Contemporary Craft and Print at Mostyn

Having graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2006, Abby is a contemporary fashion jewellery designer/maker. Working in silver, gold, precious stones and printed aluminium to create fun, feminine and easily wearable pieces of jewellery.

Abby’s inspiration comes from a combination of her love of the bold and colourful 1960’s design era combined with childhood memories of growing up in the picturesque surroundings of Summerseat, Lancashire.

Angie’s colourful jewellery is hand-crafted in her Surrey studio using jesmonite resin, sterling silver and nylon braided cord. Her modern aesthetic and playful colourful palettes are inspired by mid-century design, colour and pattern, and 20th century artists such as Ellsworth Kelly, Matisse and Patrick Heron. Originally trained as a fine jewellery designer, Angie worked for a number of high-end brands for 10 years or so, before moving from London to set up her home studio. She uses jesmonite which is an eco-friendly, water-based resin primarily used in sculpture, prop-making and architectural detailing. Angie’s process starts with a hand-carved plaster-of-paris master shape or motif. She then makes a mould of every motif ready to receive the resin. Angie then hand dyes the resin using a combination of primary colour pigments to create each colour palette. Next the jesmonite is mixed and hand poured into the moulds. Once cured, the shapes are sanded pebble-smooth, waxed and assembled into jewellery.

Ann Catrin Evans is an internationally renowned Sculptor & Jeweller. A Black, Silver and Goldsmith and a leading light on the Welsh craft scene for over 25 years. As well as large scale Sculpture, Ann has creates functional architectural adornment, home Accessories & Jewellery.

Honest craftsmanship & functionality combine in a celebration of Welsh heritage mixed with a paired back timeless aesthetic. A precise sort of understatement combined with exceptional craft, and a quiet determination to make pieces that are both beautiful and useful. Ann’s work is like that of an alchemist—the ‘non precious’ becomes precious, an old piece of iron becomes an exquisite piece of jewellery. Whether working in forged steel or copper, the ordinary becomes the extraordinary in Ann’s hands.

I trained as a production thrower in the 1970s and 80s at Birkenhead Park Potteries in Wirral, making stoneware tableware. After the pottery closed, I spent my time bringing up my family and working part-time as a pottery teacher. Now I am making my own stoneware and raku pots. My work is thrown on the potter’s wheel – I then use alternative firings- some are functional- some are not.

Stoneware Pottery – Functional
I make a variety of tableware, high-fired to 1260 degrees C. The glaze is drawn into the surface of the pot which, at that temperature, is vitrified in that it becomes ovenproof as well as dish-washer proof.

Elin is an artist from Machynlleth who makes prints using Collograph and Linocut. This series is based on the landscape around her in the Dovey Valley. The work derives from her appreciation of the rural way of life, traditions, the Welsh language, Welsh culture and the beauty of the landscape surrounding her which is an integral part of her life.

Elly Englefield trained in Contemporary Textile Practise at the University of Wales, Cardiff, graduating in 2005. Elly then went onto establish ‘EllyMental Jewellery’.

‘EllyMental Jewellery’ is the transformation of Elly’s little illustrations into lovingly and meticulously hand crafted pieces of jewellery.

Elly is inspired by designs based on her own fervent interest in kitsch nostalgia, victoriana and animals. She incorporates her drawings with found ephemera such as 1950’s books, Victorian newspapers and delicate home-made papers. Items are multi-layered with metal and coated with resin to create a strong and robust end piece.

Gary crafts decorative and functional stoneware ceramics which are strong and durable for everyday use. Each piece is hand-built and finished with unique and textural glazes. The scale of work ranges from tiny pinch pots to large sculptural pieces. His influences are many and varied and are distilled into small edition groups of work. Although functional in form, his pieces also work as stand-alone decorative items.

Having moved from Lincolnshire to North Wales Heather completed an evening course in silversmithing and then moved onto a stained-glass course. Whilst studying her passion for stained-glass was ignited. Initially focusing on making Tiffany style lamps, with processes including cutting, grinding, copper foiling and lead soldering. Copper foiling is a particular favourite for Heather. Upon retiring, Heather has had more time to devote to her business, and still gets a buzz from starting with a square piece of glass and transforming it into a beautiful artwork.

Using Irene and Edith as my creative shelter, beneath my Grandmothers memories I build, explore and create. Finding peace, rest and healing in the process of building and being creative. I take time to use Slow Building processes to allow myself to connect with the clay, the simple tools I use and adapting the forms to what I require. Using simple, primitive techniques I combine press moulding and coiling processes to build strong, structural forms. Allowing for plenty of time to clean and smooth down my work, until it holds the illusion of a thrown piece but on closer inspection shows the slight imperfection and a not perfectly circular finish is revealed. Reflecting and touching on our modern-day desire and display of ultimate perfection.

