Newsy article by Potter Pete Higgs "Spooky Event"

 "I just wanted to share this with you, it may make an interesting piece for the blog!

Iain and I were recently in France on a house hunting trip and decided this time to rent a gite as we were basing our search in the area just south of Poitiers. Online I found a lovely gite near Ruffec called Le Bois de L'Eglise and we had a great week. The owners, Tony and Bev are a great couple and have been really helpful with our house search and the evening before we left, they asked us over to their farmhouse for a meal. Halfway through the meal on the terrace, I glanced over to the doorway and did a double take. There on a stand next to the door was one of my leaf sculptures! It turned out that Tony had bought it for Bev a few years ago from the Bevere Gallery website. And it was shipped over to them.

We were all dumbfounded by this chance of fate. What are the odds that I randomly choose this location to stay and this gite too. Even then, if Tony and Bev hadn't been such a nice couple, then we wouldn't have been on their terrace to be reunited with one of my own sculptures 700 miles from home?"

Pete

 This leaf was sold during Bevere Gallery's very first Sculpture Trail in the Gardens of Bevere Knoll

Through the years Pete has made numerous garden sculptures including many leaves.  We do have just one leaf  at the moment available in the Gallery.

 k

THE CURATOR'S VIEW – September 2015

"We are grateful for the continuing positive feedback from the Gallery's visitors. Whilst most of it is complimentary about so many aspects of what we try to achieve, it is the engagement itself between staff and visitor that is most important whatever opinions are expressed.

Studio ceramics is a live craft; it impacts on our senses as good art should and often demands to be touched. There is something almost preternatural about the pleasure we gain from holding or caressing a tactile vessel or sculptural piece. Equally it is clear that even the inexperienced gallery visitor gains something from articulating his or her feelings about a maker's work. We will always encourage that dialogue – please do chat with us when you have the chance.      

Adam Frew

is the new name to the Gallery this month. He lives and works in Northern Ireland. He loves to throw pots - which is good news in the era of the cast and computer-designed vessel. His signature is his quirky decoration which adds a strong contemporary feel to his functional work. It is that quirkiness which brings renewed pleasure to the owner on each occasion they are used."

Rachel Wood

has featured at Bevere a number of times over past years and her work always pleases. She is strongly influenced by the spirit of place, as a recent residency in Australia demonstrated. Her distinctive painterly decoration will impress those who have not seen her work before and renew the admiration of those that have. I am particularly taken with the shape and volume of her bowls. I know that presence is an overworked word in our vocabulary but they certainly have it.

Chiu-I Wu

is a ceramic sculptor with self-evident oriental influences – she was born in Taiwan - but with a contemporary design that appealed to so many who saw and bought her work when she was last at Bevere. Her craft skills are of the highest order with immaculate attention to detail. This is work that is about line and perspective – it is often that elegance of the whole look of her work that catches the eye. More than that the pieces are distinctly hers".

Stuart Dickens

Curator's View - August 2015

This month is particularly interesting.  Two of our featured makers have been included because I saw them when they shared a large stand at Ceramic Art London in 2014 - something I don’t think had been done before.  Dennis Farrell and  





Angela Verdon

 have known each other for a long time and they recognised that their utterly contrasting styles would create an impact that would do much to enhance both their work – and so it did. 

I was particularly impressed and felt then that they should be seen in tandem at Bevere. Dennis will be known to some of our visitors for his organic painterly pots strongly influenced by land and seascape. Angela’s pieces are sculptural, sinuous pure white pieces that demand our attention. It will be her first showing at Bevere. The challenge for me will be to maximise the contrasting bodies of work to the benefit of both. Let me know what you think.

Linda Styles

 is the third featured maker and provides yet more contrast. Described as a heady mix of the quirky, haunting and thoughtful, her work is not easy to categorise. Abstract decoration with a free use of contrasting colours gives her pots a

--> ‘second look’ quality which has been a characteristic of her work for some time. Linda is a three dimensional ceramic artist whose work is uncompromising and strikingly original.

During this month we will also be showing new work by Andrew Palin.

A completely different colour palette marks his return to making after recovering from a major operation. Once again we see how time out from the business of making is often the trigger for a change in creative direction.

To say there is something here for everyone is a cliché I know, but part of the joy of curating is to bring together unexpected alliances and to indulge in free-wheeling contrasts. It works for me!

Stuart Dickens - Ceramic Curator

THE CURATOR’S VIEW – JULY 2015

This month we have four featured makers. Two have never shown at Bevere before and it is a pleasure to have them here throughout July and hopefully beyond.

James Campbell is a distinguished maker and I cannot understand why we have not shown him before. Never mind, I am delighted that his work is here now. His focus is very much on the relationship between form and image. The painted scenes on his functional pieces are about the spirit of place and as you turn a jug or look at a plate from a different angle new perspectives emerge. This is the joy of three dimensional painting.

