

She is a great believer in pots being used and clearly her plates and pots will do much to enhance the eating and drinking experience. There is no sense in which she is precious about her work – functionality means what it says.

She returned to the UK from Japan to a very different environment and her vivid decoration and experimental use of clays stood out in a rather more constrained ceramic culture. It would need an essay of some length to cover the issues and life events raised by Sandy. What emerged more than any other factor was the concern to remain true to herself. This was a most absorbing two hours spent together and I am grateful for the spirit of enquiry that our lunch colleagues brought to the discussion. Long may Sandy continue to make such scintillating work.

BEVERE GALLERY MAKER'S LUNCH

ASHRAF HANNA

SEPTEMBER 2019

 

We have, once again, enjoyed a Maker's Lunch that confirmed the contribution that these events make to understanding the creative drive of ceramicists and their making processes. We could not have had a more informative and entertaining two hours than with Ashraf Hanna whose work - along with that of his wife Sue Hanna – is featured at Bevere during September.

Ashraf is amongst the most elegant of makers whose modern flowing pieces have a strong presence  and have been a feature of UK ceramics for some years. This is work which ticks all the boxes for me and always demonstrates high level design and making skills. In his own words, hand-building his forms, making both individual and related groups of vessels, he ensures each object informs the next. The profiles, lines and spaces emerging from this process of development, their ultimate placement in relation to one another, the juxtaposition of sharp lines and softer curves, has become his major interest.

Sue's work also displays technical prowess but is vividly contrasted with her husband's. Her inspiration is tribal art and this pervades her work. The masks and figures of different cultures have informed and broadened her interest in and understanding of both beauty and craftsmanship, of contrast and opposites, darkness and light, wakefulness and sleep, and of the cycle of life itself.

During our discussion together, we learnt that Ashraf, with his background initially in theatre design, learnt from Sue in London the joy of working with clay and making pots. In Egypt where he was born, he spent considerable time drawing, particularly pots and ceramic vessels which go way back into Egyptian antiquity. Good drawing involves serious and attentive looking; what emerged from his description of the design process was his focus on form and line – best demonstrated in his cut vessels included in the group of pots on show. These are not casual cuts into the clay body – each is precisely placed to enhance and add insight into the shape and volume of  the vessel.

Design is a very powerful aspect of his work – indeed evident in Sue's fine pieces too. We spent some time  talking about the potential contribution of design conscious studio potters to the commercial ceramic world. Ashraf has the potential to get involved but, importantly and perhaps not surprisingly, emphasised the importance of the quality of the relationship between designer and maker.

We discussed at length Ashraf's approach to colour. I have to say that his yellow and black vessels look radiant in the Autumn sunshine as it streams into the Gallery. It is also evident that light gives even more strength to his undulating vessels giving each of them changing perspectives as the sun moves across the windows.

There is so much that can be said about this time with Ashraf – hopefully this brief review of our time together has given some sense of the pleasure and insights that we had from our time with him.

I am most grateful for the effort he made to be with us from Pembrokeshire. Thank you Ashraf and all  who made the lunch such an enjoyable experience.

Stuart Dickens

Ceramic Curator

September 2019

BEVERE GALLERY

MAKERS LUNCH – SEPTEMBER 2019

ASHRAF HANNA

This month's Featured Makers are Ashraf   

and Sue Hanna 

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Ashraf will be joining us for the Bevere Gallery Makers Lunch on 7th September. Ashraf is amongst the most elegant of makers whose modern flowing pieces have a strong presence  and have been a feature of UK ceramics for some years. This is work which ticks all the boxes for us and always demonstrates the highest  level design and making skills.

Sue's work also displays technical prowess but is vividly contrasted with her husbands. Her inspiration is tribal art and this pervades her work. Unfortunately family commitments mean that she cannot be with us  for this event.

All of the available lunch places are taken  - however given the popularity of these enjoyable and informative events you may like to join us for the next one with Sandy Brown 

 the contemporary ceramicist of international reputation on Saturday 5th October.

JACK DOHERTY MAKER'S LUNCH REPORT JULY 2019

Once again we have had a delightful Makers Lunch and this month we were joined by eminent maker Jack Doherty, who has an established  national and international reputation. He has been a friend of Bevere Gallery almost since we specialised in studio ceramics. Our collaboration with the CPA during his time as Chairman involved curating and setting up major exhibitions and his support and encouragement has always been unerring.

