Ceramics & works in mixed media...

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Thrift Design

Lucy explores and develops unwanted materials to create art from salvaged resources.  “I am an independent artist working from my home studio in Lancashire.  After years of working in cold, damp and grubby rented workshops, I finally have my own studio with heating.  After working as a freelance artist for more years than I care to remember I decided to change and dedicate my creativity to creating things that inspired me and hopefully other people, to care more for our environment.  My main source of inspiration comes from the colours and textures present in our natural environment; something that catches my attention repeatedly is the way colours fade away on a misty morning.  The light flattens everything so the landscape appears to be a series of cutout layers or stage sets.”  All of Lucy’s art pieces are made from ‘rubbish’ or as she prefers to call them ‘salvaged materials’.  “I relish the challenge of using discarded materials to represent animals and birds and I try to capture their personality and movement.  Sadly, most of the creatures I create are endangered or at risk often due to the miss-use and disposal of the materials I use to create them.”  Lucy trained in 3D Design at the Manchester School of Art where she studied materials.  She loves experimenting and breaking rules; there is hardly a piece of equipment in her studio that she uses for its intended purpose; “I have a trouser press, which I use to fuse plastic and a soldering iron I use to cut fabric, amongst other things.”

 

Drew Caines

Drew’s inspirations include his love of nature, folk, sacred and ethnographic art and contemporary influences such as Japanese character culture and urban street art.  “I describe my style as 'Archaic pop' art because it blends the ancient with the modern.”  Some of Drew’s work highlights the plight of several British wild animals; the hare, the stag and the fox; “these animals have a long association with British myths and folklore, three of our native animals that have suffered most and continue to suffer from persecution and habitat loss.  They stand as symbols of the wider ecological disaster that is engulfing our planet.”  Each of Drew’s animal head forms start with a ball of clay and is pinched out into a cone shaped form.  The exact size, shape and proportion determines the final dimensions of the head and what type of animal it will be.  Once the basic form is created he gradually refines the shape and sculpts the details either by adding small pellets of clay or pressing into the form with his fingers and tools.  For most pieces the final stage is to add the ears or, in the case of the stags, the antlers.  Although the heads have an economy of form, it takes him many hours repeatedly smoothing, pressing and sculpting the clay to find the exact form that he wants.  "I obsessively work on small details and refine curves until they feel just right.  This is especially true of the hares' ears.  Each pair is unique, and this helps create the individual character of the animal.  People often say my pieces have a pleasing tactile quality which I believe arises naturally through my simple but obsessive making process.  It is literally hands on."

 

Rosemary Craft (Rosie Brown)

Rosie was born in rural Norfolk where growing up in the country fired a love for nature and animals.  She remains fascinated by the beauty and harmony of nature that arises from the struggle for survival.  Rosie developed her talent for art after completing a 3D diploma in college then went on to complete a three-dimensional honorary diploma at Manchester Metropolitan University.  Since completing her diploma she has successfully run her own art studio in Stockport, developing and expanding her creative flair for sculpture and illustration.  More recently Rosie has expanded her love of nature by writing a series of children's books.  Rosie's aim is for her books to inspire children with a sense of imagination and a love for the earth.  She hopes that those who read the books will grow up questioning the world, and that they will be encouraged to make a positive change.

 

Suzanne Breakwell

Suzanne has experience working as a model maker for film, set decorator & dresser for TV & working on community film projects.  She also has experience as an arts facilitator in primary schools & community workshops.  “The inspiration for my work comes from an overwhelming love & fascination with the natural world & all its glorious flora & fauna.  My sculptural pieces are constructed from wire, papier mache, pages from books and cotton rag papers.  I use various self-taught techniques to describe & build character to my chosen subjects.  I hand paint ink on to the cotton rag papers and pages to help bring life & vibrancy to each & every piece.”  Suzanne adores paper as a medium & loves the beauty & simplicity of creating her pieces from a medium that is so widely used by so many on a daily basis.  “It’s the potential of paper & what it might be able to become which sparks my imagination.  I find the delicate yet strong characteristics of paper make it an interesting & versatile material to work with.  It is this contradictory nature which fascinates me & its ability to continually reinvent itself never ceases to amaze me & continues to push me forward developing new ideas & techniques.”

