Meet The Maker – Martyne Raven

Martyne Raven – artist

When Martyne first heard about this exhibition she was excited at the prospect of being part of it. The work she has created so far for the show has let her explore the side of her that loves collaged images.

Fairies series – Martyne Raven mixed media with stitch

Martyne has transferred some images onto fabric using emulsion paint and image maker. She loves the old feel it gives the images. Martyne has then worked into them using hand and machine embroidery. To embellish them further she has used sequins, buttons and beads, anything she can find that interests her.

Fairies series – Martyne Raven mixed media with stitch

The images are of a girl who was allegedly photographed with some cut out paper fairies; it is quite a well know picture that sparked a big public reaction as to whether the photographs were real or fake and they are still talked about today. Do you think the fairies are real or cut-out paper?

Fairies series – Martyne Raven mixed media with stitch

Fairies and dreams are some of Martyne’s favourite subject matters. A lot of her hand painted/embroidery work does have a dream like quality to it. Her work has been compared to the artist ‘Chagall’ who has images of floating people in some of his paintings. Chagall is one of Martyne’s favourite artists.

Summer Showcase and Garden Party

Summer Showcase invitation

Summer Showcase invitation

Our Summer Showcase will introduce new makers to the gallery from June through until August 2012; celebrating the very best of British Contemporary Craft.

Suet Yi ceramics

At GNCCF October 2011, Heart Gallery was asked to be a prize sponsor and proudly offered an exhibition opportunity to Suet Yi Ceramics which set the ball rolling to find makers that would compliment Suet’s work which is inspired by the beauty of wild flowers, falling leaves, autumn trees and resting birds.

Suet Yi ceramics

Suet Yi ceramics

This showcase will be a delight and a visual feast as Natasha Newton’s painted wood and stones will sit proudly with Suet’s terracotta plates and bird gardens.

Keeping Watch – Natasha Newton

Abstract Seed Pods – Natasha Newton

Complimenting Suet and Natasha’s stunning work we are showcasing ranges from other UK designer/makers inspired by the natural world including the following:

Gold plated Bird Heart Necklace – Alice Stewart

Oxidised silver raven necklace – Anna de Ville

Jewellery range – Belinda Norrington

Hand dyed and hand painted anodised aluminium wall butterflies – Caroline Parrott

Silver jewellery – Caroline Watson

Glass Landscape Dish – Colette Halstead

Ceramic Pumpkins – Fiona Mazza

Peacock Feather Studs – Kirsty O’Donnell

Silver jewellery – Christine Kaltoft

Ceramic submarines – Nicola Cheers

Our Garden Party to celebrate the Best of British is Sunday 01 July, 12pm – 5pm, but work will be on show from Sunday 10 June. Please join us for fizz and nibbles and a mooch around the gallery and garden as part of the amazing Hebden Bridge Arts Festival.

Meet The Maker – Lucy Palmer

Lucy Palmer – jeweller

Lucy creates unique and beautiful jewellery inspired by myths, fairytales and folklore, with an emphasis on animals and the natural world. In her jewellery she escapes the mundane and creates a magical world of enchanted forests, mysterious creatures, and far away places. 

Lucy Palmer – Moongazing silver and Keum Boo necklace

The Intricate designs are cut by hand in precious metals and are often layered to give an amazing three dimensional, miniature stage set effect. 

Lucy Palmer – Little Mermaid silver and Keum Boo necklace

The design style is influenced by toy theatres, shadow puppets and paper cutting.  Decorative techniques are used to embellish the surface, including ‘Keum Boo’, an ancient Korean technique of fusing 24ct gold foil to silver.

Lucy Palmer – Golden Wandering Fox silver and Keum Boo necklace

After graduating from Nottingham Trent University with a degree in ‘Decorative Arts’, Lucy spent several years working as a Community Artist before setting up her Jewellery business in 2007. Each piece of jewellery is handmade by Lucy in her workshop in Derbyshire.

