Georgina Warne

Georgina’s artwork has always been inspired by nature; her observations of creatures and their behaviour and the commonplace.  Georgina is often drawn in by details, qualities and subtle colour. Inspired by the poetry of John Clare, Ted Hughes and the nature writing of Richard Mabey, Robert Macfarlane and the late Roger Deakin her ceramics and printmaking is often combined where she will often print directly onto clay.  Georgina studied Ceramics and Glass at Birmingham Institute of Art and Design and MA Ceramics at Cardiff School of Art and Design.  She was awarded a Commonwealth Fellowship in the Arts and Crafts and studied in Papua New Guinea which gave her a first- hand insight into a completely different environment.

 

Shirley Vauvelle

Shirley graduated from Leicester Polytechnic in 1989 with a degree in Surface Decoration.  After taking time out to raise her three boys she has built up a small business producing unique contemporary assemblages which are shown in galleries across the country.  Her ceramic and driftwood pieces are built up with layers of colour and texture over a long period of time until the right feel and balance is achieved.  Shirley’s work is influenced by marks and patterns found on the landscape or moments she might witness while looking onto her garden.  Her wall hung and freestanding sculptures are created using white earthenware to hand build components, small creatures, birds and fish.  Texture is embossed into the surface of leather dry slab rolled clay adding interesting surfaces to the pieces and under glazes and oxides are applied and rubbed away to give layers of colour.  Components are then assembled together with driftwood, wire and vintage maps to create a narrative giving the components a harmonistic relationship with the reclaimed materials.

 

David Mayne

David Mayne is a sculptor of national repute who produces work for galleries, public spaces and the domestic environment.  Working in mild steel, stainless steel, bronze and cast-iron David creates a range of sculptures exploring landscapes with trees and animals.  Over the past 30 years David has developed his work from raw assemblage with found objects to the much more refined pieces seen in galleries across the country.  David started using metal after visiting one of Sheffield’s many scrap yards while studying his fine art degree.  He was instantly drawn to the colour and texture of discarded steel and the inherent quality it possessed. David has a lifelong passion with nature and landscape living in Holmfirth near areas of stunning woodland, beautiful hills and moorland and his work is a response to these landscapes and wilderness.    

 

Philip Hearsey

With more than thirty years of experience in construction, interiors, furniture, design and architecture, Philip brings a natural talent and creative instinct to his unique sculpture work, which in turn creates a strong emotive connection for each individual who encounters it.  Recognised for his simple, elegant, honest and timeless design, without unnecessary detail or decoration, Philip creates bespoke sculptures which result from seeing, thinking and feeling, translated through making, instinct and touch.  A strong connection with nature is a big part of Philip’s process, preferring to work outdoors whenever possible.  Outdoors is when Philip feels most connected and his work is influenced by the experience of being in the landscape rather than being inspired by looking at the beautiful views that abound in the border area of Herefordshire where he lives and works.  Once inspired, through the process of pattern making, looking, touching, altering, casting, refining, patinating, polishing, gilding, colourwashing and finishing, Philip crafts striking sculptures from sand-cast bronze.

 

Michael Disley

Michael has worked in stone, granite, and marble for more than thirty years. He has over a hundred commissioned works on public view in the UK, Ireland, and The Far East, and work in many public and private collections.  He has worked as a stonemason in Chester, lived and carved alongside the Shona carvers of Zimbabwe and carved marble in Japan.  Recently he has worked in Jaipur carving sandstone and in Xiamen in China making large granite pieces for commissions.  His bas-relief trees are carved from marble sourced from around the world and celebrate the stunning beauty of the materials; each one is unique as no two pieces of marble are the same.  This year Michael has installed a series of granite sheep seats in Yorkshire, ‘Voyage Of Discovery’ a two piece granite carving in Galway Bay Ireland, and is presently working on some larger stone trees for the 2018 Chelsea Flower Show.   He exhibits widely across the UK, and his studio for the last twenty years has been at Appleton Quarry in The Peak District.

 

Helen Leaf

Inspired by nature and prehistory, Helen creates sculptural pieces using antler, bone, silver, bronze and wood.  Helen’s background is varied; many people know her through work with bone flutes, but she also has many other interests.  It is these life experiences that she draws upon when creating her work.  Helen has spent time with the Cairngorm reindeer herd, learning more about reindeer, their antlers, and the wild mountains.  Helen also recently returned from Lapland where she spent time with Sami antler carvers.  These experiences will be inspiring her new collection of works and she hopes to return to learn even more.

 

Dinah Wyatt

Each of Dinah’s birds are meticulously hand carved from wood and beautifully painted.  No two are the same so each one has its own unique personality.

 

Rachel Thornton

Rachel lives and works in the rural North Yorkshire town of High Bentham.  She graduated from a Fine Arts Degree in 2013 where she was awarded with a First.  She was awarded with the ArtLab Fellowship Award for her degree show; this was well received as it allowed her free access to the universities print studio for a year after graduation.  Rachel now works with ambitious and experimental printmaking methods to create unique pieces that engage the imagination.  Her illustrative style translates seamlessly into print methods.  Rachel combines printmaking, painting and wood carving methods to create unique natural artworks.  She has developed her own making techniques through her love for experimentation and exploration in method and material.  This love for experimentation has brought forth her own unique ways of creating, this in turn allows her to develop a unique style and form.  Natural edged wood slabs are the detailed canvas guiding her use of colour and image. 

 

Anya Keeley

Anya was born in the Swiss Alps and her childhood was spent going on adventures and making up stories for her toys.  She has always liked making things; spending hours at the local allotments filling her pockets with such treasures as broken pieces of china, old buttons and coins.  She wanted to  become an Archaeologist (preferably of the Indiana Jones variety) but decided to keep finding 'rubbish' and make 'things' out of it.  In 1994 she studied for a HND in Design Crafts at Hereford College of Art.  Wire-working has always been the common feature of her work, using galvanised wire, shaped and bound, to form the main shape of the creatures she creates.  A layer of newspaper is added onto this former, using a traditional flour & water paste, and onto this she layers her chosen vintage paper. The final stage of each piece consists of using a water based varnish to seal and protect the piece.

 

Anna Whitehouse

A fascination in marks of erosion and an on-going exploration of tactile objects fuels the making of ceramic artist Anna.  Currently based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, Anna's practice has evolved from growing up in the region and spending time outdoors.  From scrambling over rocks in the Dales to scouring the beach for fossils near Whitby, these experiences can be seen echoed in her work.  The sculptures are slab built from sheets of clay and due to the method of texturing, each one is entirely unique and cannot be replicated.  Anna’s signature Barium Blue glaze is applied to highlight dips, with oxides bringing out the deep texturing in the surface.  The work is fired to 1280 degrees in an electric kiln before being mounted on a custom made base.  Ultimately Anna aims to create beautiful and intriguing objects that celebrate stolen moments of observation and inquisitiveness.