Lesley Birch monoprints, Mark Smith, John Kershaw
ceramics
John Kershaw ceramics
Mark Smith ceramics
Mark Smith ceramics
Ceramics by Jenny Creasey
Ceramics by Paula Briggs
John Kershaw ceramics
Penny Phillips ceramic sculpture
Penny Phillips ceramic sculpture
Penny Phillips ceramic sculpture
Penny Phillips ceramic sculpture
Lesley Birch monoprints
Lesley Birch monoprints,
Jill Ford porcelain pictures
Jill Ford porcelain pictures
click image
to enlarge
Paula Briggs, Fresh V
ceramic
Paula Briggs, Fresh II
ceramic
Paula Briggs, Fresh III
ceramic
PAULA BRIGGS
My work has evolved through a seamless combination of
ideas, making process and a personal obsession with sampling every and any
combination of possible eventualities within a self given brief. As a
maker I impose my own boundaries, or I would gladly produce samples
forever (I am creating my very own collection of possibilities). Visual
research in the form of life drawing & mark-making inform my work, the
female torso, although rarely as literal translation, leads to a simple,
pared down form.
Every stage of the making process allows time for
reflection & contemplation. Made to be held, each piece encouraging the
holder to reflect on their own memories & contemplate their own
obsessions, each piece holding safe those thoughts.
little pieces have their origins in an installation which
explores the human condition, focusing on habits of collecting and the
quest for perfection as a means of control over our lives.
little pieces (...of me)
little pieces are hand built , hand polished, hand held
porcelain vessels.
(of me...) because I have come to recognise myself in
making these pieces, reflecting both the fragility and strength we find
within ourselves. They have seen me laugh, cry, sing and dance as I polish
away at the surface.
(of me...) because like me they are a little cracked &
fragile around the edges, but strong when it really counts.
I began making animals whilst studying ceramics at Lancashire Polytechnic,
which to begin with was purely pig studies, spending alot of time at
agricultural shows in the rare breeds tent.
Many Years later I'm still making pigs along with a whole host of other
animals, source material is never far away - a cow in a field, a scratching
chicken or a dog racing down the street.
Sketching from life is a very big part of my work making me study the
subject at great length.
The pieces are all hand crafted in earth stone clay being finished either by
Raku or smoke firing
I sell work widely through galleries across the UK and in Europe.
Jill Ford completed her HND in Design Crafts
at York College (as a mature student) in 2003 and now produces a range of
porcelain vessels and candlesticks working from her home studio near York.
Old-fashioned English tea roses are amongst my favourite flowers. Their full
flat blooms with densely packed petals are intense and beautiful. The
Charles de Mills rose has confetti like petals forming into whorls and is
perfect for portraying in porcelain. The clay is rolled out thinly, rolled
several times more, then modelled into flower heads and leaves. Hundreds of
tiny layers can be used to make a single large flower. My attention was
captivated by this rose at Manor Farm, Thixendale where I was sketching and
carving on an Open Gardens day in the summer.
White on white always conveys the subtlety of forms, the colour of bare
unglazed porcelain is delicate yet alive. To give sparkle and contrasting
surfaces I add touches of glossy white glaze on the petals.
For the first time and new for the Tea Roses range, I have used black clay -
very chic and very sexy, it gives an unusual twist to an old fashioned
theme. Black clay is in fact chocolaty brown in it's raw state, the
blackness developing as it matures during firing at high temperatures. I use
the black roses to embellish simple elegant porcelain bowls and vases to
give them a contemporary urban edge whereas the wall pieces are lavishly
full of opulent heads all vying for space and attention.
'Bowl with bound handles' 21cm dia £37.50 or 15cm
£25.50
'Round distorted jug' 17cm high £39.50 or 14cm £29.50
'Dog looking up', ceramic £400
'Sitting Hare', Porcelain and oxides £310
'Sleeping Hare', Porcelain and oxides £400
'Two Lambs', Porcelain and oxides £370 for the pair
JOHN
KERSHAW
Most of my work is wheel thrown.
I like the process of creating in action rather than stillness,
and the form and detail produced by that action.
I produce a wide range of work,
stoneware, porcelain and raku,
functional and individual expressive work.
I like to create strong
contrasting textures of clay and glaze,
often using powdered clays on the wet thrown pot
to build up a heavily encrusted surface.
I have a taste and interest for ancient and primitive pottery,
partly because often the means of production are direct
and very simple, but also because ancient artefacts
are disconnected from their time and immediate function
which gives them great peacefulness.
