Deborah Mitchelson and Brian Tew’s work complements and contrasts with each other. This joint exhibition is a natural progression of the shared creative space they have used for the last ten years.
Deborah Mitchelson
“My work has been inspired by a trip to the Arctic Circle last November. I loved the landscape, the vast open emptiness and the divine quiet. This Polar world and its icy wilderness gave me a sense of peace. How people can survive in such a hostile landscape is humbling.
Working with a restrained palette, I have wanted to produce some abstract visions, some cool muted paintings. The days were short with only four hours of permanent twilight. The Northern lights provided the only colour as they danced through the sky. The atmospheric conditions had to be right, but we were lucky to see this phenomena on two occasions.I have recorded the fragility of this wonder of nature as well as tried to express its inherent beauty.”
Follow Deborah on Instagram here.
Brian Tew
“I am a qualified chartered architect now retired who has been working in ceramics and other art forms over the past 50 years. I feel that there should be no divisions or barriers between any of the artistic disciplines, and anything that breaks the barriers and mixes the media is a legitimate process in achieving the final created piece of work.
My ceramics and sculptures are mainly unplanned, intuitive and eclectic. The work is formed in stoneware and earthenware. Some are fired with glazes and oxides in a gas reduction kiln or an electric kiln, others are fired in a Raku kiln or by using an earth pit firing. The piece is then assessed and, if necessary, I then add other mixed media to the ceramic sculpture to complete the work. I now also create 2D digital art work using vibrant colours or black and white to create abstract or representational forms printed on fine art quality archival paper.
I rarely plan my art work or sketch out a preliminary design. I just start with the raw clay or blank digital canvas and let the material or imagination take me along the creative path. Sometimes it works and other times I struggle, but I keep going adjusting and redesigning as I go until I’m satisfied that I’ve achieved something I think is worthwhile.
The only aim is to create a piece of art that has an aesthetic appeal; with ceramics a suggestion of antiquity and sculptural form, and with my digital work an energising contemporary sense.”
Follow Brian on Instagram here.
