Hilary Harrison - ceramics

I live in North Cumbria on the Solway at Burgh by Sands. I have a garden studio that looks out to the fells and Skiddaw. I have more sheds that house my kiln, my glazes, my dry ingredients.

Over the past few years I have been making earthenware slab ware and clocks have been one of my regular makes. I am very interested in surface pattern and build up my designs with coloured slips onto paper and the print onto the slabs. I take inspiration from vintage fabrics and wallpaper from the 1950s. I also make domestic thrown ware in earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. In the past, I made a lot of slipcase ware in porcelain making my own moulds.

Inspiration comes from the natural world and often from tiny things like seeds and spices. For nearly ten years now I have been a member of The Fountain Gallery in Wigton, Cumbria. This is a co-operative venture with about 20 members at present. My work can be found there. I sometimes have a stall at Potfest in the Pens and have exhibited in a number of exhibitions over the years including Upfront Gallery and Craftsmen at the Priory, Lanercost, Cumbria.

https://www.northern-potters.co.uk/artists/harrison-hilary/

“Having been told by countless teachers at school and several tutors at art school that he would never make a living from just painting birds & wildlife, Ashley Boon has made his living from painting birds & wildlife since leaving art school. He gained his degree at Bristol, a very long time ago!

His work has taken him to some far flung and wonderful parts of the globe in search of subjects, and as well as paint he also leads wildlife tours mostly to Botswana and India, and he has led tours in Brazil, Malaysia and Borneo. A local resident, this is his first time showing with Craftsmen at the Priory.”

www.ashleyboon.co.uk

Rachel Gibson MA is an artist living and working in North Cumbria

"It is the North Pennine Fells with its open landscape and flora and fauna that I love. I walk often following the traces of the different seasons, looking for small finds, observing the wildlife around me and mentally recording natural events that act as echoes from the past or signposts to the future.

I work in a range of media, often combining them to create imagery that is subtle and mysterious. I see the natural world as an environment of uncertain stability and my work reflects shelter and growth as well as fragility and loss"

http://www.rachelgibson.co.uk/

whttps://www.instagram.com/rachelgibsonartist/

David creates a range of beautiful artisan products and gifts from soft and hard woods.
"I am a self taught carpenter and furniture maker.
I have always had a passion for wood and I started many years ago making dolls houses on my kitchen table. I have always wanted a fully equipped workshop but never had the space or the funds for one.
When we moved to our beautiful house in Lyneholme Ford near Roadhead it had a big garage, so I immediately thought Workshop.
This is now where I work. I use reclaimed wood and offcuts where possible"
https://www.facebook.com/people/Lyne-Valley-wood-crafts/100057522666309/

David Stephenson is an artist blacksmith using traditional hand forging techniques to produce a range of works, both functional and sculptural, at his forge at Lockton on the North York Moors.

He is inspired by the beautiful scenery and natural forms around him, often simplifying designs to represent the essence of his inspiration.

Much of his time is now spent in teaching his skills to others on day- and longer blacksmithing courses.

https://www.davidstephenson.org.uk/

Suzanne is a glass artist and jeweller. Her studio is situated in the beautiful market town of Barnard Castle, from which she designs and hand makes glass beads, buttons, baubles and flowers using a technique known as lampworking – ‘the art of making small objects from glass rods melted in the flame of a torch’.

Suzanne's discovery and exploration of the art of lampworking has drawn her towards the use of glass as a medium to incorporate into her jewellery designs to inject colour and contrast to the other materials used. Using her silversmithing skills and the glass beads she has made, Suzanne produces a range of jewellery which includes necklaces, bracelets, earrings and cufflinks.

https://www.suzannejewellery.co.uk     https://facebook.com/suzannejewellery http://instagram.com/suzannejewellery

Lily has been painting professionally since 2006, exhibiting widely throughout the UK during that time, and now features in collections worldwide - including Europe, North and South America, Africa, and Australia. Lily exhibited overseas for the first time in 2012, with two shows in Barcelona, and one in Amsterdam. She now works from her studio on a sheep farm in Cumbria, just to the north of the Lake District.

Lily's work reflects a love of nature. Her original paintings are often inspired by multitudes in nature (flocks, shoals, gatherings...) and the flow of that multitude, in glorified representations. Lily’s paintings usually employ an element of collage material, however rather than found material, Lily uses paper copies of her own painting or printmaking studies. Koi fish, for example, are meticulously hand-painted, then reproduced, cut, and arranged in a composition on the canvas. Washes of inks are applied, and sometimes additional painted or drawn details, before a clear gloss varnish secures the work and adds an opulent lustre.

https://www.lilygreenwood.com/   

"My working life BG (before glass) was bookended by art schools: Edinburgh, where I studied Architecture way back in the last century, and Glasgow School of Art, where I attended an introductory fused glass session at the Summer School in 2015

This really sparked my imagination. Cutting up bits of glass and putting them in the kiln before leaving for the day: each morning was like Christmas.At the same time I was completing the build of a new extension on my house, a room which, more and more, looked like a potential studio: the kiln arrived in November 2015.

Using the kiln, which heats the glass to up to over 800 degrees celsius, I work with specialist art glass from the USA and also with float (window) glass. The look and feel of the finished piece can vary, depending on how it is fired in the kiln. Constantly experimenting, I'm interested in seeing how heat, time, temperature, and gravity work on the glass to achieve an end result"

https://www.greendolphins.com/