This must be one of the most sumptuous and tactile exhibitions we have ever had. Come and see for yourself tomorrow from 3pm with a chance to meet some of the artists.
It is British wool week this week, which is a good reason to feature Debbie Rudolph’s weaving.
We will feature the other artists, fellow weaver Sue Spooner, contemporary embroidery by Jane Price and Beverley Bailey, mixed media textiles by Helen Edwards as well as ceramic panels, which started as embroidery by Emma West, in the coming days here in our news page..
Artisan Weaver Debbie Rudolph lives in Cornwall and gained extensive weaving experience during a degree from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London followed by a weaving scholarship with the International Wool Secretariat. Debbie uses her experience to create wonderful materials, which she turns into scarves, cushions, purses and bags. She weaves on a 40 year old Swedish made ‘Lillstina’ Loom. Her designs use surface texture and a bold approach to colour to create visually exciting and tactile beautiful textiles which conjure up other cultures and eras, while remaining refreshingly contemporary.
Find out more about the event on Saturday 19th October here.
We have had a delivery of wonderful new work by Frances Spice here in the gallery. Watch out for more in the 
We have just had a new delivery of work by Nicola Crocker. Her wonderfully tactile and visually stunning stoneware rockpools and craggy pools are perfect for this weather. The colour evokes a sense of coolness and refreshment in summer and memories of the seaside in winter. Deceiving, they look like they are indeed filled with liquid.
Nicola Crocker’s work is inspired by the coastline and landscape in North Devon. Interested in the nature of the clay; the forms she can produce from it, the colours and how the two can work together.
Predominantly hand built stoneware, Janie’s work is fired to approximately 1180 -1200. It is decorated with coloured slips and wax resist and fired four or five times to 950 to achieve the desired surface texture. Janie uses various methods for building her pots, including modelling, coiling, slabbling and pinching. The pieces are then polished with bees wax to give them a less dry, more velvety quality and can be repolished whenever necessary.
Janie moved to Devon fourteen years ago. She graduated from Leicester Polytechnic in 1978 with a B.A. Hons. in three dimensional design (ceramics and glass): Whilst there, she focused mainly on mould-making and slip-casting techniques making bone china pieces based on natural forms. In 1979-80 Janie received a Turkish Government scholarship to study Turkish Ceramics. Based in Istanbul, she travelled widely developing her interest in the fascinating art and culture of this extraordinary country. On return, she worked as an Archaeological Draftsperson at Dover Museum in Kent, drawing their collection of Medieval and Roman pottery for records and reports.
Since moving to Devon, she has been working in stoneware, making sculptural pieces and hand built vessels. Janie sometimes smoke fires her pieces and finds the immediacy of this method exciting and stimulating. Her inspiration and interest centres around the female nude and the dramatic moorland and coastal landscapes of Devon and Cornwall. Her time spent in Turkey, with its extraordinary range of antique and contemporary ceramics, and at the museum in Dover have had an underlying influence on all her creative endeavours.