One of the highlights of the exhibition year at Barton upon Humber’s Contemporary Art & Craft, Gaolyard, St Ives – A Special Place, opens on Saturday, September 11.
The Maltkiln Road gallery’s Exhibition Officer, Richard Hatfield, is delighted that potters based in the former gaolyard at this Cornish seaside town are to display their work in this month long selling exhibition.
“Two years ago we had a small exhibition last year which featured the work of Sarah Dunstan, one of the potters who works from Gaolyard Pottery,” he recalled.
“We offered to return her unsold pieces and the location and set up at Gaolyard seemed idyllic.”
“It was my first visit to the area and I was very impressed with the high quality of the work created there and it seemed a logical step to offer a group exhibition,” he continued.
Richard explained that St Ives has long been a Mecca for visual artists through its association with the likes of Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Christopher Wood, Terry Frost, Peter Lanyon.
“The area has been strongly linked to contemporary British art and this link was firmly cemented with the opening of Tate St.Ives in 1993,” he continued. “Today St Ives has perhaps the highest concentration of artists and galleries in the country.
Gaolyard, St Ives – A Special Place is a present day representation of a legacy in the history of British Ceramics that stretches back almost a hundred years with the establishment by Bernard Leach of the Leach Pottery there in 1920.
John Bedding, a former Leach employee, established the Gaolyard Studios in 1999.
“Other artists and practitioners give you a buzz and enthusiasm for coming to work. There is also the practical side with people around to help with technical problems. At the Leach everyone used to go around and look at each other’s work. When I left that was one thing I really missed,” he said.
There is no house style at Gaolyard and the studio is now home to a range of potters who differ in method, age, individuality and experience – seven of whom are exhibiting at The Ropewalk.
Gaolyard, St.Ives – A special place features the work of John Bedding, Trevor Corser, Sarah Dunstan, Rebecca Harvey, Rick Henman, Amanda Ray and Louise Thompson and runs until October 10.
Throughout the summer in the Box Gallery we are showcasing work from makers who are influenced by the sea.
Featuring in Coastal are ceramics by Tregear Pottery from the Isle of Wight, Rebecca Harvey from St Ives, Pru Green from Essex and Dianne Cross from Yorkshire. A new collection of work by Tony Bellars of King’s Lynn brings a bright splash of colour, looking at his fishing boats and gulls you can almost smell the salt air and hear the unmistakable cry of the gull.
This month in the Box Gallery we are celebrating everything nautical with a range of makers from around the UK. Their pieces aim to represent the fun of the ocean and the curious creatures that live within it.
We have a range of ceramics and prints to transport you back to the seaside or give you gift inspiration for that perfect someone who is never far from the beach. So why not come and visit the Craft Gallery today and start your holiday early with a piece from our exhibition, transforming your home into your very own seaside escape.
Here are just a few of the pieces we have on offer in the exhibition.
You are probably wondering why we have a boat within the Box Gallery exhibition!
Not only does it match this month’s nautical theme in the gallery it also promotes Barton’s Heritage Open Days and the free tours taking place from September 14 to September 22 in the neighbouring Barton Haven Shipyard.
Don’t forget to book your free ticket today along with many more events on offer at The Ropewalk.
Selected by Rob Moore and Melvyn Petterson, this biennial exhibition aims to show the best of our region’s printmakers.
Situated on the rugged south coast of the Isle of Wight, Tregear Pottery produces a beautiful range of handmade stoneware pottery. Each piece is made from fine white stoneware clay. The work is hand decorated in a variety of designs – all drawing their inspiration and influences from the exceptional beauty of the surrounding landscapes.
Trained in Kyoto, Japan, in porcelain throwing, Neil’s passion for pottery has seen his work travel across the globe. He continually pushes and challenges the work at Tregear Pottery, refining glazes, developing new designs and expanding the studio. Neil has been awarded with a number of grants, international show selections, and other accolades for the quality of his work. The work is sold in several galleries and shops on the Isle of Wight as well as many well-known outlets across the mainland and now at The Ropewalk. Come in to the Craft Gallery during the month of June and admire the coastal bliss that Neil Tregear’s pottery creates.
Noted brings together artists Lou Hazelwood and Sarah Pennington for the first time, as they negotiate similar interests in the mechanisation of music and roles of women.
Hazelwood’s piece in progress ‘La Boheme/I’ve Got Her Disease Inside My Head’ transposes pianola scores to playable music boxes working with the oppositional themes of the female bohemian and hysteric.
Pennington has constructed a series of new sculptural observations and print works through a combination of historical research and material experimentation with player piano rolls and remnants of piano mechanisms.
This exhibition showcases the initial findings of their separate but related research into, and interventions with, the structures of pianos and pianolas, and social situations surrounding their key periods of use.
If you are interested in following these processes of exploration as they continue to unfold, please visit www.facebook.com/Noted
Rachel Morley creates unique felt items by hand using the wet felt method. The natural colours and shapes of the Scottish coastal landscape have inspired the Pebble range or Doorstops, Cubby Bowls, Cubbyholes and Pebble Pods. Rachel experiments with wool fibres from British breeds of sheep to take advantage to their varying qualities. As a contrast, Rachel enjoys the challenges of felting with a broad colour palette to create the colourful range of bowls.
Rachel’s aim is to elevate felt craft to create innovate products for the interior, echoing organic forms of the coastal landscape. Her fine art background brings a very sculptural feel to her work which is tactile and evocative.
Rachel has a Fine Art Degree and Level 2 and Level 3 Diplomas in Feltmaking. She is a member of the international Feltmakers Association and Design Nation. She is a supporter of the campaign for Wool and member of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Rachel works from a studio in Hickling a village situated between Nottingham and Melton Mowbray. Come in to the Craft Gallery during the month of May and admire the Scottish bliss Rachel Morley felt pieces create.
