A Sense of Place

Chelsea is the person behind the brand ‘After Providence’. They are an illustrator and paper artist based in Singapore and the United Kingdom. Chelsea’s work draws from slow days indoors and the natural world beyond. Each unique house is lovingly handcrafted from paper and displayed inside of miniature glass bell jars.

Local Hotel Parking is a surrealist hand cut collage and embroidery artist based in Manchester, She is inspired by conspiracy, the sound of Hawaiian guitar and old ladies in charity shops.  LocalHotelParkings work is fun, vibrant and eye-catching; capturing your imagination and dreamscapes with her surrealist tongue in cheek humour.

Olivia Bliss is a visual artist, specialising in printmaking and the director of printmaking charity Carousel Print Studio, based in Sheffield.

Olivia studied BA (Hons) in Fine Art (Painting & Printmaking) at the Glasgow School of Art, winning the Glasgow Print Studio Prize for excellence in printmaking, for her degree show (2009).

Through her work she explores landscapes and our connection with place through walking, frequently incorporating topography, maps, microscopic imagery and direct traces of the landscape. Olivia is interested in a wide variety of printmaking processes including lithography, etching (with chine colle), monoprint, linocut and collage to create her art, whilst pushing the boundaries within these techniques.

The Miners Walk is a three colour stone lithograph, hand printed in Yorkshire. It was developed from doing the Miners Walk in Snowdonia National Parc and is evocative of the windy wet weather at the time.

Heulwen predominantly uses glass powders and frits to create subtle, almost hidden and ghosted images that instil a sense of mystery and intrigue whilst capturing the atmospheric mood, light and textures of the wild and windswept places of her childhood in North Wales and Mid Wales. Her work hints at our memories of people, places and times past that we can no longer see, touch or return to, yet we can still feel what remains hidden below the surface. This is particularly relevant in her collection of tableware titled Tir Du/Black Land which pays homage to the drowning of the village of from Bala Capel celyn and the Tryweryn Valley, with screen printed poetry by family friend Rhodri Jones who went to Capel Celyn school as a boy and whose family have farmed the surrounding hills for generations. Heulwen was born at the side of Llyn Celyn and so the place has special meaning to her, which she hopes is reflected in her work.

Julie invites you to “Come Wander with Me. Whether urban or woodland, coast or field – no matter. The pace of walking matches your thinking. Your gaze falls to your feet, a small object catches your eye – a fragment of pretty shell or unusual shaped twig”.

Using lost wax casting and burnout techniques these gathered objects are transformed into metal to create wearable and collectible pieces celebrating Nature’s treasures.

Julie is a hands-on designer/ maker completing all stages of the process herself, preferring analogue tools to work at a thinking pace.

Complementing her practice Julie also enjoys working with students at Wrexham School of Creative Arts, Glyndwr University, where she teaches on the Applied Arts degree course.

Roz has a background in Floristry, a degree in Applied Arts (metalwork) and interest in Archaeology which merge together to form what she describes as an “ever evolving taxonomy of wearable talismanic keepsakes”.

Roz describes herself as “a dawdler, one who ponders and wonders as I wander. I am fascinated by the smaller, subtle things in life which contribute to the rich tapestry of our truly amazing world”

Hedgerow, meadow, woodland and seashore reveal innumerable tiny treasures; leaves, seed heads, twigs, lichen, fossils, shells, seaweed. She collects and studies these curios. She feels they keep her grounded and connected to nature. With their tactile qualities enriching her day.

Roz attempt to evoke the passing of time with rich patinas and gradation of colour, which evolves in her workshop through traditional silversmithing techniques and vitreous enamelling.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

John is a glassblower and beekeeper living in North Wales, each vessel is infused with the honey gathered from his native Welsh Black bees. To create his honey infused glass John combines the natural synergies that occur in glassblowing and beekeeping. From the flowing movements required of the glassblower and the beekeeper, to the natural flowing movement of the glass and the honey.

The resulting reaction of each infusion encapsulates and preserves traces from the bees in patterns of bubbles ensuring, each piece is unique. All the pieces John makes are free formed, some of the forms are taken directly from the hive and others are adapted from these forms and the natural incurring flow of the materials.

