Bev Bell-Hughes

When Bev was at art school in the late sixties, her final thesis focused on the relationship between natural forms and clay. However, it was only since 1978 when she moved to Wales, that she developed her work to relate directly to where she lives.

Bev lives near the mountains of Snowdonia in Wales, near the river estuary of Conwy, and spends time on Deganwy and the Morfa beach. Each day is a journey of looking and experiencing nature’s change. Marks left in the sand by the receding tide, sharp and clear, to deep gullies or smooth items thrown up by the tide, battered by storms, different seaweed flowing in ribbons. The erosion of surfaces be they shells, rocks, driftwood, or bone.

Maybe later, subconsciously, an idea will form. Bev works directly into the clay with no preconceived ideas of how the work will look. She works in a studio with no electricity by choice with an intuitive process of making and pinching of clay. Her work is made using flattened coils of clay into which clays and sand are added to change the surface texture. The work is pushed and pinched causing craters and holes. The work has a strong tactile quality, as does the natural world. She doesn’t wish to imitate nature but aspires to echo the process.