“Sing A Song of Sixpence”

The spring exhibition, which begins on Sunday March 3rd and continues till the end of April, strikes a mood of optimism with a line up of collectable and appealing art by talented British artist/makers.

Most people will have heard of Mary Rose Young as she is famous for her brightly coloured and highly decorated ceramics but she has a new strand of work – a series of pastel paintings – influenced by her travels to Italy and others depicting more local landmarks near the Forest of Dean, but every bit as colourful as her pots.

Artist printmaker Julia Manning is passionate about making prints; be it etchings, lino cuts, woodcuts or collographs. She loves the technical processes as much as the fine art. She interprets her observations of the environment around her and translates these findings into print. We have named this exhibition after one of her limited editions !

Collectors of pottery will welcome the chance to see a new collection of thrown porcelain and stoneware by ceramic artist Margaret Gardiner. Her pots are for domestic use and visual enjoyment. She uses vapour-glaze with a cocktail of salt, soda and stannous chloride creating a lustrous, rainbow finish.
She has a love of textures: lace, peacock feathers, shells and shiny things and adores the process of evolving these into her ceramics.
We are delighted to welcome Philip Hearsey who makes elegant table sculptures and vessel forms in real bronze influenced by landscape and sea. Inspired by events of the natural world and motivated by the materiality of bronze he engages the sand casting process to create the basic forms that he cuts and carves to create unique vessel forms and table sculptures invariably polishing defining edges in contrast to exquisitely oxidized surfaces.

Kay Leverton from Gwent will be showing her new collection of scraperboards which will include hares, owls and all things mystical. She uses her tools to explore her love of line and detail and the intricacy of the natural world. To scratch away the ink and reveal the creamy chalk underneath, to make up a work out of thousands of tiny lines, really excites her. Back by popular demand is mixed media artist Shirley Vauvelle who creates small pieces of sculpture, this time with a Spring theme, from clay, driftwood and found objects.

Debbie Mason from Herefordshire hand paints glass panels which catch glimpses of our local landscape with an expert touch in vibrant colours to catch the light.