Calm Exhibition

Sue Hiley Harris - Calm 

Sue Hiley Harris is best known for the abstract handwoven sculpture she has been making since the late 1990s. While the woven sculpture has often been derived from pure geometric shapes, the bare upland landscape of Mid Wales has, for many years, been an important influence. An Arts Council of Wales Award in 2013 led Sue to rediscover life drawing and to work, off-loom, weaving silver, copper and iron wire. Returning to drawing stimulated an interest in drawing in the landscape, as a visual diary of places visited, and latterly to more emotional drawings and collage. Drawings in this exhibition are a direct emotional response to regular visits into a particular part of Priory Groves, a beech wood along the River Honddu near her home in Brecon, as well as drawings made in the ancient oak Wistman’s Wood on Dartmoor. Woven structures with silver wire or paper yarn reflecting the tall majestic beech trees and the twisted oak branches are a response to the woodland drawings.

Carine Van Gestel - Calm

Carine brings together her passion for geomorphology and ancient neolithic artifacts by creating clay vessels that foster a sense of balance and rhythm. She is fascinated by the abstract markings of cup and rings, lines, dots and circles on Neolithic stones found across the British Isles. Drawn to these expressive images carved in stone which hint at unfinished work she is provoked to ask questions that there are no answers to. The meaning of these repetitive, rhythmic motifs is beyond our grasp yet we are compelled to analyse and decipher. Carine is stimulated by the mystery of the carvings and redifenes and interprets these ancient artefacts through clay. This visual enigma refers to a distant past but is directed into a future and this is where Carine creates her most honest work. Carine has been working with the ceramic process since childhood. She studied with Jack Docherty and Alaistair Young at the Royal Forest of Dean college where she was introduced to the joys of wood firing. She has taught ceramics at the Hereford Steiner Academy, teaches at MWA and has a studio gallery in Machynlleth. Carine has taken a major role in developing the wood firing facilities at MWA researching sustainable firing methods.