“Ostranenie: encouraging people to see common things as strange, wild or unfamiliar; de-familiarizing what is known in order to know it more differently or more deeply”

As a magpie of treasures that others would deem mundane and invaluable, Fran is fascinated by ‘ostranenie’. Finding beauty in surfaces and objects that are blemished and imperfect. This resonates within her whole practice; seeking to challenge the viewers perception of the familiar or previously overlooked, as well as the value attributed to the used and the antique.

Responding to found objects (especially rusty items) as well as her own photographs of surface pattern and texture, Fran works with mixed media/ textiles. She aims to balance these found items with meticulous needle lace and needle weaving stitches and nostalgic mixed media compositions; to create layered, often textural pieces permeated with intrigue.

Jenny Rothwell works with anodised aluminium and silver to create this light and colourful range of jewellery. Each piece is a unique interpretation of her mountain and coastal walks. This collection is inspired by her explorations of the Eryri (Snowdonia) and Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacon) National Parks.

Jade Mellor is a jewellery designer-maker from rural Cheshire, currently based in North London. Jade inherited her love of making from her father, a cabinet maker who converted a Victorian Chapel into the family home, filled with antiques, curios and a museum-worthy collection of tools. Growing up in these unusual surroundings, it is in museums and workshops where Jade feels most at home.

The Caddis jewellery collection is intended to protect and adorn, made by Jade Mellor and inspired by the sculptural cases of the caddisfly, a clever creature known as “nature’s architect”.

Each caddis insect builds its own protective dwelling at the bottom of ponds and streams by gathering their favoured natural materials to build their distinctive structure. Carefully sorted and artfully arranged stones, twigs, or shells are all bound by their own waterproof silk to create the velvety smooth interior.

Jade is fascinated by how these creatures embellish themselves to become one with their environment and uses her research at the Natural History Museum to create this jewellery collection as wearable sculptures.

Each piece is carefully hand finished to make sure each organic texture is always comfortable to wear, finished with a luxurious highly polished interior to smoothly hug the finger.

With over 65 years in the trade creating beautiful objects with wood, joiner Neville Mellor says he was practically “born in the shavings”. Neville revisits traditional techniques using historic tools from his remarkable, museum worthy collection. The timber and objects that he uses tell a story of England’s past. By re-imagining them as both functional and decorative pieces he wants to make sure they are not lost or forgotten. These rustic benches and stools have been hand made using wood reclaimed from the built environment. Incorporated into the design there may be holes, fixtures and marks which are a consequence of their original use as part of an industrial structure. They are integral to the character of the piece, making each one unique.

Sometimes the wood may have been submerged for it’s working life, which could be around 70-100 years old. The consequence of this may be water weathered areas, for instance on the old English elm benches which give a subtly undulating surface. Or, in the case of the black oak it is the contact with steel fixings which have blackened the wood to a deep blue/black hue. Neville responds to these reclaimed materials to produce work with personality to last generations.

My work encapsulates the rugged beauty of my home landscape – a quarrying village in North Wales by using the physical characteristics of Welsh slate and other locally sourced materials. This involves exploring the full potential of slate by incorporating it with ceramic processes to create objects that depict forms of the land as part of a circular process whereby I have been personally shaped by my surrounding landscape form and shape its raw materials. A process of sculpting the materials that’s sculpted me. These features are reflected in the shapes of the slate through high firing and in the patterns and colours of the ceramics created through glazes made from slate and other collected materials such as heather and the gorse flower. The fired slate and gorse flower glaze are in sharp contrast but accentuate and complement each other echoing their relationship within the landscape. Gathering and reclaiming materials locally sourced gives you a new way of seeing and appreciating what’s always been right in front of you.

Florence Hoy is the designer/maker behind Florence Makes and is currently based in Leeds. Florence was originally trained in ceramics but found more joy in creating the paper test pieces prior to crafting the vessel. As a result, she now works primarily with found papers included vintage Ordnance Survey maps, rail tickets & British stamps.

Florence is currently exploring the theme of repetition in the curious commodities collection. The potential that repetition can bestow on an item is fascinating; the most rudimentary of objects can evolve into something grandiose, something which far exceeds its previous status. It transforms the insignificant and overlooked. Whilst each piece created is unique, an intermittent sense of familiarity is apparent throughout the collection.