Lucy Palmer – Under The Sea silver and Keum Boo necklace

Heart Gallery has showcased Lucy’s work before as we absolutely adore her subject matter and admire her techniques and know that you will too so see you soon!

Lucy Palmer – Enchanted Forest silver and Keum Boo necklace

Meet The Maker – Lucy Anne Harding

Lucy Ann Harding – artist

Since Lucy was 9 she has delivered milk in her local area as a part of her father’s milk round; she is a modern day milk girl and has become very passionate about the decline of the British milkmen and other British trades.

Milkround books with ceramic cup and textile cup cosy

Using digital and screen print, applique and free motion stitch, Lucy creates nostalgic textile illustrations based on the customers she meets on her rounds and the doorsteps which she still delivers to today; these include wall pieces and cup cosies accompanied by illustrated tableware.

Lucy Anne Harding – No Milk Today series

No Milk Today is a series of textile illustrations taken from Lucy’s milkround; the people that her and her father meet and the doorsteps which they deliver to. The milkman is Lucy’s father and the milkgirl is Alice their Saturday girl. 

Lucy Anne Harding – One Man, Many Doors series

One Man, Many Doors is a series of textile illustrations using screen printed backgrounds of the doorsteps that Lucy delivers to. The illustrations of the milkround characters are appliqued and stitched. 

Lucy Anne Harding – No Milk Today series

Lucy’s Grandfather delivered from a milk churn around the local village when he was just 7. Then as the milk round increased with custom, he had to invest in an electronic milk float to deliver the milk and the family business was started.

Lucy’s grandfather’s electronic milk float

Similarly to Lucy, her father was born with delivering milk in his blood, her Grandfather persuaded him not to be a milkman. When Lucy’s Grandfather offered him the milk round in 1989 however her father jumped at the chance!

Lucy’s dad and his van

Everybody tells Lucy stories about her grandfather and she realises he was seen as a family friend by them all and Lucy hopes that her and her father are still seen as such today. Lucy’s Milk round is a little community; a lifeline to the elderly as sometimes they are their only visitors that week so a chat on the doorstep is welcomed. Lucy, her father and Alice are offering a service and a good service at that.

Milkround books

Heart Gallery adores Lucy’s work, her story and her enthusiasm and hope that you can feel her sense of pride for her Father’s work in her work.

Lucy Anne Harding – One Man, Many Doors series

Lucy Anne Harding – One Man, Many Doors series

Please call in to see Lucy’s amazing work soon, chat to us about her and her fascinating work and we also have a few of her milk round books you can have a look at too!

Meet The Maker – Tracie Murchison

Tracie Murchison – artist

Tracie’s work is constructed using her technique of layering silk and paper with wood and combining these materials in unexpected ways to create unique artefacts. She makes choices of the materials and the finishing to give each piece its own individual identity.

Pitcher – mixed media

Tracie explores the contradictions of her chosen materials to create texture with colours that contrast with the smooth hard edges of the wood. She aims to create work that is tactile and has a sense of ‘erosion’ as a result of time and touch. Tracie uses an eclectic mix of materials and colours and look to artefacts, traditional and contemporary, from around the world for form and stance.

Bird on a branch

She draws inspiration from the discarded and weather worn fragments of stone, bone and unexpected treasures in our surroundings. Or from part of an old structure that has countless layers of peeling paint and paper, evidence of the owners that have been and gone. Tracie has previously created a collection of vessels, bowls and teacups using love letters, photographs and fabrics from her Great Aunt Alice. These vessels evoke a bygone age when war and work separated couples whose only form of communication was by letter.

Bowls – mixed media

She is intrigued by the small everyday traces of wear, such as a step worn away, trodden by many people, each on their own journey, not aware they have left a trace behind.

Birds

Heart Gallery is proud to have been carefully chosen by Tracie to showcase her new pieces.

Meet The Maker – Katherine Richmond

Katherine Richmond – jeweller

Our world is in a constant state of flux; we are forced to establish tangible markers of change to help shape the construction of our memories and to do so we collect objects, such as letters, photographs, and souvenirs. We can control our possessions in a way that little else can be controlled, offering us a sense of stability in a world of change. For a true collector, the desire for perfection and control through the order of objects can be so strong that it develops into an obsession.

