Saturday 15 MAY until 29 JUNE 2010

After a career as an art teacher, Val Bestwick went back to college and graduated in 1991 at Herts College of Art and Design. Since that time she has pursued her career as an abstract painter, working in oils and exhibiting her work in her home town of York but also in London, Cheltenham and several northern galleries. In recent years she has had three successful solo shows in Oxford.

This exhibition is her fifth at Pyramid Gallery in Stonegate and will include paintings that Val has worked on over the last nine months. Some of these have been inspired by a trip to Montenegro in the summer, which Val says has taken her work in a new direction. Whilst providing a new excitement and a new palette to explore, the experience has provided a challenge to Val as she works hard to avoid obvious motifs in her work, instead striving to reflect the spirit of the place in the painting. The grace of the finished paintings bely the effort that has gone into their evolution and the new work sits comfortably alongside those paintings that continue her recurrent themes of eroding landscape of which the artist says:

‘The magnificence of glacial erosion in Alberta, Canada, the evidence of time passing in the faded frescos of Tuscany, the colour and patterns of Morocco and the natural and man-made erosion scars of the North York Moors, all combine to inform my paintings.

My interest in the marks made in the landscapes and its tactile surfaces began about eighteen years ago when I was a mature student studying for a fine art degree at St. Albans College of Art and Design.

The initial starting point for my work was Carlton Bank near Stokesley, where many sketchbooks were filled and large-scale charcoal drawings made. From these evolved the painterly language of textured layers scraped back to reveal the workings underneath.

My interest continues with studies made in the Canadian Rockies where signs of erosion are carved out on a magnificent scale, some forming amazing pillars of rock strata, and where glacial melt-water creates wonderful turquoise and emerald lakes.

The changes of light, the soft focus of mountains under cloud, as well as the continuing input from the North York Moors will be an inspiration for my work for a long time.’

His pots are all hand-thrown, and the focus has always been on pure form. John uses celadon, ochre and shino glazes, made from wood ash and clay, ingredients local to the studio. Decoration is kept to a minimum.

"I am excited most by the work of Bernard Leach, Hamada Shoji and the Eastern School of pottery. The strength of their pots lies, I feel, in their quietness.

"A newly built kiln has enabled me to start soda-firing."
John's work has been widely exhibited in leading galleries including Galerie Besson, Contemporary Ceramics and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Alpha House in Sherborne, Beaux Arts, Bath Rufford Ceramics Centre in Nottingham, as well as other galleries.
It is included in many collections at home and abroad.

He is a Fellow of the Craft Potters' Association (CPA), and a member of the Gloucestershire Guild of Craftsmen

Born in Prague in former Czechoslovakia and brought up in England, Peter Layton studied ceramics at the Central School of Art in the swinging 60’s. He went on to teach at the University of Iowa and the University of California at Davis. On his return from the United States he founded the glass department at Middlesex University.

Peter Layton is one of the pioneers of the new Studio Glass movement, having established the London Glassblowing Workshop beside the Thames at Rotherhithe in 1976.

In 1995 the workshop moved to its current location at the Leathermarket near London Bridge, and Peter subsequently set up the Glass Art Gallery to provide a showcase for glass artists from all over the world. In 1996 his book “Glass Art “ was published by A&C Black and the following year he founded and became first chair of the Contemporary Glass Society, representing Britain at numerous international symposia.

Peter’s approach is experimental and his pieces seek to express the magic of glass, its sensuality and fluidity. As an inveterate beachcomber much of his work is inspired by shells and pebbles, lichen patterns, found objects and places visited. Recent works explore the theme of ice and snow; exploiting the way glass freezes at a particular moment in the cooling process. Such pieces record intention and accident, a process partly controlled, partly natural, in the endeavor to create objects that express more than purely functional or decorative qualities.

The studio’s philosophy is that each piece should be unique and signed by the artist. Free blowing allows for a degree of involvement and attention to detail not possible in standardized production.

Peter Layton and Associates Limited was formed in response to a desire to work on a more ambitious scale. Since its establishment in the early 90’s the company has specialized in combining glass with metals to create spectacular sculptures to enhance challenging spaces, e.g. some of the world’s largest cruise ships.

He is considered one of the finest glassmakers working today with pieces in major public and private collections throughout the world, enjoyed by many. He exhibits internationally on a regular basis.

In 2006 London Glassblowing celebrated its 30^th anniversary, making it one of the longest running studios in Europe.

In 2008 he became a Freeman of the City of London, and an Honorary Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers.

‘I intend my work to have an aesthetic that goes beyond function to express the material’s inherent qualities and stimulate and engage the senses. The skills I learned in designing for manufacture have since influenced my subsequent work both in concept and technique.

I try to bring visual impact into my work through the use of understated yet striking shapes and textures, examining the tactility and sensuality that can be achieved using wheel cutting and polishing techniques, and the interplay of the contrasting properties of blown and cut glass.

This sensual element comes from the irregularity and diversity of natural forms: the landscape, the human body, or some significant aspect of one of these.

Recently I have moved towards more one-off, sculptural pieces, using abstract forms to explore themes of movement and physical interaction. ‘

Joanne Mitchell gained a first-class honours Bachelors degree in Three-Dimensional design at Manchester Metropolitan University, specialising in Hot Glass and Metalwork, and went on to win a scholarship to study for a Masters Degree in Glass Product Design with the University of Wolverhampton, in collaboration with the Edinburgh Crystal Glass Company.

The scholarship allowed a free reign within the factory's production facilities to develop production prototypes for a range of contemporary glass tableware and giftware, working directly with skilled craftsmen to push the boundaries of crystal manufacture and design. On completion of a Master's Degree, she worked for Edinburgh Crystal as an in-house designer, designing both catalogue lines and special commissions for the Edinburgh Crystal and Thomas Webb brands.

In 2003 she founded Joanne Mitchell Glass Design, creating her own range of limited edition and one-off handmade studio glass designs, working with experienced glassblowers at the National Glass Centre, Sunderland, and integrating the advanced cold-working skills she learned whilst working within the crystal industry.

Her vessel designs are influenced by the many contradictory properties of the material itself, and often incorporate references to nature, balancing bold form and considered surface texture, blurring the boundaries between the sculptural and the functional.

She continues to work as a freelance design consultant for Edinburgh Crystal and Caithness Glass, as well as working to commission for private clients, from giftware design to one –off sculptural works.