Daniel Boyle makes wood-fired, salt-glazed ware with a strong contemporary feel. The craft tradition is here, sure enough, as you succumb to the desire to handle this tactile work. Studio ceramics can bring so much added pleasure to mealtimes and I am in no doubt that Daniel’s work epitomises that notion.

Peter Hayes has shown at Bevere over a number of years and his creativity never falters. This small group of pieces has emerged from his work in developing a craft village in India. He has given much to local craftsmen and, in turn, he has discovered new materials and processes. These pieces, shown along with some of the more recent ceramic work we have of Peter’s, are made of bronze and glass to brilliant and original effect.  

 

Wendy Kershaw uses porcelain, as she says, to ‘illustrate an intimate world in which small acts of everyday life are imbued with importance’. Skilled artwork and her sideways look at the world produces wall pieces which we know our visitors will be drawn to. Once again we are showing the work of an original talent and along with our other featured makers we have a rich and diverse mix in the Bevere tradition.

 Stuart Dickens

June 2015 - Curator's view

Difficult to believe that we are already half way through the year and our evolving collage of fine ceramicists continues to unfold. The three makers featured this month you will have seen before. They are as diverse a group as one could bring together, however they share many of the same qualities – craft skills, a distinct voice, innovative design and a love for their chosen materials.

Gabriele Koch has been amongst the elite of studio potters for many years. She has provided us with a small group of pots which demonstrate her ability to create vessels with great presence, whatever their scale. She has two styles of work on show – smoke-fired (the technique that established her reputation) and black stoneware with inlaid porcelain (work which she has developed over the last two years). They make for a striking contrast. Handling these fine pots brings me particular pleasure - they epitomise, to my eyes, the meaning of ceramic art. I would be surprised if you were not similarly impressed. Tell me if you agree - or disagree for that matter!

 

Keith Varney has exhibited at Bevere a number of times since appearing in our Graduate Show in 2012. His singular work, meticulously designed and constructed, has made a significant impact on the ceramic landscape. His engineering background is more than evident and his attention to detail enhances the geometric designs that have become must have pieces, judging by his recent sales.

Annabel Faraday has been showing at Bevere for a number of years. My last posting on this blog gave notice of a commission undertaken by Annabel to translate images we had taken of Worcester and environs – some familiar and others less well known - onto her distinctive pots. We are delighted to be showing these for the first time; they are evocative reminders of this historic and attractive city. I hope that you will like them too. We will also be showing some of Annabel’s framed collagraphs – she still sees herself as a printmaker whatever the medium

 Stuart Dickens - Ceramic Curator
 

ANNABEL FARADAY – THE WORCESTER POTS

Annabel has shown at Bevere on a number of occasions. She is amongst a small number of ceramicists who have thoroughly mastered print on clay techniques to produce evocative pots which reflect the essence of the many places she illustrates in her work. It was this ability which led us to commission a series of pots using images of Worcester. Whilst there are one or two views that will be instantly recognisable, there are several new takes on familiar landmarks. 

We  are delighted to be featuring these fine vessels in June and hope that you agree with us that they are beautiful reminders of the wealth of striking architectural and riverside imagery that the City of Worcester offers residents and its many visitors.

THE CURATOR’S VIEW – May 2015

"Keeping the gallery as a stimulating visitor experience is a major part of the curatorial challenge at Bevere. Our approach is to maintain the quality standard which defines the gallery and to ensure that there is always something new – either in terms of first time exhibitors or new work from our regular makers. The studio ceramic environment is dynamic and we are seeing more technical and aesthetic developments than at any time I can remember.

This month we have one new featured maker and two previous exhibitors.

Kate Scott is someone whom I have wanted to feature at Bevere for some time. She was particularly known for her tin glazed earthenware; however over the last two years, Kate has developed a range of stoneware which has attractive and innovative decorative features. The work is elegant and instantly attractive and hopefully visitors will have the same response as I did when I first saw it at Ceramic Art London.

I have always had an interest  in ceramic sculpture and this month I am delighted to see the return of Sheila Spear,

one of the most successful exhibitors in the Cornwall Show we held in 2012. Her distinctive figurative pieces display her fascination with the medieval. Once you have seen her work you will always recognise the idiosyncrasy of her modelling and the subtlety of her decoration. Her artistic voice is truly original.

Tim Andrews is

amongst the elite of studio ceramicists who have been a major influence over the last two decades. His smoke-fired raku is technically of the highest order and his design skills are evident in every piece. I have always been struck by the presence which his work has and the way in which it so readily communicates with the viewer. Tim has literally just returned from Japan where he has had a very successful exhibition. The Japanese are the most discerning of ceramophiles and to sell well there is an indication of the impact of Tim’s fine work.

So there we are, once again I hope that we have fulfilled our key criteria – craft skills, original voices and contrasts which reinforce the joy of difference".

   Stuart Dickens