Leading ceramic artists to take part in Brighton’s Artists Open Houses Festival 2016
Saturday 30th April – Sunday 29th May
Leading ceramic artists including Paul Scott, Carolyn Genders, Atelier Stella, Kay Aplin and more will be taking part in this year’s Artists Open Houses Festival 2016. The festival will take place in Brighton, Hove and beyond over the five weekends of May, starting Saturday April 30th (Bank Holiday Weekend).
Along with regulars including The Ceramic House and Salon des Sources, this year over 60 new artists houses and studios will be taking part exhibiting a wealth of artists and makers work from across the UK.
The Ceramic House is a must-see for ceramics lovers. Winner of Best House 2013, The Ceramic House is the extraordinary home and living artwork of ceramic artist Kay Aplin. For the last two years Kay has been working with sound artist Joseph Young to develop new ways of combining sound art and ceramic sculpture, culminating in a collaborative exhibition ‘In a Shetland Landscape’. As part of this project, 10 leading international ceramic artists including Paul Scott, Delfina Emmanuel, Carolyn Genders and Charlotte Thorup, have created works for an exhibition at The Ceramic House during the festival entitled Landscape:Islands. Nearly all the artists live on or come from islands and all their work responds to the landscape around them.
In addition to Landscape:Islands, Joseph Young will be working in partnership with Aural Detritus to curate sound art performance nights in the brand new gallery in the garden. The micro-gallery, called ‘In Camera’, is possibly the smallest white cube gallery in the world. Not only will it be the first gallery to promote ceramics and sound art together but it also currently the only dedicated permanent sound art gallery. Amongst the international artists exhibiting at The Ceramic House is Paul Scott. Based in Cumbria, Paul is well known internationally for his research into printed vitreous surfaces, as well as his characteristic blue and white artworks in glazed ceramic. His work can be found in public collections around the world, including the Victoria and Albert Museum London, The National Museum Stockholm Sweden, The National Decorative Arts Museum Norway and The Museum of Art and Design New York.
Two of the UK’s most distinguished potters, John Maltby and Walter Keeler, will be showcasing works at 9a Hove Place in Hove. John Maltby studied sculpture at Goldsmiths College, London before working with David Leach between 1962-1964. He then established his own pottery in Devon. His work can be found in numerous public collections including Victoria & Albert Museum, London, Crafts Council Collection, London, International Museum of Ceramics Faenza, Italy, Scottish Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh and more. 9a Hove Place will be showing the work of 12 ceramicists including local artist Barbara Gittins – born and bred in South Africa, Barbara’s work draws inspiration from African designs and the geometry and multi-layering of patterns occurring in nature.
Walter Keeler was initially drawn to pottery after discovering fragments of ancient pots picked up on the shores of the Thames in London. Since then his work has been informed by these pieces of the past but also from his own experiences of making and firing. Many international public collections hold examples of his work including Victoria & Albert Museum, UK, Los Angeles Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo and the Museum of Ceramics, France.
Ceramicist Marion Brandis has been announced as the 2016 brochure cover artist, beating more than 180 other artists to the coveted title. Marion Brandis will be exhibiting her work at an exhibition to be held at The Old Market, Hove. The exhibition opens on April 14 and runs until the end of May. She will also be showing her work at Teresa Winchester’s house in Fiveways and Sarah Jones house in Dyke Road trail.
Marion trained at Edinburgh College of Art in Ceramics. Specialising in hand-made ceramics, tiles and mosaics, often for public art commissions in indoor and outdoor settings, Marion Brandis’s work is designed to be accessible to everyone and to delight with colour and line.
Atelier Stella is an ever-changing collection of unique ceramics handmade by Stella Baggott in Brighton, England. Stella is influenced by Cornish, Italian and Swedish potters for the 50s and 60s, mixing the rustic use of patterns with frivolity of character. All her pots are hand built, sculpted from slabs and pinch pots to create unique pieces. Her works have been featured in the Sunday Times, The Independent and Good Homes magazine.
Tessa Wolfe Murray studied Fine Art at Ravensbourne College of Art followed by a postgraduate course in Ceramics at Goldsmiths College. She has collaborated with the Conran Shop, designing and making ranges of vases and lamp bases which were sold in their shops worldwide and was commissioned to make 20 vases and dishes for an Ikebana exhibition in Kyoto.
Tim Bates divides his time teaching in Brighton and holidays living in France where he creates stunning architectural, atmospheric ceramic lamps and ‘mini Eden’ planters. Tim will be lighting up the fabulous Salon des Sources venue (Seven Dials Trail) and Salon host Jaq Buckeridge will also be exhibiting her own ceramics featuring new work inspired by a recent trip to China.
New for venue for 2016, Homage, (Seven Dials Trail) will be exhibiting the work of a select group of independent makers, craftsmen and designers from North East & South East London.
A curated range of thrown tableware, decorative pottery and hand carved wooden kitchenware from London ceramicists Adam Ross and Daisy Cooper. Using traditional hand building techniques, Daisy creates ceramic forms by pinching and coiling clay allowing her to create natural and ergonomically shaped vessels and tableware. Each piece bares the marks of the making process much the same as the environment leaves on the landscape. Growing up in rural Scotland influences and inspires her work, searching for a sense of wilderness through her forms and colours.
Sue Penrose began making and designing mosaics after she moved to Brighton in pursuit of a more creative life. She soon started exhibiting and selling work through the Artists Open Houses festival and in 2013 was approached by an infant school in Eastbourne to create a school mosaic, working with all 300 of their pupils after a member of staff attended her mosaic demonstration at the festival that year. The project has led to bigger projects and she was recently commissioned by Peabody (a prestigious, London-based housing association) to install a 7-metre mosaic in an architect-designed block of flats in Central London.
The Artists Open Houses festival is the largest event of its kind in the UK, around 200 houses and studio spaces across the city open their doors to exhibit the work of over 1,500 artists and makers. Last year over 200,000 people visited the festival. With over 60 new artists houses and studios taking part in the festival this year, 2016 looks set to be the biggest Artists Open Houses yet!
Artists Open Houses offers the chance to buy a hugely diverse range of artworks directly from the artists and makers themselves. The houses are grouped into one of 14 trails around different areas of the city, each with its own unique character and atmosphere – from the fishermen’s houses of Hanover to the urban warehouse spaces of the North Laine and cottages of the South Downs village of Ditchling. This year, the Seven Dials and Hove trails both feature a variety of ceramics artists making them the perfect way to take in the festival.
Entry to the Artists Open Houses festival is free to the public.
Full listings can be found at www.aoh.org.uk
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