Discover the unique and captivating world of Alasdair Neil and Sally MacDonell in their upcoming ceramic exhibition at Contemporary Ceramics.
Alasdair Neil’s work, inspired by decaying industrial architecture and desolate landscapes, features patterns, textures, and forms derived from his vast collection of found objects. His recent pieces showcase the tones of residual paint often found on source objects, while others feature a dry stoneware glaze over metal oxides.
“Why heads? The head is the seat of dreams and imagination” – Alasdair Neil MacDonell
On the other hand, Sally’s spontaneously modelled pieces express familiar, transient moments through pinching and squeezing slabs to form the female body, with visible joins adding to the process and serving as elements of colour in glazing. Experience the connection between the artist and the viewer, prompting a feeling of common humanity in this unique exhibition.
Adam Frew works in porcelain, creating thrown functional and large one-off pots. He revels in the spontaneity of throwing, the speed of production, seeking to reflect this energy in his distinctive mark making. These marks are continually evolving, but are always energetic and confident.
Adam works in contrasts: of lines or washes, glazed and unglazed, blues and oranges or reds and more recently, applied ridges. “A sense of energy has always been central to my work. Working with the clay in a way that is fluid and quick, and doesn’t require much reshaping.”
Charles Bound ‘s work is unconsciously influenced by significant periods of time spent in the USA, Africa, and the UK. Loose and elemental, it reflects the rugged landscape of Wales, particularly of the farm environment where he lives and works today.
Akiko Hirai makes largely functional ware using the Japanese tradition of allowing the clay itself to show the way in which it wants to be fired. She tries not to control her materials but to let them and the unpredictable environment of the kiln dictate much of the resulting shape and colour of her work.
