The Extended Summer
Summer has returned this week and T-shirts, casual gaits, parasols and sunhats are the order of the day among Bath’s many visitors. Our ceiling fans are working overtime to keep art-viewers cool. This weekend we will be having our first opening of Autumn, so why not come along between 6 and 8 p.m. and have a cool glass of prosecco before either1. Watching England’s inaugral match of the Rugby World Cup, or 2. sitting outside in the garden watching the Indian summer evening slowly fade….
Being too warm the old lady said to meis better than being too cold I think nowin between is the best because you nevergive it a thought but it goes by too fastI remember the winter how cold it gotI could never get warm wherever I wasbut I don’t remember the summer heat like thatonly the long days the breathing of the treesthe evenings with the hens still talking in the laneand the light getting longer in the valleythe sound of a ball from down there somewhereI can sit here now still listening to it.Remembering Summer by W S Merwin
The Art of Silence
New paintings
11 September to 7 October Opening on 9 September 6-8 p.m.
Jo Barrett, Alex Callaway, Comhghall Casey, Mark Entwisle, Nathan Ford, Atsuko Fujii, Katherine Jackson, Jennifer McRae, Rob Pittam, Harriet Porter, Helen Simmonds, Lotta Teale, Estelle Vera, Simon Wright.
At first I was lonely, but then I wascurious. The original fault was that I couldnot see the lines of things. My mother could.She could see shapes and lines and shadows,but all I could see was memory, what had beendone to the object before it was placed onthe coffee table or the nightstand. I could sensethat it had a life underneath it. Becauseof this, I thought I was perhaps bad at seeing. Evencolor was not color, but a mood. The lamp wassullen, a candlestick brooding and rude with its oldwax crumbling at its edges, not flame, not a promiseof flame. How was I supposed to feel then? Aboutmoving in the world? How could I touch anythingor anyone without the weight of all of time shiftingthrough us? I was not, or I did not think I was, makingup stories; it was how the world was, or rather it is howthe world is. I’ve only now become better at pretendingthat there are edges, boundaries, that if I touchsomething it cannot always touch me back.The Endlessness by Ada limon
We are so pleased to be hosting another exhibition of Jack Doherty’s distinctive porcelain forms. Jack will be here on Saturday so if you are able, come and meet the man himself. I love the variegated colouring in this Guardian vessel.
Guardian Vessel II, Porcelain, 37 x 31 cm £6,000
Jack’s work explores the ancient layers of cultural resonance embedded within archetypal forms. The porcelain vessels are thrown then carved and shaped reflecting the fluidity of the material and physicality of making. The elemental colour and surface texture are created by the fusion of fire and soda in the intense heat of the kiln, leaving behind a subtle palette of charcoal, russet and turquoise. On many levels, the pots are figurative; each has its own character, particular emotional range and response.
Born in Co Derry, Jack trained in Ceramics at the Ulster College of Art and Design, Belfast. He worked at Kilkenny Design Workshops before establishing his first studio in Co. Armagh and then in Herefordshire. Jack moved to Cornwall in 2008 to take up the role as Lead Potter at the restored Leach Pottery setting up the new production studio. During the five years in post there he designed a successful range of functional ware which respected the ethic and history of the pottery but which also had its place in a contemporary market. In the Gallery space he curated a series of ceramic exhibitions illustrating the development of studio ceramic practice showcasing work by leading potters in both a historical and contemporary context.
Jack’s pots have been exhibited extensively both in the UK and internationally. He was Chair of the Craft Potters’ Association for 10 years, a founder and current Chair of Ceramic Art London and from 2008 – 2013, and is the first Lead Potter and Creative Director of the Leach Pottery. Jack’s work was short-listed for the prestigious Loewe prize in 2020.
Jack Doherty
New Ceramics
11 September to 7 October . Opening on 9 September 6-8 p.m.
The new paintings on the wall include four new moments of stillness in egg tempera by Japanese artist Atsuko Fujii:
When sorrow lays us lowfor a second we are savedby humble windfallsof the mindfulness or memory:The taste of a fruit, the taste of water,that face given back to us by a dream,the first jasmine of November,the endless yearning of the compass,a book we thought was lost,the throb of a hexameter,the slight key that opens a house to us,the smell of a library, or of sandalwood,the former name of a street,the colors of a map,an unforeseen etymology,the smoothness of a filed fingernail,the date we were looking for,the twelve dark bell-strokes, tolling as we count,a sudden physical pain. Eight million Shinto deitiestravel secretly throughout the earth.Those modest gods touch us —touch us and move on.Shinto by Jorge Luis Borges
Come and join us on Saturday ! – Jack Doherty and Helen Simmonds will be here to share a cold glass or two.Thank you as always for reading. Please click on the images above for links to webpages.Contact the gallery by phone or email to purchase, or for any further information.We ship worldwide.Best wishes,Aidan.