 

Olivia Brown

Olivia is an artist based in Yorkshire.  She graduated from Manchester University in 1999 with a first class honours degree in Contemporary Craft (where she specialised in ceramic sculpture and printed textiles).  She has always had a deep love of animals and nature and it has always been a natural choice of subject matter for her in her work.   “I started to specialise in dogs after being inspired by a wonderful Doberman I looked after while I was at university, and everything just catapulted from there!  The unique characters present in the animal kingdom always have and continue to provide endless fascination for me and with this a rich and unlimited source of inspiration.  It was whilst at university and living on a farm that I first started incorporating canines into my work.  I became fascinated with their (often absurd) individual personalities and since then on I have become intent on capturing this in my work.”  Each sculpture is completely made and finished by hand, no moulds whatsoever are used.  Initially a frame is made to support the clay during the making process, Olivia then uses slab building techniques to create the piece using a smooth black clay which contains a fine grog giving a close texture and a fine surface to the finished sculpture.  “As my sculptures have grown in popularity, demand has outstripped my capability to keep up, and it became apparent I needed to train someone up to take over the finishing side of the sculptures.  Luckily my husband who has a degree in ceramics stepped in and is now my full time assistant.”

 

Robert Race

Robert has been a full-time toymaker for over thirty years.  Starting with dolls’ houses and miniature furniture he has subsequently concentrated on moving toys and simple automata, which have been widely exhibited in Britain, Europe and beyond.  His work covers a wide range; moving toys for children and adults, simple automata, kinetic sculpture, exhibition design, mobile decorations for hospitals and restaurants, donation boxes and interactive collections of toys for museums.  He tries to make things which move in simple but interesting ways and traditional moving toys have influenced him strongly (travelling to Europe, Indonesia, Mexico, India and Japan in search of them).  His moving toys and simple automata incorporate a wide range of natural, re-used and recycled materials.  Much recent work is in driftwood, and collecting it gives him a good excuse for going to the seaside.  Since 1991 he has been an active member of the British Toymakers Guild and was Chairman from 2003 to 2006.  Drawing on his previous experience in teaching science and running a teachers' centre, he still occasionally works with adults and children, using his own work and a collection of moving toys from around the world as a resource for education.  

 

Gwen Bainbridge

“When I started making pottery at school, I was less inclined to the pots in books of Leach tradition, but more towards the like of Lucie Rie and Mary Rogers.  I was obsessed with throwing, honing my skills in the school pottery room.”  After a Foundation course, followed by a degree in Glass and Ceramic Design, Gwen trained as a teacher, teaching at both Primary and Secondary level, before becoming Technician/Demonstrator and then lecturer at the then Cumbria College of Art and Design, now University of Cumbria.  She was also fascinated with what was going on within the Textiles and Print resource areas.  This led her on to developing techniques from textiles and translating them into a ceramic context.  “Now, I work in Bone China but predominantly in Porcelain, beginning to create more narrative references to local stories and memories, using a kind of hand-me-down heritage theme.  I’m drawing from my past, living on our rural farm in Cumbria, where working on the land was a more harmonious partnership.  This has highlighted the reality of the decline of these habitats, their natural inhabitants and the traditional methods of working the land.  Even within my lifetime I’ve witnessed many birds, wildlife and flowers that are now sadly much less prevalent.  In my work I want to reflect what we still have and to celebrate craft in its multiple guises.”

 

Christine Moss

Christine is a wire sculptor based in Harrogate.  She uses a variety of new and recycled metal materials to create sculptures that reflect her interest in the natural world; wild and domestic animals and birds.  She creates open wire sculptures which convey form and movement.  Other works created using a range of mesh gauges are dense and suggest mass and volume.  Each work is an original study of anatomy and behaviour with a sense of life and energy and her subjects range from small birds to life-size dogs and horses.  Her work is exhibited across the UK and has included The Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

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Gin Durham

The inspiration for Gin's unique animal sculptures stems from a lifelong love of animals and how they are represented within culture.  Gin draws on an imagination which has been shaped by treasured tales and imagery which she has translated into beautifully detailed porcelain and stoneware sculptures.  “Clay is such a wonderfully expressive material and lends itself to exploring emotional connections with storytelling and expressing the behaviours of the animal subject.”  Her material choice of clay as a medium is an extension of her drawing, painting and illustration practice; one informs the other.  The clay is drawn and shaped to represent fluid forms based on anatomically correct studies, though rich creativity enhances and exaggerates detail in the work.

