SARAH Garforth’s exhibition of Upper Nidderdale and coastal scenes will
open at Village Gallery, Colliergate, York, on December 3.
Wanderings is a new body of work focusing on the North Yorkshire reservoirs
around Sarah’s home and favourite locations on the East Coast.
Sarah, a keen walker,
works in a traditional way, collecting sketches out in the field and developing
her ideas once back in the studio.
Last Light, Gouthwaite Reservoir, by Sarah Garforth
“Her aim with this new work is to try to bridge the gap between spontaneity and over-thought contrived work,” says Village Gallery owner Simon Main.
“By continuing to play with
ideas, pieces can evolve, rather than have pre-determined elements.”
Sarah has introduced
mixed media into the oils, using cold wax, marble dust, pigment sticks and
gambasol, applied with spatulas, scrapers and knives, but no brush at all.
Huts At Boulmer, by Sarah Garforth
“By working in layers,
it has allowed her to scrape and draw back into the paint, reconnecting
to the original image,” says Simon.
A preview evening
will be held on Monday, December 2, when Sarah will be on hand to discuss her work.
Tickets are available from Simon at the gallery.
“Aside from our regularly
changing art exhibitions, we are York’s official stockist of Lalique glass and
crystal,” says Simon.
“We also sell a selection
of art, craft, ceramics, glass, sculpture and jewellery, much of it being the work
of local artists – and with Christmas around the corner, there’s lots to
choose from.”
Sarah Garforth’s Wanderings will be on show until January 11 2020. Village Gallery’s opening hours are 10am to 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday.
Alison Britton: giving the Annual CoCA Lecture this evening
THE Centre of Ceramic Art’s annual Day of Clay is expanding into two
Days of Clay this weekend at York Art Gallery.
The event involves hands-on activities, talks and workshops by experts
and the launch of Gillian Lowndes’ exhibition, At The Edge.
CoCA’s Days of Clay offers the chance to watch, make and hear about the
art of clay from leading figures from the world of ceramics, including working
with animal sculptor Susan Hall and participating in performances from Milena
Dragic and Mila Romans, while David Horbury will discuss Emmanuel Cooper’s
memoirs.
This evening’s CoCA lecture will be given by potter Alison Britton OBE
on the subject of being part of the emergence of a radical abstract
expressionist style of ceramic work.
The Days of Clay coincide with the opening of a display of works by
Gillian Lowndes, the most radical ceramicist of the 20thcentury.
Fiona Green, assistant curator at York Art Gallery, says: “This year we
have extended our popular day event to a whole weekend, with fantastic
opportunities to celebrate, discuss and work with clay.
“We have some incredible experts involved, who are looking forward to
discussing their work and sharing experiences and techniques with visitors, and
there are plenty of opportunities to get hands-on and have a go yourself.
“Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity to join other experts,
enthusiasts and novices who all share an appreciation of clay.”
All activities are included in admission to York Art Gallery with the
exception of the CoCA Lecture. Visit yorkartgallery.org.uk for more
details and tickets.
Days of Clay is being held in conjunction with York Ceramics Fair 2019,
running concurrently at the Hospitium, York Museum Gardens, with support from
the Craft Potters Association.
Tickets to York Ceramics Fair are on sale at yorkceramicsfair.com; tickets
to York Art Gallery can be bought at a reduced rate if you hold a York Ceramics
Fair ticket.
Days of Clay full programme
Saturday, November 23
10.30am to 4.30pm: Artist Susan Halls in the Studio.
Come and help fill part of the gallery with a crowd of watchful clay
rabbits. Animal sculptor Susan Halls will be running a hands-on workshop
showing you a quick and effective way to make a hollow rabbit that will form
part of her Meadow installation.
Annual CoCA Lecture 2019: Alison Britton OBE,
lecture at 6pm; Q&A, 6.45pm; drinks in Gillian Lowndes exhibition, 7pm;
close, 8pm.
Alison Britton was part of a group of radical women artists graduating
from the Royal College of Art’s ceramics course in the early 1970s.
In 1993, Britton co-curated The Raw And The Cooked with Martina Margetts,
at the Barbican and Modern Art Oxford, which then toured in East Asia and
Europe.
In her lecture, Britton will reflect on this exhibition and on being
part of an emergence of a radical abstract expressionist style of ceramic work.
Sunday, November 24
In the CoCA 1 gallery:
1pm to 3pm, Clay Participatory Performance.
Joinperformers Milena Dragic and Mila Romans as “artist” and “clay”
as they sculpt out clay movements and then invite you to participate in making,
looking and moving clay to become part of the performance.
3.30pm to 4.30pm, Talk: Making Emmanuel Cooper.
David Horbury discusses how editing Emmanuel Cooper’s memoirs has provided
fresh insights into his pots and practice. David’s book on Emmanuel will be on
sale in the shop and he will be available to sign them.
In the Studio:
11.30am to 12.30pm, The Life Of A Slipware Potter.
Join potter Doug Fitch and his wife Hannah for a talk about their lives
as slipware potters, followed by a hands-on session where you can try out slip
trailing yourself.