‘In the cabinet drawer’ necklace

Walter Benjamin wrote of the book collector’s mysterious relationship to ownership and the ‘dialectical tension between the poles of disorder and order’. It is, he says, a passion that ‘borders on the chaos of memories’.

‘Red’ studs

Katherine’s work explores the fragile relationship between people and objects. She uses books as a symbol of permanence and longevity to create wearable objects with a fragility that questions traditional notions of wearability.

‘Isn’t it beautiful’ brooch

As an item worn close to the body, jewellery contains a strong emotional and physical relationship to the wearer and its small scale makes it the ideal collectible item.

‘Listen, look, see’ necklace

Katherine’s work challenges values of permanence and stability by embracing the beauty of the imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.

‘Faded’ pendant and Wall Art

Heart Gallery loves Katherine’s work and hope that you enjoy your piece for many years to come.

Meet The Maker – Yasemin Wigglesworth

Yasemin Wigglesworth – papercut artist

Yasemin is a papercut artist based in Gloucestershire and hand cuts all her own original designs from paper using a surgeon’s scalpel.  Each piece is complete, cut from a single sheet of paper. Nature, The Arts & Crafts Movement, Iznik ceramic designs and East Asian woodblock prints and tapestries are her main sources of inspiration.

Thumbelina

Yasemin regularly exhibits work in a few galleries across the UK and has recently started to have some of her designs published as greeting cards. Heart Gallery has worked with Yasemin before but the fairytale theme for our current exhibition ‘May All Your Dreams Come True’ really excited Yasemin and the pieces she has created for us are stunning.

Alice in Wonderland

Meet The Maker – Kate Wimbush

Kate Wimbush – jeweller

Kate creates wearable, figurative jewellery from silver and 9ct gold, highlighted with colourful resin. She uses traditional handcraft techniques combined with computer technology to construct her jewellery. Kate is inspired by her life and memories and a love for all things miniature.

 

Kate Wimbush – Birds (Daniel Cadden Photography)

After gaining a degree in Design: Craft in 2005, Kate specialised in creating original and exciting jewellery in silver and resin; developing her own unique method of casting and cutting resin. She then moved on to experiment with laser etching technology with traditional jewellery construction techniques to achieve the preciseness which has become a key feature of Kate’s work. 

Kate Wimbush – Flip Flops (Daniel Cadden Photography)

 Kate is currently participating in a number of exhibitions nationwide and worked for an independent designer maker alongside creating her own jewellery. Kate is now working on a new range of silver and gold collections, using resin as her method of introducing bright colours. 

Kate Wimbush – Brollies (Daniel Cadden Photography)

Based in Manchester, Kate’s creations continue to reflect her love of all things miniature, the exactness and precision required providing Kate with the stimulating challenge she enjoys. Her inspiration is found in many things, but especially through her life long love of ‘The Great British Seaside’ and Nature; her latest bird collection is the result of being introduced to the bird world at a very early age by her father, a keen Ornithologist!

Kate Wimbush – Birdcages (Daniel Cadden Photography)

Kate currently specialises in necklaces, earrings and bracelets and will be expanding her collections in the very near future; however, all of Kate’s work can be customised to personal requests, so please get in touch with any ideas you may have for that special piece!

Kate Wimbush – Anchor (Daniel Cadden Photography)

Meet The Maker – Josephine Gomersall

Josephine Gomersall – artist

Josephine makes Silver Jewellery and Metal Artwork treasures from Brass, Copper, Silver and recycled Tin, with hand stamped decoration and lettering, with an occasional accent of colour using coloured lacquers.

Silver Seed

Spring Blossom

Metal artwork is incorporated into her mixed media framed artworks too. Both delicate and decorative, her designs are inspired by the natural world; from the garden and hedgerow, to the countryside and coastline. She works from her home studio in the rural setting of Seagrave in Leicestershire. Chickens; Gem and Noodle, live at the bottom of the garden.