I find therapy and personal healing while I create my work, so to capture, display and heighten imperfections helps me process what’s happening in reality. Also, to celebrate the faults, downfalls and all of those occasions we’ve picked ourselves back up I find exceptionally beautiful. With a nod to the Japanese practice of Kintsugi, in repairing broken pottery with liquid gold I trim my work or highlight patterns through the glaze with gold lustre celebrating uniqueness and individuality.

Jenifer graduated with a BA Hons in Three Dimensional Crafts from the University of Brighton in 1996 and since then has been making jewellery, lockets, and small dishes in precious and occasionally base metals in her Hove based workshop. She has exhibited nationally and internationally and her work can be seen in the South East Arts permanent collection. Every piece of her work is hand made and is inspired by the natural world, with the two main sources of inspiration being seeds and seedpods, and rocks & stones.

I work with clay because of its utterly raw quality as a material. I dig it out of the beach, field or mountainside and use it almost immediately and that’s it. I feel connected to it like it’s so familiar. When I’m outside, I feel like I’m connected to the landscape so I’m drawn to mirroring that when I use wet clay. It’s so important for me to be able to make marks in the clay, spontaneously.

I use minerals and rocks to colour and create contrast in my work. I also love the vast possibilities that making bottles can present. They hold liquids, then flowers and grasses which create a beautiful, quiet still life.

Inspired by a love of clean line, pure form and pared back style, Julie Fewster, founder of Inner Finn Ceramics, makes unique, functional and sculptural objects from her studio in Northwich, Cheshire.

With a background in design and engineering, it was a five-month residency in Finland that prompted Julie to start her own ceramic design studio. She has always been drawn to natural, organic forms but the particular beauty and stillness of the Finnish winter landscape, with its bare branches and mounds of snow, affected her deeply and has continued to inform her creative vision ever since.

This desire to capture quietness, offering a moment of stillness amongst the bustle and noise of modern living, characterizes Julie’s work. In both her sculptural and functional pieces, she explores the tension of opposites: the interplay between control and chance, between soft form and hard materials and between fleeting movement and stillness.

Today, Julie’s work concentrates on slip casting, a technique that enables her to combine her technical skills with those of the sculptor and ceramicist, completing each step of the production process by hand.

Hereford based Leoma uses saw piercing, shape forming and stone setting creating beautiful wing inspired jewellery. Leoma incorporates motifs with solid shapes and stone setting for an abstract and contemporary aspect. The black and white effect is contrasted with bright and unusually cut stones that complement each other perfectly. Leoma’s wearable jewellery and objects are influenced by each other and these pieces represent sentimentality, enhanced by the intimacy created between object and body.

Originally, I trained as a jeweller and silversmith at Birmingham School of Jewellery. About fifteen years ago I was asked to lead an art project in a primary school as part of an artist in residence programme. The medium was to be mosaic, and that was when I was captivated and moved from metalwork to using glass and ceramic tiles. My techniques have grown out of my early gem-setting skills, using small pieces of coloured stained glass, glass tiles and drops and large quantities of mirror tiles to create decorative embellished two-dimensional surfaces.

Inspiration for my mosaic designs comes from my interests in East European and historic embroidered textiles, where brightly coloured silks are stitched against dark backgrounds. From this comes my use of brightly coloured glass set within black grout. It creates an additional graphic line around the tiles.

Recent work has focused on what I describe as mosaic floristry, using the garden as my inspiration, with sinuous trailing lines and floral shapes bursting with colour. A commission to create a series of floral garden stakes to decorate a garden to be opened to the public led me to create and extend my garden series, everlasting flowers bringing colour to a border or conservatory.

Lisa Reeve is a contemporary landscape artist located in Conwy, North Wales. Her distinctive artistic style captures the intricate details, textures, and contours of the stunning Welsh landscape. Beginning with original line drawings, Lisa translates her art into digital prints, offering a unique and expressive representation of the beauty that surrounds her in Wales.

Liz Toole is a printmaker who has a genuine love of birds. Working and traveling in Africa has informed and inspired Liz’s work, this is where she fell in love with nature, mainly birds, following her ceramics degree. Liz uses birds to tell a story which is usually something that has happened in her life, she aims to create a positive story.

All of Liz’s screen prints and linocuts are designed and hand printed by her using specialized printmaking papers. Colour plays a huge part in Liz’s work, she has been known to test print 60 different colour combinations for a two colour screenprint, waiting for that eureka moment.

“My jewellery is inspired by the natural world and the maritime in particular has always had a strong influence on the concept of my designs.

