Stories & News
Discover the stories behind our collaborations with our makers and other creatives. Find out more about recent events and those we have coming up.
Joanna Still — Maker Moments
Large smoke-fired vessels reflecting her continued interest in the material of clay and the elemental characteristics of the firing process. All works are unglazed and are hand made on a potter's wheel using a strong stoneware clay body and fired by a low-temperature reduction process.
Studio MC, Maker Moments
We are pleased to present a new collection by Studio MC in the gallery. Utilising the versatility of clay, Studio MC embrace chance and unpredictability. Primary shapes and architectural structures lead them to experiment with the connotations of a vessel form. These objects play with the distinction between art objects and functional ceramics.
‘Crin’ Baskets — Maker Moments
The 'Crin' baskets a collaboration between Chilean designer Isabel Lecaros and Maestra Madre de Rari, a collective of 16 craftswomen from a village in the Maule Region of southern Chile.
The project came about in 2017 when Isabel met some of the women in Santiago, where they were selling small, colourful decorative objects made from crin (horsehair). Lecaros was interested in how they used this traditional style of weaving and, after being invited to the village to meet with the other artisans, he suggested working with them to explore the possibilities of this craft.
Takashi Tsushima — Maker Moments
Just Arrived, New Plates by Takashi Tsushima, Illustrator & Painter from Fukuoka, Japan (born 1969). The works of Takashi are defined by a soft semi-transparent quality, reminiscent of watercolour paintings.
Edmond Byrne — Maker Moments
We are delighted by the arrival of the new collection of glass vessels by Edmond Byrne to the gallery. One of our favourite glass artists - a long time friend of the gallery whose glass has a rare sense of warmth and softness. Edmond Byrne endeavours to create in glass, physical manifestations of our everyday emotional states by his careful selection of colour. His vessels use the materiality of glass to examine the psychology of colour. Emotions captured through multi-tonal, translucent vessels that provoke a meditative response.
Kina Björklund — Maker Moments
Our Maker Moment of the Month is Swedish Ceramic Artist, Kina Björklund. Historical references abound in the work of Kina Björklund; decoration found in 18th-century ceramics, old lace, antique brooches and old ironmongery (her sister is an antique dealer). Kina uses these" tools" to stamp her plates and bowls. They provide intricate patterns. She uses terracotta clay and white transparent glazes, which look like icing on a cake.
Derek Wilson — Maker Moments
Derek Wilson creates a diverse range of contemporary objects, from the functional to the sculptural that all stem from his continuous exploration of the altered vessel. His sculpture uses the vessel form as a means of artistic expression by exploring free and geometric abstraction. These works ask you to contemplate the significance of subtle tonalities in surface finish and distribution of light and shadow. Focusing on his skills and approach to making, he combines his minimal aesthetic with accomplished craftsmanship, material knowledge and a propensity to propel modern ceramics through the reinterpretation of its form.
“I always start with the same process, the potter’s wheel being my predominant tool. My work is never static or fixed and in some ways reflects the multifarious identities of contemporary ceramics. My objects, in their colour, shape and materiality, reference the ideas of restraint, containment and minimalism.”
Japanese Artist Makiko Oda — Maker Moments
Japanese Artist Makiko Oda’s elegant sculptural jewellery is formed from reclaimed slices of wood and layered with lustrous gold and silver leaf.
‘Expressions in plants
Moss leaves waving in the breeze
caught in a glimpse of light
The meeting edges of autumn leaves
and the happiness you feel when you touch a flower.
Scenes of nature give me pleasure.
I create jewellery to be in conversations with trees and flowers.’
Korean Ceramicist Jae Jun Lee — Maker Moments
Korean Ceramicist Jae Jun Lee creating simple forms and soft surfaces.