We are pleased to present one of our first exhibitions for 2015, ‘Lasting Impressions: Andrew Bird and Barry Stedman’,
bringing together the expressive and instinctive works of painter Andrew Bird
and ceramicist Barry Stedman. Both artists are informed and influenced by their
surroundings, using exciting relationships between colour, texture and form to
evoke the essence of an experience or a place – focusing, for this exhibition,
on the landscape of Cornwall.
Talking
about his process, Andrew Bird
states ‘the images are invariably made using sketched ideas and references from
memory or the work is developed instinctively. I am interested in the
relationships made using colour and contrasts as well as the interplay of forms
and gestural mark-making. Elements
within a painting are based on fleeting images, imagination and experiences,
which perhaps aren't visually representative. If compared to a snapshot, but
for me, encapsulate a particular slice of time. ‘
Bird is based in
Derbyshire but spends a great amount of time in Cornwall, taking inspiration
from ‘the hustle and bustle of harbours and coastal life’ and the rugged
landscape that is found both here in Cornwall and in Derbyshire.
Despite being a
ceramicist, Barry Stedman’s work also begins by painting - spending time
drawing and painting outdoors to inform his ideas with the influence of shapes,
light and atmosphere. His initial watercolour or gouache paintings, inspired by
light and patterns, are often reworked into larger, more abstract, oil
paintings that then lead into his final ceramics. Working with simple vessel
forms in red earthenware clay, Stedman uses coloured slips, stains and oxides
to create a finish which, as described by art critic David Whiting, evokes ‘the
colours and textures of weather, sky and land in-the-round’.
Born in 1965 in
Watford, Stedman returned to education as a mature student gaining a first
class honours in Ceramics from the University of Westminster in 2009. Since
graduating, he has worked as a part-time assistant at the studio of Edmund deWaal, one of the world’s leading ceramic artists.
The show,
‘Lasting Impressions: Andrew Bird and Barry Stedman’ will mark the second time
both Andrew Bird and Barry Stedman’s work will be shown at the
Porthminster Gallery, St Ives after highly successful first exhibitions in
2014. The highly anticipated new collections will be on display at the gallery
from Saturday 7th February until Saturday 7th March 2015.
No comments:
Post a Comment