Throughout this time I have also been involved in site-specific sculpture and have exhibited widely in this country and internationally. To date I have 50+ installations nationwide. For the past two years I have been involved in working in relief with mixed media, including cast aluminium.

As a sculptor, having spent half a lifetime engaged in making public art, I am constantly mindful of being surrounded by the heritage of countless nations, civilisations and tribes leaving their indelible architectural marks upon the landscape, mostly as archaeological vestiges of triumphalism, sanctuary or mortality.

Cromlechs, stone circles, fortifications, palaces, temples, pavilions, holy wells and springs, chapels, mortuaries of long forgotten cults, religions and clans in remote and isolated locations, from which the progeny have moved on leaving an intriguing, if insubstantial solitary mark upon the terrain. The enigmatic remains from Pyrannean mountains to Iranian deserts have a formality and resonance

that repeats itself over time and culture, echoing back through history as the circle, square, cruciform or saltire, which constitutes the basis that informs this body of work

 

Vicky holds a BA (Hons) and A Masters degree in ceramics from CNAA, Staffordshire Polytechnic, now Staffordshire University.

Vicky is noted for her work in porcelain, particularly for her expertise in porcelain finishes and her distinctive use of colour and form. Vicky’s concern is to experiment with materials in order to push them beyond the parameters of their traditional use – and to this end she has worked on research and development projects on behalf of Wedgwood looking into the development of Jasperware (2001).

She has industrial experience gained in the UK – principally with Wedgwood and in the US and Germany, having worked as a surface pattern designer and ceramic print consultant. In addition to her specialism in ceramic printing at Wolverhampton she has worked as a visiting lecturer in ceramics in Stockholm, Sweden, Halle, Germany and Kansas, USA. This background is particularly evident in her work.

Vicky has exhibited her work internationally. Recent projects include a solo show for the Deutsches Porzellanmuseum in 2005 – comprising 120 pieces in Porcelain and Jasperware, now the subject of a catalogue Compositions colour – pattern – form and participation in ‘Whitegold’ for the China Clay Country Park: Mining and Heritage Museum, St Austell, Cornwall, where she was commissioned to create new work and given the freedom to extend her work experimenting with different palettes of colour. In 2007 Shaw was chosen to represent the UK in the ‘ceramics for use’ category of the 4 th World Ceramic Biennale in South Korea – receiving a prize, Diploma of Honor in the ‘ceramics for use’ category

Awards
2009 British Ceramic Biennial, Built Environment Award
2008 The 8th International Ceramics Competition Mino, Japan, Ceramics Mino Park, Tajimi City Gifu, Japan, Honorable Mention
2007 The 4th World Biennale 2007 Korea, Icheon World Ceramic Center, Korea, Diploma of Honor, ‘Ceramics for Use’

Commissions include -
2001 Wedgwood, ‘The collection’, (Jasper Ware) ‘100% Design’ exhibition, Earl’s Court, London

Collections include -
Ceramic Collection, University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Imerys Minerals Head Office, Paris
Wedgwood Museum Trust, Barlaston, Staffordshire

 

I have been extremely privileged to be involved in ceramic education all my working life. My first teaching appointment was at Malvern College, following that the University of Wolverhampton (then the Polytechnic), The State University of New York (Alfred), and various ceramic workshops over the years. I was a UK representative at the International Ceramics symposium in Gdansk, and the first British Ceramics Symposium in Cardiff.

Recently I have been involved in working with my husband on large-scale ceramic murals as well as commissions in aluminium and perspex, but my first love is clay, the wheel, thrown symmetry deconstructed and never ending inspiration from Nature.

The thinking behind the work aspires to be an amalgam of long deep-seated visual memories, allied to a specific process, throwing.

Tide lines and sand patterns, ploughed landscape contours, flower, insect and marine forms all provide a synthesis of recollections over time and space. 

Initially inert, clay through the throwing process offers up form, scale and hollow three dimensions, which then informs further manipulation. 

Structural and surface marks evolve, consciously and subconsciously composing form. It is like drawing in three dimensions, one act defining the next, always another solution to investigate.

The porcelain body imposes boundaries of manipulation and scale, complaining loudly when pushed too far, but tantalisingly fluent, tranquil and harmonious if equilibrium is achieved. The continual quest is that elusive providential synthesis when it all comes together.

 

Melanie designs and creates one-off sculptures of animals using clay. Each one captures the true essence of animal behaviour. They illustrate an extensive range of mannerisms and stances found within the animal kingdom.

Melanie has always had a particular passion for dogs and the variety of shapes found within the breeds. Influences stem not only from her own pets but from working at the RSPCA whilst she studied ceramics. Melanie closely observed dogs here, giving her inexhaustible research for the development of new sculptures.

Melanie is able to observe dogs’ behaviour and then capture it in clay using her own unique style and techniques. Her aim is to emphasise certain features and movements, rather than to make precise replicas of them. In doing this she creates typically dog-like stances and expressions.

Melanie finds it exciting and challenging to create figurative sculptures. Many of her best sculpture are commissions of peoples own pets. She takes photographs of their pets then sketches a few ideas, mainly though, she uses the clay to form ideas in a sketchy manner. Using a hands-on approach, she rolls out the main body shape then builds up layers and limbs roughly. Progressively she adds marks to the clay to form features. Once she is happy with the finished sculpture, it is fired to 1220c and then washed with oxides, brushed sparingly with a glaze and fired once again. It is then finished with whiskers which Melanie glues individually in place. Each sculpture is individual, no 2 pieces are ever the same. It is a timely process but as every animal is unique, so are her sculptures.

 

In creating my sculptures I am always trying to capture the spirit of the raw Cornish landscape I grew up in. Inspiration comes from the fluid curves and fluent movement of the waves, the fragile and sensitive cliffs and the dramatic sense of colour visible to anyone who walks the mining coastal paths.

In essence I am trying to combine all the elements of the coast which I adore and missed when studying for my first ceramic degree in Wolverhampton. In creating these forms I want a tangible piece that people will covet, like finding the perfect shell on a barren beach. Nature and the forms she creates never cease to inspire me.

When people first see these forms they ask whether they are a shell or a piece of bone or horn, rather than what they are made from or how I created them, I feel I have created my own piece of nature.

1995 - 1997    Master of Art Degree (Ceramics) Wolverhampton
1991 - 1994    Bachelor of Art Degree (Ceramics) Wolverhampton
1990 - 1991    Foundation Art & Design Falmouth

Doodling in three dimensions perhaps best describes the process from which my work emerges.

The starting point may be established on paper but can only be understood and, hopefully, resolved by the act of carving, studying and handling. The uncertainty of the journey, and the excitement experienced when a form begins to reveal itself, stimulates and encourages further exploration. The seashore, the countryside, stones, fossils, trees and growth patterns: all of these, and no doubt many more, feed my work at a subconscious level.

The work exhibited is produced in semi-porcelain earthenware. After a soft biscuit firing the form and its surfaces are further worked and refined using diamond pads. Terra sigillata is then applied and fired to produce the final surface. Following this, some pieces are exposed to smoke produced by burning organic materials which, depending on type and the time of the year, produce a range of colours and surface effects.

 

‘I am lucky, I haven’t had to go out and market myself,’ says Ros Ingram of Alderminster, near Stratford upon Avon. ‘People come to me.’

It all started when she won the student prize in 1999 at Art in Clay, the ceramics show held at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire each summer. Part of her prize was a free stand at the show the following year, but as her college was holding its degree show at the event in 2000 and she would be there anyway as a final year student, her prize was held over until 2001. That meant she was at the show three years running, and people remembered her distinctive work which combines ceramics and found objects to make colourful and fanciful fish.
‘Being at Art in Clay meant that I gained experience of talking to people, including galleries, and I saw what the marketplace was like, what other ceramicists were doing, and how to market goods,’ she says. It stood her in good stead after she left college. She has now been to the British Craft Trade Fair four times, winning the award for excellence in 2002, and she sells to over 100 galleries.

Ros had worked in ceramics before all this, but in a rather different way. After her schooling she went to art school, but left because she wanted to work. She was employed painting woodland figurines for a company in Stratford upon Avon, and after a break to have her daughter she returned there. But she found painting the same figures over and over again rather restricting. She and a fellow employee decided they wanted to make their own pieces, so they took an adult education course in ceramics. This course was intended to be an access course to university, and Ros was encouraged to follow that path into a degree course at Wolverhampton.
‘Early in the course an artist came in who did figurative work, a combination of thrown parts, cast bits and decoration - called assemblage’ says Ros. This appealed to her and she has continued to experiment with it ever since, combining ceramics, cast pieces and found objects into a form of 3D collage.

 

David Jones was born in 1953. He graduated in Philosophy and Literature from the University of Warwick in 1974. He has been a Senior Lecturer in the Ceramics Department at the University of Wolverhampton, for the past fifteen years and is a Fellow of the Crafts Potter Association of England.
My work starts from humble origins, made from clay, and refers to millennia old traditions of containment and pot making. It is informed by the tradition named after the firing process - “Raku”.

The work is thrown on the potter’s wheel because that activity brings with it a quintessential pottery skill that is popularly associated with the medium. I use the marks of process left by throwing and turning the soft clay, before cutting the hard pot.
Raku ceramic pottery is a Japanese technique used since the 16th century. As soon as a red hot piece of ceramic is taken out of the kiln, it is placed in a container filled with sawdust that bursts into flames. The shrinkage of the raku glaze coupled with the thermic shock causes cracks that become black with the smoke. The piece is then air dried or put in water to set the design. It is the passage from the fire to air which determines the type, quantity and size of the cracks and the tone of the colours.

 

There is a saying;

“Those who can, do… those who can’t, teach…”

Whether true or not, it certainly does not apply to the Wolverhampton School of Art & Design.

Perhaps the steady stream of accomplished, well respected, successful artists that have emerged from the college is the direct result of the accomplished, well respected, successful artists who tutored them.
This show brings together just a few of the past pupils with just a few more of the past and some presentlecturers. The art is as diverse as the characters behind it. Functional ceramics, decorative ceramics, sculpture, painting, quirky, traditional, modern.

Artists include - Jan Brewerton, Ben Brierley, Dennis Farrel, Ros Ingram,David Jones, Matthew David Marsh, Mike Marshall, Mel Adkins, Emma Rodgers, Jeff Salter, Pam Salter, Vicky Shaw, Amanda Stead & Gill Thompson. Click on individual artists to find out more information and to see a full range of their work.

 

We are delighted to announce one of our favourite artists - Sheila Goodman has been elected a member of the Pastel Society U.K. one the countries oldest and most respected societies. We still have one or two pieces by Sheila in the gallery and are pleased that she will be exhibiting a brand collection of paintings this summer so watch this space.

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