2pm to 3.30pm,Texture and carving workshop.
Learn about hand building with artist Wendy Lawrence. Take the
opportunity to get hands on yourself and create a piece of carved, textured
clay to take home with you.
In the CoCA 2 gallery:
11.30am to 12.30pm, Children Curate in conversation
with Anthony Shaw and artist Susan Halls.
Meet the collector and the artist who helped inspire the children who
curated the current Anthony Shaw Collection display.
2.30pm to 3.30pm,Alison Britton in conversation with
Anthony Shaw.
Alison Britton will be talking with Anthony Shaw about the practice and
work of Gillian Lowndes in CoCA’s new exhibition, Gillian Lowndes: At the Edge.
Burton Gallery:
2pm to 3pm, Book Reading: The Ups And Downs In The Life Of The Fabulous
Bernard Palissy.
Join Jane Hamlyn for a reading of a quaint little book
about the 16th century French Huguenot potter Bernard Palissy and his
desperate struggles to discover the lost secrets of Italian tin-glazed
earthenware.
3pm to 4pm, Film Showing.
Watch a screening of Potshots, starring Johnny Vegas as Bernard Palissy.
Produced by Roger Law and Anya Course. Running time: 25minutes. Jane will be
available to answer any questions.
Both Saturday, November 23 and Sunday, November 24
Installation: Recycling the Tower of Pots.
The tower of pots was created by artist Lou Gilbert Scott and visitors
during the 2018 Day of Clay event. Now you are invited to watch as it slowly
dissolves, returning to soft malleable clay ready for re-use.
Hands on Here.
Get hands on with York Art Gallery’s historic and contemporary ceramic
collection; sessions usually run between 11am and 1pm and 1.30pm to 3.30pm.
Children’s ceramic trail available at front desk all day.
Gillian Lowndes: At the Edge
November 23 to May 2020
See the ground-breaking works of Gillian Lowndes (1936-2010), the most
radical ceramicist of the 20th century, in this major new exhibition.
From the 1970s onwards, artist Gillian Lowndes was at the forefront of a
new style of contemporary ceramics which explored the materiality of clay.
Her abstract expressionist way of working brought together a range of
materials and found objects that she recycled to create new sculptural work she
called collages. This exhibition showcases more than 40 artworks drawn from
CoCA’s collection, alongside loans from Anthony Shaw’s collection, many on
public display for the first time.
Accompanying the exhibition will be further displays featuring new
acquisitions by artists including Kate Malone, Emmanuel Cooper and David
Seeger.
A detail from Elena Skoreykp Wagner’s new winter window installation at Owl & Monkey, York
OWL & Monkey, the
homeware and lifestyle store in Heslington Road, York, is unveiling its annual
artist’s window installation for the festive season today.
The festivities will
launch from today until Sunday as York illustrator Elena Skoreyko Wagner
becomes the third artist chosen to celebrate the wonder and magic of a
childhood winter.
As well as revealing
Elena’s papercut installation, Helen and Matt Harris’s shop will be hosting
events to herald the season, including fountain pen-making and a Letters To Santa
opportunity, plus the chance to meet Elena and watch her papercutting in action
on Sunday.
“Come down on Sunday between12 noon and 4 pm and ask Elena to create a mini paper version of you, your friends or family to take away on the day,” suggests Helen. “You can watch Elena make her cut-and-create decorations to purchase for £10. So, come prepared with some photos for your desired creation.”
“The theme of a childhood Christmas really appealed to me, capturing that wonder and magic,” says Elena. Picture: Alice Lodge
As the installation
goes on show, Helen says: “We’re excited to be hosting Elena’s beautiful
creations and are delighted to welcome her installation and work to the shop.
“It exudes a sense of
joy and hopefulness, celebrating the everyday elements of life through her
collages, illustrations and zines. So, when we discovered her creations, we knew
they were just what we were seeking.”
Matt adds: ‘We love
the joyful nature of Elena’s work and how it captures the magic of the everyday.
It matches so well with what we hope the shop offers; a happy place to
celebrate the everyday.”
Canadian-born Illustrator Elena, who gained a BFA in studio art from York University in Toronto in 2006, specialises in colourful hand-cut paper collages, pieced together from paper snippets, along with zines. Her work is often narrative, depicting women and children, to touch gently on health and social issues, find magic and uncover meaning in the mundane.
Elena Skoreyko Wagner at work on a papercut. Picture: Kayti Pechke
“The theme of a
childhood Christmas really appealed to me, capturing that wonder and magic,” she
says of her new installation. “I have also been working with some local
designers and makers to bring my designs to some exciting new products, so I’m
really looking forward to bringing them to Owl & Monkey.”
An added element of
the window from today is the re-use of vintage Japanese papers found by the Owl
and Monkey duo. “A lot of my work uses up-cycled papers, so when Helen and Matt
gave me some old, damaged Japanese papers, I was super-excited to see how they
could gain a new story as part of the window,” says Elena. “Watch out for them
in the very many garlands I’ve been busy sewing together these past few weeks.”
The Owl & Monkey homeware and lifestyle range “celebrates the simple pleasures of home and life with a carefully chosen selection of sustainably and ethically sourced goods to enhance the everyday”.
Helen and Matt Harris’s Owl & Monkey store in Heslington Road, York
“From studio pottery
to an ever-growing range of stationery, all the products are selected with good
ethics, function and joy in mind,” says Helen.
“We also focus on the
power of sharing the skills and passions of the people behind the goods, so an important
part of our ethos is collaboration with local designers, makers and artists.”
You can discover more
about Elena’s work at elenastreehouse.com, on Instagram, @elenaskoreyko, and Facebook,
@elenastreehouse.
Owl & Monkey, 16a Heslington Road, York, is open Wednesdays, 11am to 5pm; Thursdays and Fridays, 11am to 6pm; Saturdays 10am to 5.30pm, plus Sundays, 12 noon to 4pm, November 17 to December 22, and Tuesdays, 11am to 5pm, November 19 to December 17.
York Ceramics Fair exhibitor Doug Fitch, using a sponge as he makes a pot in his studio. Picture: Kim Ayres
YORK Ceramics Fair is returning for a second year as a “top of the pots” gathering of British ceramicists in The Hospitium on November 23 and 24.
Running alongside will be the newly expanded Days Of Clay, a ceramics discovery programme run by the Centre of Ceramic Art (CoCA) at nearby York Art Gallery
Forty potters from Britain and beyond have been chosen through competitive selection by the fair’s organisers, the Craft Potters Association, to showcase their hand-crafted pieces.
Yellow Wavy Cat, front, and Glorious Cat, back, by Jenny Southam
On display and for sale in the medieval Hospitium, in the Museum Gardens, will be hundreds of pots of all shapes and sizes work ranging from vibrant to serene, minimal to magical, sculptural to utilitarian.
Among those taking part are Jenny Southam, whoseeccentric figures explore her love of gardening, as well as her interest in both Staffordshire mantelpiece figures and Etruscan tomb sculptures.
Dylan Bowen’s bold expressionistic ceramics capture the spontaneity and energy of how they are made. His work is sought by leading interior designers and his collaborations include the interior lighting specialist Porta Romana for their Bohème collection.
One of Kerstin Gren’s exhibits at York Ceramics Fair
Lara Scobie’s ceramics balance composition and form with pattern and bright pops of colour; Shipton-by-Beningbrough ceramicist Ruth King, one of the event organisers, specialises in the salt glaze technique and a preoccupation with structure, containment and balance in her luminous pots. RAMP Ceramics is a partnership between Alice Hartford and Rupert Johnstone, wherein he throws the pots and she decorates them and they share a liking for simple, clean forms.
Anna Lambert, from Crosshills, near Keighley, makes hand-built arthenware ceramics using such techniques as slab-building and painted slips. Her creative ideas reflect an interest in place, exploring narratives relating to farmland, floodwater management, woodlands and the regeneration of orchards. Inspired by new nature writing, she combines drawing with abstract qualities of pots, their spaces, edges and surfaces.
RAMP Ceramics pieces by Alice Hartford and Rupert Johnstone
Over the same weekend, York Art Gallery’s annual Days Of Clay offers the chance to “get your hands dirty” at live demonstrations by makers on the Saturday and to enjoy a series of talks, conversations and demos on the Sunday, showing how raw clay can be pinched, carved, rolled, thrown and transformed through this ancient craft.
Animal sculptor Susan Hall and potters Milena Dragic and Mila Romans are taking part; esteemed ceramicist Alison Britten gives the annual CoCA lecture; David Horbury discusses the memoirs of studio potter and arts and crafts writer Emmanuel Cooper, and the event coincides with the launch of a new exhibition by “the most radical ceramicist of the 20th century”, Gillian Lowndes: At The Edge.
York Ceramics Fair, The Hospitium, Museum Gardens, York, November 23 and 24, 10am to 5pm; entry £5, under 16s, free. For more details, visit yorkceramicsfair.com.
Days Of Clay, York Art Gallery, November 23 and 24. Visit yorkartgallery.org.uk for details and tickets.
Katie Braida at work in her studio
The 40 potters taking part in York Ceramics Fair 2019 are:
Justine Allison; Matthew Blakely;Dylan Bowen; Daniel Boyle; Katie Braida; Ben Brierley; Karen Bunting; Rebecca Callis; Isabel Denyer; Antje Ernestus; Doug Fitch; Hannah McAndrew; David Frith; Kerstin Gren; James Hake; Richard Heeley; RAMP Ceramics; Ruth King; Anna Lambert; Tony Laverick; Wendy Lawrence; Sophie MacCarthy; Sean Miller; Jenny Morten; Stephen Murfitt; Jeremy Nichols; Adela Powell; Michaela Schoop; Lara Scobie; Jill Shaddock; Patricia Shone; Jenny Southam; Ilona Sulikova; Tricia Thom; Keith Varney; John Wheeldon; Emily-Kriste Wilcox; Deiniol Williams; David Wright; Paul Young.