I use a copper Barium matt glaze on much of my work,
both in porcelain and stoneware,
with a variety of coloured glazes for brush decoration.
I have always had a strong interest in all
areas of the arts. I spent ten years developing a successful career in
television as a technician supervisor and Vision Mixer. After starting
a family, a night class in sculpture was followed by a two year HND in
3D design, where I specialised in ceramics.
The subject continues to engage me both
practically and intellectually. I volunteered for the Yorkshire
Museums Trust helping with their very large collection of studio
ceramics donated by William Ismay. This collection is now a key part
of the Yorkshire Museums Trust's new ceramics gallery which opened in
September 2009.
My earlier work was predominantly
thrown porcelain using a palette of green and white. I have been
especially influenced by eastern concepts of simplicity and natural
form. In 2007 I was fortunate enough to attend a 6 week ceramic
seminar in Japan, meeting and working with many other international
ceramic artists. Over the last 3 years I have been developing my
skills as a sculptress and it is this area of ceramics that I am now
concentrating on. Over the last couple of years I have been working on
heavily textured, figurative forms using mixed clays and oxides. I
have continued an exploration of animal forms both real and imaginary
as well as playing with textures and mixed media. I hope to move
towards using the human form in future work.
I am very interested in collaborative
work both within the wider community in a community arts context and
within an artistic environment. In order to continue working as an
artist, I also teach ceramics part time this finances my studio and
allows me to develop my sculptural skills in clay and to constantly
expand my knowledge of other art forms.
All my work draws inspiration from the sea,
and each piece has its own story to tell.
When I produce a piece it becomes a
narrative, the tale of a journey. Objects discovered on the shoreline find
themselves becoming part of the story...
I use a variety of decoration techniques as
my ideas continue to flow and move on to create different avenues and new
approaches. Ships, boats, and wrecks are the main fabric of the work, made
from clay that has the textures of metal and wood objects salvaged, press
moulded, and patched together to produce a variety of forms that look as
though they have sailed the Seven Seas
'A Burning of Portentous Red' mixed
media/monoprint
'Jericho' mixed media/monoprint
LESLEY BIRCH
“Time . . . inconstant,
ever-changing . . .”
My themes tend towards
Time and the inconstancy of Nature. I am very much an intuitive artist,
responding to the process of painting and printmaking as I go along, aiming
for a semi-abstract image. I enjoy accidents and revel in the unknown.
Sometimes the pace I work at is frantic and fearful where I don’t think I
know what I’m doing, but then the point of resolution happens and that is
always the reward. I often feel I’m in a race against Time, painting like
the wind – a manic process.
I use sketchbooks, a camera, my
memory and my imagination and often work on several pictures at a time. My
main influences are the landscape of my native Scotland and the Romantic and
Metaphysical poets, particularly Wordsworth and John Donne. Artistic
influences include Turner, John Blockley and the German Expressionists.
I am
interested in the marks, not a literal representation. My aim is to express
‘feeling’ in the work.
Lesley Birch, York
2011
BIOGRAPHY
Lesley began painting seriously whilst living in Cambridge in 2000.
Originally from Glasgow, she grew up in a creative environment with her
architect father and artistic mother. David Donaldson, painter to the
Royals, lived across the road, as did Sir Alexander Gibson, Conductor of the
Scottish National Orchestra.
Lesley attended Glasgow
University gaining an M.A. in English Literature, French and Music, moving
constantly in various creative circles. This led to a short pop career
touring as a keyboard player in the 1980s with chart-topping band Hue and
Cry and writing/performing her own songs.
Art
was always dormant though and now Lesley, having married and brought up her
son, is compelled to paint and make prints. She is mainly self-taught,
attending many evening courses and summer schools whilst teaching in
Cambridge where she was a member of Cambridge Open Studios and the Cambridge
Drawing and Painting Society.
Lesley currently divides
her time between painting, exhibiting, studying and teaching English
Literature at St Peter’s School in York.
Awards
Highly Commended,
Harrogate Open, The Mercer Gallery 2009
Derwent Award, The
Artist Magazine 2008
Satellite Award, Leeds
Open 2009
Semi-finalist, The
National Art Competition, Chichester 2009
Recent Selected Exhibitions
Mood & Matter,
a mixed show, Art in the Mill, Knaresborough April 2011
Great North Show, 2009,
2010
The Sea, The Sea
– two-woman show, Gallery Forty-Nine, Bridlington
