Press Release
15 | 07 | 20
Of Place & Time
1st August to 4th September
Painting by Martha Holmes | Turned wood vessels by Adrian Mitchell
Throughout August, New Craftsman Gallery St Ives present Of Place and Time, an exhibition that brings together the work of painter Martha Holmes, wood turner Adrian Mitchell and ceramic artist Jack Doherty. The work of all three is inspired by their deep engagement with landscape and a particular sense of place. Martha Holmes works in both plein air and from her Falmouth studio. Fascinated by the different identities of both the north and south coastlines of Cornwall, she paints in response to the visual experience of the moment, capturing shifting light and changing seasons through her abstract sea and skyscapes.
Adrian Mitchell sources wood from his local landscape to make turned vessels, transforming young, green wood into organic sculptural shapes. Using material that gives unpredictable results, like wood from the fork of a tree, he works each piece on the lathe before allowing it to dry in controlled conditions so that natural distortions take place. Each finished work holds a story, revealing characteristics of the species, the age of the tree, which part it came from, and where and how it grew. His recent work is derived from Cornwall's ancient Devichoys woods, which are composed mainly of native Sessile oak, a material with an open grain that reveals the natural structure and texture of the wood.
Jack Doherty's soda-fired porcelain forms connect people, pots and places. The influence of sea, sky and land are deeply ingrained in each work, connecting with the landscape in both a visual and physical way. As both fine-art and functional objects, they consider our need for clay objects, and ask questions about their changing role in a contemporary world, inhabiting spaces in light and shadow with nuances of colour and texture that neither painting nor sculpture can achieve.
Of Place and Time is curated by Sarah Frangleton and runs from 1st August to 4th September.
Jack Doherty | Conical Form
New Craftsman Gallery, 24 Fore St, St Ives, Cornwall, TR26 1HE.
01736 795652 | info@newcraftsmanstives.com | www.newcraftsmanstives.com
-END-
Print Ready 300dpi images for press use:
Painting by Martha Holmes & turned wood by Adrian Mitchell
Jack Doherty's Conical Form
Editors Notes
New Craftsman St Ives
With an international reputation amongst art and craft collectors for its painting, sculpture and quality studio ceramics, the New Craftsman is regarded as one of the most important spaces for contemporary artists in St Ives. Founded in the mid-1960s by Janet Leach, wife of Bernard Leach, it holds an unrivalled reputation as one of the country's leading art and craft venues. Today the gallery's annual programme of mixed and solo exhibitions continues to support the work of Cornwall's and the UK's very best painters and craftspeople.
New Craftsman Gallery, 24 Fore Street, St. Ives, Cornwall TR26 1HE | Tel: +44 (0)1736 795652 |info@newcraftsmanstives.com|www.newcraftsmanstives.com
For further press information or additional images contact Mercedes Smith at Fine Art Communications director@fineartcommunications.co.uk / Tel 07825 270235 / www.fineartcommunications.co.uk