I view jewellery as a magical element in life, as did people of the ancient world, and as an enduring energy reaching beyond our material existence. The undulating linear decorations used in many of my designs are inspired by the childhood experience of living beside a small river in rural Suffolk, and the familiar sight of shallow water rippling over pebbles in sunlight. Landscape contributes to my vision through an awareness of land mass balanced against sky, the perspective of diminishing rural roads and the sculptural statement of trees. I studied for an MA in silversmithing at the Royal College of Art, London, and graduated in 1970. Design has always been the pivotal dictate of my work: my sketchbooks are used to ‘think on paper’ and ideas further developed and expanded into small watercolour paintings.

Since 1981 I have lived and worked in the Vale of Clwyd surrounded by rural beauty and with expansive views of the hills”.

Ruth makes original screenprints and collages from a studio near Bala, North Wales. The prints are all made by hand, using Fabriano watercolour paper. This surface has a silk-like quality and holds the colour beautifully. It’s also acid free, which means it doesn’t fade or discolour. Each design is made in a small edition. The prints are individually numbered and signed. Once an edition is sold out, Ruth adapts some of the images for her range of greetings cards.

Ruth trained as a textile designer in Liverpool and Birmingham, after which she worked as a freelance designer and illustrator. Clients have included Ikea, Sainsbury’s, Waterstones and Marks and Spencer. She has worked extensively with Tate, writing and illustrating 3 children’s books and a designing a range of toys, clothes and tableware. Her prints focus on plants, gardens and animals with a nod to mid-century design. There is a strong illustrative style, with bold colours in contrasting layers.

Sarah Ross-Thompson is a Fine Art Printmaker, specialising in hand-inked collagraphs. Based on the South West Coast of Scotland looking out over the Irish Sea towards Belfast. Sarah draws inspiration from her surroundings and the scenery she encounters on her travels. Sarah constructs her collage printing plates using materials such as string, salt, corrugated card, porridge oats and lichen. She then uses the vibrant colours of oil-based etching inks with the highly textural nature of collage printing blocks to create her prints.

I studied ceramics at Wirral College of Art and Design and then Braintree College, Essex. Having worked in workshops in Greece, Bermuda, Bequia in the Caribbean and the Isle of Iona I seem to have a certain affinity with/ to coastal landscapes. In recent years my work has become more abstract and sculptural.

Paula Payne is the artist behind ‘The Arboretum Print Co’. They create detailed original hand-carved lino prints inspired by nature. Paula explains “Most of my work features trees and woodland landscapes. There are so many reasons they fascinate me and continue to be a rich, unending source of imagery. The strength of the timber, the delicate fragility of their foliage. The mossy bark, the habitat and shelter they provide, the foreboding, the movement, the poetry of the sounds they make.

I strive to capture the awe of nature, walking through the dappled light, breathing the air, I want to recapture the essence of the woodland environment. I derive immense pleasure from the processes involved in print making. From developing the compositions, to the hours I spend carving and finding the marks to evoke the atmosphere and the surfaces, to the printing.”

Jude is a graphic design graduate but since moving back home to Llandudno several years ago has been concentrating on her love of clay – initially as a sculptor and now as a ceramic artisan. Jude is inspired by sculptural forms, dressmaking and spirituality, but this giftware collection is also influenced by her habitat and design background.

These hand-built designs are created with porcelain paper clay because it will hold sculptural shapes and survive kiln firings without too much distortion. Each piece is individually made and glazed by Jude then small batches are fired in her kiln.

Each handcrafted piece of Miranda Peckitt’s jewellery stems from a passion for art and design and a fundamental desire to produce unique and highly desirable statement jewellery.

Brighton based Miranda trained in fine art painting, and brings this passion for painting into her unique jewellery accessories by painting acrylic in layers and then sealing. Aluminium is anodized to accept dyes and made into very fashionable bangles, bracelets and pendants, making each item of jewellery a unique piece of wearable art.

I graduated from Harrow in 1995 with a degree in Workshop Ceramics. In 2000 I gained an MA in Applied Arts from the School of creative arts at Wrexham Glyndwr University. I am now based in Prestatyn, North Wales, where I have a small workshop and an Anagama wood-kiln down on the coast. I make work with the firing in mind, creating and making marks in the clay and creating simple forms with the intention of catching the ash from the fire, which at sustained temperatures turns to glaze, thus pooling as it runs over the work. Working on large sculptural pieces gives me the opportunity to be more aggressive with my marks, sometimes ripping and piercing through the work. With smaller functional pieces I try to maintain the same aggressive impact in a more controlled manner. The work I produce varies from large sculptural pieces to smaller functional pieces. I work with a mixture of crank and other stoneware bodies with additives of Ruabon red clay and coarse sand. I use various ash and shino glazes as well as vitrious slips. The first kiln I built was based on the design of a Sasukeni smokeless kiln which I fired for a number of years I now fire an Anagama kiln which is 3ft square and about 14ft long. This enables me to make much larger pieces and be more experimental with the packing of the kiln. This kiln is fired for duration up to around 50 hours and fired at least four times a year.