Importantly we have a fine group of new work from him which confirms our long-standing view that inherent in the apparent simplicity of Jack's vessels is a subtlety in texture and decoration which can only be achieved through years of experience and a highly developed aesthetic sensibility. Indeed this became a focus for our discussion in the gallery as we stood around his vessels before lunch. Simplicity is the bedrock of his creative drive and he acknowledged that this takes time to achieve – he quoted the sculptor Brancusi who wisely said that simplicity is complexity resolved. Indeed one of the complex paradoxes is that the Doherty decorative process has a significant element of uncertainty through the firing process and yet what we see is self evidently Jack's voice. His work also reinforced our perception about the 'presence' of individual pots and it was noted that even the most modest of his vessels – in scale that is - has elegance and resonance.

His ceramic career has involved a number of major step changes – moving after 25 years working near Ross on Wye to take up his leadership role at the Leach Pottery St Ives – his significant term as Chairman of the Craft Potters Association – and most recently returning to his independent role as ceramicist in Mousehole, Cornwall. Each of these periods prompted many questions which Jack answered with openness and candour acknowledging that each has involved a different range of skills and indeed management.

Importantly, this lunch demonstrated once again that the more time we spend looking and talking about specific work - its making and creative processes - the more we come to respect and admire the outcome.

Everyone including Jack thoroughly enjoyed our two hours together.

Stuart Dickens Ceramic Curator 

BEVERE GALLERY MAKER'S LUNCH - 1 JUNE 2019 JITKA PALMER

Once again, we have had a most stimulating lunch with a highly respected maker, confirming that our decision to promote ceramics through intimate and discursive lunches with ceramicists has proved a very positive initiative.

Jitka Palmer has been showing at Bevere almost as long as we have been specialising in ceramics. She is a constant observer of people and places and her many sketchbooks are translated into her pots which always draw attention and are much admired. Indeed she brought a number of her sketch books with her and they clearly demonstrate the provenance of her work.

Her painterly decoration is redolent of her Czech heritage and is very much three-dimensional art. I have been thinking about what attracted me to her work initially. I believe that her use of the brush with a confident and yet relaxed style and importantly her subject matter – primarily human - is the key. Her constant observation of people is reflected in her prolific and yet original output.  There is no doubting the maker of these pots as she clearly has a distinct voice.

I suspect that painting is in her DNA as she has been drawing and using colour since a very early age. There is certainly no diminution of her creative drive and she finds time to sculpt in stone as well as paint and produce decorated vessels. Her use of porcelain without over-glazing is an ideal material for her decoration and retains that strong watercolour feel and emphases her Slavic influences.

Her career has been an interesting and at times difficult journey. Trained as a doctor in Czechoslovakia during the Soviet era she then taught anatomy which certainly underpinned her fascination with people and their activity. Supported by her husband she decided to undertake a ceramics course in the UK and although this was an economically difficult period her creative drive and spirit saw her through and to the creation of her own workshop. The rest is history as they say, given that Jitka has become such an established figure in ceramics.

This brief resume of our time with her hardly does justice to the frankness and lucidity which Jitka demonstrates when she talks about her work and the direction that it has taken. To be sure she will be painting and making as long as her health allows and as to how it may develop – as she says this is entirely influenced by what she sees and the world around her. She feels strongly that climate change is the issue and hopefully her work can reflect key aspects in subtle and yet telling ways.

This was a most enjoyable lunch and I am extremely grateful for the effort Jitka made coming up from Bristol and indeed the contribution of our lunch companions whose questions and comments added much to the debate and our insight into Jitka's art.

Stuart Dickens

Ceramic Curator

 02/06/19

The next Maker's Lunch will be Saturday 6th July - Jack Doherty 

We are delighted that Jack Doherty is coming to join us for lunch and conversation about his work and career in ceramics. He is an established maker with an impressive CV including Chairmanship of the Craft Potters Association and management of the Leach Pottery in St Ives. His decorative voice is distinctive and since moving to the South West his decoration increasingly takes on the hues of the ocean surrounding Cornwall. We anticipate that this collection of work will be no less impressive.  This should be another stimulating Makers Lunch. Do contact us to book your place with us.