Poppies and Daisies

Hen House

The ‘little treasure’ metal artworks mounted in wooden blocks make a wonderful, unique, hand crafted gift, and can be displayed either individually or collectively. Josephine’s mini sculptures have been featured in the Emporium pages of Country Living magazine.

‘Little Treasure’ mini sculptures

In the Garden collection, Silver, Copper and Brass sculptures with hand stamped decoration

The mixed media framed artworks are all unique, individual pieces and incorporate hand drawn and hand painted matt paper coloured backgrounds, with hand stamped decoration, lettering and machine stitched detail. In the foreground the stylised flowers and seed heads are made from either Silver, or recycled tin, with some applied coloured lacquer for detailing. These artworks can be personalised with your own special message, commissions welcome so do please ask about this service.

All the beauty I see

Close up of detail

Josephine studied Printed Textiles and Surface Pattern Design and had a successful career as a Textile Designer and in product development in the Textiles industry, which is apparent in her work and adds a special decorative quality to her designs. She worked closely with Tricia Guild, whilst employed at Designers Guild, London where she gained a greater understanding and confidence with the use of colour.

Foliage Collection, Silver, Brass and Copper with hand stamped decoration

Josephine is a Botanical artist, and loves to drawn flora and fauna, inspired by Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s flower drawings. She has sold original artwork to Liberty,of London. Her Botanical drawings have been used to create three fabric designs for Liberty Art fabric collections. The original drawings are kept in the Liberty archive. 

Fruit Orchard Collection, Silver with hand stamped decoration and coloured lacquer

Josephine also designs and hand block prints glass cooker splash backs, which have featured on Channel 4’s Grand Designs programme with Kevin Mc Cloud and on Britain’s Best Homes programme with Sarah Beeney and they have also featured in many Kitchen and Interiors magazines.

Flower lapel pins, Silver and Copper

 

Meet The Maker – Rachel Lucie

Rachel Lucie – jeweller

Rachel is a local designer/maker who first started making jewellery in 2008 whilst on maternity leave with her second child. Describing herself previously as being an ‘armchair creative’ until then she had relished all aspects of design from architecture, art, ceramics, home decoration, jewellery…avidly watching programmes and reading about it, but not taking the plunge.

Jasper and iolite silver earrings

Her idea to buy some beads from ebay and make herself some jewellery exploded into a passion for creating jewellery her way, even coming up with some designs that weren’t something she would personally wear but loved and felt compelled to make! Lots of positive feedback from friends and family lead her to decide this could be the creative outlet she had been looking for.

Mars necklace

Looking back, it seemed destined to be, because as a child, Rachel spent hours playing with beautiful old beads and broken jewellery from her Grandmother’s jewellery box, collecting gemstones and treasures, and only ever wanting ‘proper’ sterling silver jewellery. 

Red Riding Hood earrings

Rachel’s love of Art Deco design, Hollywood Glamour, quirky yet uncluttered design has lead to a unique style ideal for showing off the gorgeous gemstones and pearls she hand picks. 

Walk in the Woods mixed gemstone oxidized silver bracelet

Heart Gallery was the first stockist of Rachel’s initial designs, having had numerous collections since, and will be including a selection of designs from Rachel’s own Folklore Collection in the latest exhibition.

Dazzle earrings

This latest collection has been inspired by half remembered fairy tales of wolves, elves and magical folk, entwined with traditional tales from other countries and a love of the time-honoured language used such as ‘Happily Ever After’. Using precious and semi-precious stones such as rubies, iolite, jasper and fluorite, Rachel’s unique eye for colour and form guarantees delicate, wearable jewellery to treasure and pass down like an old tale.

Vasilisa earrings

With no formal design or jewellery training, Rachel is further developing her craft and has now embarked on silver-smith training. She will be incorporating work-bench designs including rings and stone setting into her collections later this year so watch out for her new collections at Heart Gallery at Christmas.