Vanity of the Bonfires

black and white drawing of figures falling

Vanity of the Bonfires Romola George Eliot’s ‘Romola,’ set in Florence in the 1490s, but written in England in 1862, presents a society where public discourse, people’s everyday lives – their social lives in particular – and street politics were strikingly similar to our own. The public mood was volatile. The Medicis had been expelled…

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2 Plus 2 Equals 5

Poster with text and image of a pot

2 Plus 2 Equals 5 Exploring Censorship in Art, 19202-20202 2 Plus 2 Equals 5 is the title of an exhibition at Not for Sale Gallery in Hackney Wick. The title is a reference to George Orwell’s use of the concept in 1984. ‘The Party’ adopts it as a fundamental tenet of belief to accustomise…

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Vice and Virtue: the artists

Art gallery with exhibition

Vice and Virtue: the artists Vice and Virtue is a mixed media exhibition by six artists who respond in substantially different ways to the rising religiosity of contemporary social justice movements. Much of the work was made specifically for the exhibition which continues until July 26th at Ruup & Form. This posts introduces the artists…

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Everygender

Large decorated slipware jug with handle

Everygender, the Jugs Everygender’s Vision, (top right) The Avenging Vessel, (bottom left) both jugs 43×32 (incl handle,) x 27 cm Photo: Sylvain Deleu Everygender, comprised of four jugs, tells a pictorial story of my expulsion from Ceramic Art London in 2022 based on the Medieval Morality Play, ‘Everyman.’ Everyman, (1530) ‘Everyman’ is thought to have…

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Colour Studies – Part one

tall vase decorated with people and umbrellas

Colour Studies Colour Studies – Part 1 This post is an introduction to the formal concerns of painting with slips on pots. By ‘painting,’ I mean the sort I learnt at art school in the early 1980s which evolved mainly from post Renaissance, Western European art. This starts the discussion of how that is done…

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The Garden Vases

woman with two decorated vases

The Garden Vases, 2024 The Garden series, 2024 Will show at Collect24 with Ruup & Form Somerset House, Feb 28/9 pvs, Mar 1-3 public. Tickets via Collect24 Garden series has grown out of my life long love of gardens which I probably got from my mother and grandmother. It is that sense of an ‘in…

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Pimp State

A3 Feminist Poster

Pimp State, 2021 Introduction Pimp State is both a bowl and poster. It is a dystopian feminist satire on what I imagine the State would look like under the ‘full decrim’ regime. ‘Full Decriminalisation’ refers to a proposed model of legal reform that seeks to decriminalise men who pay for sex along with all third…

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Feminist Jugs

Jugs Slab-built Nautical Sgraffito Monochrome Feminist

Feminist Jugs – Sink the Sex Trade! Feminist Jugs I love this picture of the my two new sgraffito ware jugs, photographed together, leading the fleet. Paired up like this seems to inject energy – they could almost be sailing. I’m particularly delighted with the way the handles look. They’re in the shop now. Go…

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Vice & Virtue

Pottery vase, flask shaped, slip-painted, glazed

Vice and Virtue Introduction Vice and Virtue is the first exhibition I have curated. I  am grateful to Ruup & Form for hosting and supporting this new departure which runs from June 20th – July 26th, 2024. The six artists I selected have responded to my proposal that contemporary social justice movements are becoming increasingly…

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Berthe Morisot Exhibition

19th-Century photograph Berthe-Morisot

Berthe Morisot Exhibition Berthe Morisot: An Exhibition of her Paintings About the Artist The Dulwich Picture Gallery has staged a small exhibition of Berthe Morisot’s work focused exclusively on her paintings. Morisot came from a well to do family and was properly trained as an artist so she was able to pursue a career to…

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