Opening Saturday 26 February:

STEWART EDMONDSON
New paintings

Where most of us would be tempted to seek warmth in the face of a Dartmoor winter, Stewart Edmondson welcomes the wild weather that sweeps over the moors, tors and river valleys that surround his Devon home. The majority of his work is done in situ, at the mercy of the elements, with only the occasional use of a portable fisherman’s hut for protection.

Stewart Edmondson, To The Bright Run, Acrylic on Paper, 70 x 70 cm. £2,200

Of painting en plein air Stewart remarks – ‘It’s usually pretty fast and dynamic – a way of responding to the often rapidly changing light and conditions of painting outside. Using as much paint as I do the wind and rain may move it around when you throw it on to the paper. It can be harsh out there, up on the moor, but I love it. My studio is just a place for considering finished work and tidying it up. It is fantastic working outside – you’re not totally in control because of the weather and the raw inspiration of the place. At first it can look chaotic, but I work with that – I love that unpredictable aspect. For me it is all about allowing something that is beyond my control to come through – allowing the place, the wind, the weather directly into the painting. If I felt I was fighting against the elements it wouldn’t be very enjoyable, but I just relish the chaos’.

Tree at my window, window tree,
My sash is lowered when night comes on;
But let there never be curtain drawn
Between you and me.

Vague dream head lifted out of the ground,
And thing next most diffuse to cloud,
Not all your light tongues talking aloud
Could be profound.

But tree, I have seen you taken and tossed,
And if you have seen me when I slept,
You have seen me when I was taken and swept
And all but lost.

That day she put our heads together,
Fate had her imagination about her,
Your head so much concerned with outer,
Mine with inner, weather.
Tree at My Window by Robert Frost

Also opening on 26 February:

ADAM BUICK
New ceramics

Adam Buick, ABP5. Large Moon Jar, Stoneware with Waun Llodi Slip, Nuka Glaze. £2,500

I love how the morning light catches this large moon jar, the sun lighting up the glaze and Waun Llodi slip decoration giving the impression of a bird lifting off the surface of the pot.

Besides being a Beaux Arts stalwart of numerous solo exhibitions, Adam was an invited artist at the 2019 British Ceramics Biennial at Stoke-on-Trent. He has exhibited at Frieze Art Fair, Collect at the Saatchi Gallery, The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, and the National Museum in Cardiff, as well as diverse exhibitions around the globe. He was awarded the Creative Wales Award from the Arts Council of Wales in 2017 and is in the collections of Chatsworth House, the National Museum of Wales and The British Museum, amongst many others.

Adam is a qualified geologist, and as you look round one of his collections you will see the names of local clay and stone that he incorporates into his work. He has imposed on himself the strict discipline of the simplest and purest of geometric forms. His moon jars are, however, far from being standoffish or predictable. Within the spherical format, and inspired by old Korean dal-hang-a-ri vessels, he conjures up worlds of spontaneous drama with jars diverse in scale and texture, alive with the Pembrokeshire landscape which they literally embody – its natural rhythms and cycles, its tracks and pathways, its stone and clay, such that his passionate connection to his environment is unmistakable.

Some of the moon jars are positively other-worldly, or maybe supra-planetary.
Visitors can enjoy orbiting this gorgeous vessel:

Adam Buick ABP 3. Large Moon Jar, Stoneware with Sandy Shino Glaze and Nuka Interior Height 42 cm. £2,500

And finally with spring virtually round the corner (honestly)….

Under the greenwood tree
Who loves to lie with me,
And turn his merry note
Unto the sweet bird’s throat,
Come hither, come hither, come hither:
Here shall he see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather.

Who doth ambition shun,
And loves to live i’ the sun,
Seeking the food he eats,
And pleas’d with what he gets,
Come hither, come hither, come hither:
Here shall he see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather.
Under The Greenwood Tree by William Shakespeare

Stewart Edmondson Then the Sun Burst Through, Acrylic on Paper 51 x 62 cm. £2,000

Thank you for reading.

Aidan

Beaux Arts Bath