Greg Meade is a Manchester-based printmaker, designer & photographer, operating from his studio in the heart of post-industrial Ancoats. An architecture obsessive, he produces bold, graphic print work across a broad range of processes under his studio pseudonym Habitats.

Habitats express thoughts on gentrification. As city borders creep and expand they sweep up the last remnants of the industrial heritage landscape and with it force the working classes from their homes under the guise of redevelopment.

Tara Squibb has lived on the Powis Castle estate for almost 30 years, an idyllic, quite remote location in the heart of Wales. Her ceramics are greatly influenced by surrounding landscapes, the natural world, geology and an interest in unusual glazing and firing processes. She takes inspiration from natures surfaces, textures, and colours to create wheel thrown and hand-built pieces, using mainly stoneware clay. After graduating from Wrexham Glyndwr University in 2017 (B.A. Hons 1st in Applied Arts), Tara then gained an M.A. with distinction in Art Practice, investigating alternative firing techniques and adapting blacksmithing techniques for use within her work.

Born in Wrexham in North Wales, Rhi graduated from the Design Communication department of the North Wales School of Art in 2013, and went on to study Inter-Disciplinary Printmaking at the Wroclaw School of Printmaking, Poland, where she was awarded her diploma in 2015.

Printmaking forms a large part of Rhi’s practice not only for the beauty and possibilities of the technique, but also for its inspiring role in the democratisation of the arts, with its possibilities for reproducing artworks for wider distribution.

Serigraphy is Rhi’s preferred medium for the infinite possibilities it allows in the layering of colour and texture, she is drawn to the visibility of the ink on the page and the flatness of colour.  It demonstrates a tactile alternative to the more commonly employed digital form.

Rhi’s work reacts to ideas of people, place, language and culture often taking the form of layered maps, prints, books, with a particular desire to capture and explore domestic traditions and ‘people’s history.’

Rhi states that “Geography is a huge factor in my practice; through my work I attempt to capture the essence of a place, or at least, of my experience of it. For this reason, travel and research are central to my work. I am interested in the way in which illustration and printed matter can bridge the divide between cultures and so my practice therefore often takes the form of illustrated books, maps and recipes, inspired by my own journeys and discoveries”.

Koa is inspired by a love for the coast and the UK’s thriving creative community.

Based near the water’s edge in Sully, South Wales, their location gives them space to pause, evaluate and enjoy life a little more. They hope to capture this feeling in each piece of handmade jewellery, reflecting the coastline and all its colours and forms.

Environment sustainability is a key ethos of Koa Jewellery. Each piece of jewellery is crafted using pewter containing 100% recycled tin originating from unused and discarded electrical goods.

Karen Howarth Ceramics Jewellery is a contemporary, colourful collection made from black porcelain casting slip, layered with white decorating slip and finished with a high quality ceramic decal. The jewellery collection comprises necklaces, earrings, brooches and cufflinks in four different designs. Each item is fired to a high temperature and beautifully finished to create a strong yet light and wearable piece of colourful, ceramic art jewellery.

The designs for the jewellery are taken from the artists larger wall mounted work and maintain the detail and quality of the original art work. Karen works form her garden studio on the edge of the Yorkshire Pennines, a landscape which is a contrast of vast open moorland, hills and valleys and woodland with meandering rivers. The work is very much inspired by a love of nature and the lines and patterns within the landscape.

Having trained in ceramics in London, I moved to the area 20 years ago. Living in the Vale of Clwyd, close to Denbigh, my studio is based in the heart of my home – literally the dining room! Perhaps it is this that defines the small domestic pieces that I primarily make. This wheel-thrown work, with the hand-drawn decorations, reflects the nature and surrounding landscape from which I draw inspiration; decorative, but intended for practical use, they are also dishwasher safe.

Alongside my thrown work, I also make larger vessels. These are hand-built and take on a more abstract form of decoration – again reflecting local landscape and dramatic weather as inspiration. Here I have freedom to use clay in a more expressive way and to experiment with locally found materials, which I often use in the making process.