Southern Ceramic Group bring annual exhibition to Chichester

The Southern Ceramic Group bring their annual exhibition to the Old Kitchen in the Bishop’s Palace in Chichester from July 31-August 15, 10am-5pm.
Southern Ceramic Group - Mick DixonSouthern Ceramic Group - Mick Dixon
Southern Ceramic Group - Mick Dixon

Spokeswoman Gill Waller said: “The Southern Ceramic Group consists of more than 170 enthusiastic ceramicists who live and work in the south of England and share a passion for creating in clay.

“The members are as diverse as the objects they create. Some have spent a lifetime perfecting their craft while others have come to it only recently, after careers ranging from engineering to medicine to dance and teaching.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“What they all share is intense creativity. During a year in which they have all been struggling to show their work, they have been locked in their studios busy creating and experimenting.

“Now there is an opportunity to see and buy the fruits of these labours as they bring their work to the group’s annual exhibition in the beautiful Old Kitchen in the Bishop’s Palace in Chichester: a real, live and in-person exhibition-cum-sale!

“The work to be exhibited includes both traditional and experimental functional ware as well as sculptural and decorative pieces. You will find brightly coloured tableware, subtle ash glazed vases, stoneware bottles, carved sculptures, painted tiles and framed ceramic art for hanging on walls. The most striking thing about this exhibition is the enormous range of artefacts created from the same materials.

“The exhibition will feature over 600 works from 60 potters who live and work locally.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Mick and Lesley Dixon set up the Barley Heath Pottery in 1974 and they have never tired of experimenting and exploring new techniques. Mick is currently excited by creating his own high-fired stoneware glazes for domestic ware while Lesley creates large and small sculptural pieces using hand-built techniques and exploring finely painted decorative pieces which sometimes tell stories.

“Nadia Hopkins works for a large IT company and dedicates all her spare time to ceramics. She finds the alchemy of wheel-throwing, with its effect of merging the body and mind, has a remarkable hypnotic and soothing quality to it, almost a kind of meditation. Perfect after a stressful day at work.

“Annie Flitcroft has been working in ceramics after a career in the computer industry. Currently her work is mainly in porcelain, based on natural forms to produce sculptural vessels.

“Nigel Hobbs explores the art of Raku firing. This is a technique developed initially in Japan, which involves firing the work to a temperature of around 1000˚C after which the hot work is taken out of the kiln and reduced in sawdust or other material before quenching in water. This creates unpredictable and exciting surfaces.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Lola Claeys Bouuaert trained as an architect in Belgium, then spent 22 years in Lebanon where, ten years ago, she started working with clay at Nathalie Khayat’s studio in Beirut. She is now based in Milland, in the South Downs National Park.

“Most of her ceramic pieces are hand-built and burnished several times before bisque firing.”

Related topics: