THE MAKER'S LUNCH MARCH 2020 RUTH GIBSON

Last month I welcomed a maker new to Bevere Gallery - Sharon Griffin - and this month we are delighted to have yet another fine maker who is new to this Gallery – Ruth Gibson, who we were pleased to invite to join us for our Makers Lunch. Her impressively constructed and decorated work undoubtedly helps to maintain Bevere's reputation for diversity, originality and quality

Ruth 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, Welsh coast and mountains. She certainly does just that and her imagery and the overall design of her work is striking.  

I first saw her pieces at the Oxford Ceramic Fair last year and her distinctive black on white decoration immediately drew me in. Once again, we are seeing the two major elements in art and craft – undoubted quality and skill combined with an original voice.

Ruth gave many insights during the two hours spent talking with her about the way her creativity has developed over her years as an artist maker and the constant desire to take her work forward. Apart from the work on display in the Gallery, Ruth also produces large outdoor pieces  - mostly on commission – and her enthusiasm for the grand scale was self evident.

Clearly, her black on white – often porcelain produces striking  - indeed memorable – pieces. Her description of the way in which screen printing – one her major techniques – has to be approached to avoid spoilt outcomes made it clear that printing was no straightforward decorative choice.

It became increasingly evident during our time with her that her creative energy demanded the range of skills which she has in photography printmaking and working with clay in different modes.

A significant number of her pieces are mounted and everyone acknowledged that her landscapes particularly involving winter trees, which she loves and swooping murmurations of birds benefited from the perspectives gained from wall hanging. Having said that her bowls and platters demanded to be picked up and studied at length.

Whilst black and white dominates it also emerged that Ruth has a strong desire to use colour – albeit sensitively to enhance her imagery. Whatever direction her work takes, we were left in no doubt that the distinctive Ruth Gibson voice will remain.

Thank you Ruth for a stimulating and enjoyable event.

Stuart Dickens

Ceramic Curator

March 2020

THE CURATOR'S VIEW

FEATURED MAKERS

February 2020

After our traditional opening of the year with the Annual Graduate Show  - which was very well received – it is now time to start the featured maker calendar for 2020.

I am delighted that we have Sharon Griffin opening the programme. She is one of a number of first time makers joining us at Bevere during this year. 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 pleased that she will be joining us for a Maker's Lunch when we can explore her inspiration and making processes. We have been particularly impressed with her distinctive approach and the quality of her work. Looking forward to seeing her exceptional pieces in the gallery.

Debbie Barber will be known to many of our visitors. She 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. We are particularly pleased that we will be setting her work alongside Sharon's sculpture – the contrast will lift the spirits I am sure.

The Graduate Show dominated the main Gallery space during January and now we will be reintroducing the wide range of ceramicists that we show here at Bevere. There will always be something new for you to see here.

March's News Letter

What’s On at The Gallery  in March

The Featured Maker programme this month involves a long standing friend of Bevere, who has exhibited here since winning the Bevere Graduate Show some years ago now and a new comer to Bevere, who has already made an impact on the ceramic sector with original work beautifully and imaginatively decorated.

Ruth Gibson is the maker new to Bevere. 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, Welsh coast and mountains. She certainly does just that and her imagery and the overall design of her work is striking. I first saw her pieces at the Oxford Ceramic Fair last year and her distinctive black on white decoration immediately drew me in. Once again, we are seeing the two major elements in art and craft – undoubted quality and skill combined with an original voice – establishing a maker as one to watch and in our case one to Feature at Bevere. She also talks articulately about her creativity and she will be featuring in our Makers Lunch on 14 March

Christopher Taylor is an old friend of Bevere Gallery and we delighted to be featuring his work here again. 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. He has been working on developing his decorative style and we anticipate seeing some exciting new pieces. Christopher was another successful Graduate Show exhibitor and we know from that time he has always had an impact on our visitors. The design and shaping of his pieces has always been interesting and his unusual colour combinations and patterning make his work immediately identifiable and has clearly contributed to the selling of his fine work.

This years ceramic programme is already generating considerable interest and positive responses. I hope that the ongoing selection of featured makers throughout the year will maintain that enthusiasm. Stuart Dickens Ceramic Curator

13th Annual Graduate Show Winner

Upcoming Featured Makers’ Lunches Saturday 4 April - Chris Carter Saturday 2 May - Wendy Lawrence Tickets cost £15 per person and include a discussion in the gallery around the Makers’ new work followed by a private lunch and further discussions in The Stable with our Ceramic Curator and the Featured Maker. Contact The Gallery on 01905 754 484 to book your place.