 

Mathew Edenbrow

Mathew grew up in a small village in West Yorkshire surround by countryside and farmland which was foundation for his love of animals and the natural world.  He spent his early life exploring the countryside and marvelling at the animals he could observe going about their day to day lives.  His fascination with wildlife grew further from watching David Attenborough documentaries and reading the books by people such as Jane Goodall.  Seeing and reading about animals in far off places was the driving force for Mathew wanting nothing more than to work with animals.  This fascination lead Mathew to Leeds University where he studied ecology.  He went on to complete a Masters degree in ecology with a focus on animal behaviour at the University of Bangor, followed by a PhD investigating the evolution of animal personality traits at the University of Exeter.  Mathew then worked for several years in academia, a career that permitted him to observe a variety of animals in their natural environment and gain deeper insight into their behaviour and motivations.  Mathew now works as a self taught ceramic animal sculptor based in Llangeitho, Ceredigion. His work is strongly informed by his varied life experiences with animals and his academic understanding of animal behaviour.  “My work seeks to capture everyday moments within an animal’s life and aims to provide insight into animal behaviour and how small, often minute changes in body form or expression can convey not only information, but also give insight into an individual’s intent, motivation and emotional state.  During the creation of each piece I also hope to show the beauty of the animal form and hopefully reveal something to the observer they may not have previously noticed.”

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Virginia Dowe Edwards

Virginia has been sculpting her ceramic dogs since graduating from Wolverhampton University in 1997.  She now works from home in a converted outbuilding in Warwickshire, where she combines family life with her ceramics.  “When I was little, I had a big tub of plasticine that I loved modelling into all kinds of creatures great and small, but especially dogs; I loved them!  It was my childhood dream to sculpt peoples dogs for them and now I'm lucky enough to do just that.”  Virginia has always loved dogs, ever since growing up alongside 'Tolly', a gorgeous Labrador cross Irish Setter.  “We had him when I was two, and I was eighteen when he died, he seemed more like a brother than a dog.  He was my confidant and always available for a hug.  I see a lot of him in the dogs that I make, inspired by his big floppy ears and paws.  Tolly was followed by Polly, a bouncy Springer Spaniel cross Labrador, who could jump a six-foot fence in her younger days.”  The ceramic dogs start their lives as hollow extruded tubes, which she then cuts and forms.  “I start by making the body, which I pack with newspaper to maintain its shape and leave until its leather hard.  I then start to construct the rest of the dog, bracing its limbs with props and clay until they are dry enough to support themselves.  Where the clay is joined, I leave a torn or cut edge, which I hope, shows how I am using the clay.  I tend to let the clay and the extruder direct what the end dog will look like.  For example, the clay tube may curl as I extrude it, which I will then use for the neck of a sitting dog, which is looking down.  Once dried and fired they are then smoke fired in a small, lidded brick built pit, which is packed with combustibles and left to burn down overnight.  The spotty and patchy dogs that I produce are the result of masking areas where I don't want the smoke to go.  I enjoy the very natural and often unexpected tones that are achieved using this method.  I add glazed noses and eyes to add a bit of life.  Each dog is completely unique as a result of this process.”

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Jennie Hale

After studying Ceramics at Art school Jennie worked as Marianne de Trey’s workshop assistant at Shinners bridge Pottery, then set up her first pottery in West Devon.  It is here that she started to write and illustrate her diaries, at first to her pottery and then as work in their own right.  “My pottery studio is now situated by the side of Colliford Lake on Bodmin moor in Cornwall.  It has been purpose built, from a steel frame, is timber lined and clad in locally sourced Larch.  It’s light, warm and delightful to work in, and in a beautiful environment.  The landscape that surrounds me is full of flora and fauna to find and capture with drawings and words, I try to go out each day and make drawings or notes on nature, this gives me a unique collection of sketchbook diaries that inform my ceramic work.”  Jennie has been lucky to travel to wild places in this country and abroad and in each landscape, urban or wild, she sees nature arrive and survive.  It is that incredible spirit of survival that has always inspired her work and fuelled her sense of adventure.

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Please note the images below may not be works featured in this show.  Once the show starts we'll be adding photos and a virtual gallery tour so you can explore what the maker's created for this special exhibition.