Meet The Maker – Kim Hodgson

Kim Hodgson – Ceramicist

Ever since Kim was a child she has always loved the outdoors and all of its natural beauty. Most of her school holidays were spent in the countryside visiting her Granny. Kim’s older sister and her were lucky enough to be given their own pony, Turpin, who they both loved dearly but as they grew older Kim’s sisters changed therefore leaving Kim with Turpin to explore the great outdoors together with her Auntie teaching her as they went!

Selection of Kim’s ceramics

Turpin sadly passed away Feb 2012 at the grand age of 33 so what better way to thank her faithful friend but to tufn him and the wildlife they saw on their travels into pieces of art for the rest of the world do enjoy!

Selection of Kim’s ceramics

Kim’s ceramics are made from slip cast porcelain and then her own designed decals are transferred on. The most famous image is the pink owl which is now her logo.

Selection of Kim’s ceramics

Her work is designed to bring a small amount of the country into people’s homes and hopefully make people smile from its quirky qualities.

Selection of Kim’s ceramics

Selection of Kim’s ceramics

Meet The Maker – Jane Booth

Jane Booth – Ceramicist

Jane thinks the small pleasures of life should be treasured; don’t we all? For her one aspect of this involves using everyday items that are made in mouthwatering colours that make her smile – such as her pink ‘bejewelled’ Russian doll keyring and her purple leather satchel. For this reason she makes pots suitable for everyday use that are practical, pretty and unique.

Jane’s ceramic mugs

All Jane’s pottery is thrown on a wheel and then decorated with coloured slips, a transparent glaze and ceramic transfers. She uses terracotta clay, as she likes the warmth and richness of the colour and the effect that is created when the clay breaks through the softly coloured slips.

Jane’s ceramic mugs

Jane is inspired by the colours and patterns of some of her favourite things – vintage fabric and china; paintings (particularly from the eighteenth century); illustrated children’s literature; ice cream and macaroons!

 

Jane’s ceramic bowls

We love Jane’s work at Heart Gallery and know that you will too.

Jane’s ceramic mugs and jugs

Saltaire Arts Trail and Makers Fair 2013

I was honoured to be asked to judge Open Houses this year at Saltaire Arts Trail. As a gallery owner I try to get along to this great event every year anyway to find new gems for Heart Gallery but this year I had a role to play … and it wasn’t an easy one I can tell you! Armed with my programme and with hubby by my side we set off in glorious sunshine to pound the streets of Saltaire and nosy round the homes that were part of the Bank Holiday weekend event.  (We did see a few naughty houses that had tried to sneak in under that ‘umbrella’ too! but we didn’t go in them!)

Arts Trail and Makers Fair programme

It took longer to get round them all than I had first thought when I realised there were 13 Open houses and 3 exhibition spaces but it was great fun!

Having fun snooping in and out of the Open Houses and Exhibition Houses!

Clare Caulfield – as busy as ever in her Open House and exciting times ahead for Heart Gallery as she will be having a Solo Exhibition with us Spring 2014

Having fun snooping in and out of Open Houses and Exhibition Houses

Our very lovely Kate Lycett unveiled her new Whitby lantern

I found the installations really interesting too so if you are heading over to Saltaire tomorrow or Monday do pop to 15 Caroline Street to see performance artist Christopher Mollon (so pleased for him that yesterday’s weather was nowhere to be seen, he would have been so, so cold and wet otherwise):

Christopher Mollon, 15 Caroline Street. The Arc of Orange

And then pop over the road to 44 Whitlam Street to see her critical but playful look at domestic tasks and also these fab colour co-ordinated bookshelves which tickled me:

Yvonne Carmichael, 44 Whitlam Street, Chore-ography

I bumped into quite a few of my current makers over in Victoria Hall at The Makers Fair:

Andy Poplar (won Best In Show)

Helen Russell (hadn’t had much sleep getting ready for Saltaire)

Leigh Shepherd (a rare opportunity for camera shy Leigh)

Fiona Cameron (her birdies fly out of Heart Gallery!)

Moira Fuller (will be back at Heart Gallery soon I hope)

And here are a few gems found along the way … some which will be appearing in Heart Gallery at some point over the 12 months I hope for your enjoyment too!

Charlotte Morrison’s ceramics are part of our ‘I DO’ Wedding Exhibition launching 23 June 2013

I met the lovely Anne Brook, a textile artist who makes the most amazing stitched canvases in muted colourways that will sit lovely in Heart Gallery

I spotted Adam Harvey’s delightful ceramics so I hope to work with him one day

I’ve met Emma before and seen her beautiful glass so it was lovely to bump into her again at Saltaire. She had the perfect spot for the sunshine to dance on her butterflies

I didn’t meet Beverley Gee but her decorative porcelain was right up my street!

Roz’s papercuts adorned the fireplace beautifully and would be perfect in Heart Gallery as my customers love papercut work

Sian’s little rocks glistened with gold leaf

My brief for the Best of Open Houses Award was to give the award to the artist or company behind the best presentation of a body of work in my opinion. So who won I hear you ask? It was a very difficult decision to make as you can imagine with so much wonderful work to see and so many homes showcasing artists work so well too. The flow that 6 Harold Place achieved by bringing the outside in from its stunning garden surroundings made it the best Open House as a whole for me so if I could have given more awards out I would have!

6 Harold Place

But … I only had the one award to give and it went to a husband and wife team from Lancashire called Bonkers Clutterbucks! Yes, it’s a strange name I know but it sort of sums up what they do and who they are quite well; bonkers about art and passionate about all things creative and collectable. Take a peek at some of their work I fell in love with and when it arrives at Heart Gallery I hope you fall in love with it too:

I chose work by a husband and wife team in Lancashire as the winners because … well you know me – I’m a sucker for the whimsical!

I chose work by a husband and wife team in Lancashire as the winners because … well you know me – I’m a sucker for the whimsical!

I chose work by a husband and wife team in Lancashire as the winners because … well you know me – I’m a sucker for the whimsical!

Find out more about Saltaire Arts Trail here and if you can visit today or tomorrow then please do, you will have a fabulous time.

Meet The Maker – Fiona Bates

Fiona Bates – Ceramicist

Fiona has been working with clay for over 25 years and has been recognised for her unique and unusual designs.  She has recently set up a dedicated ceramic studio in North Devon where she continues to be influenced by the sea and the chance objects that it offers up.

Sardine tin

Each of her unique pieces is hand built using pure white earthenware or porcelain clays.  Pieces are finished in a range of dry glazes, slips and sumptuous gloss glazes. 

Sardine Tin close up – Fiona Bates

Fiona’s work ranges in size and complexity and includes: fireplace surrounds; a variety of species of fish; boats; tiny children’s shoes; wedding shoes; tins of sardines; horses; rams, dogs and cats heads. Her work has been featured in Design Magazine, Votre Maison, The Sunday Times and Homes and Gardens.  She has exhibited in many galleries including; the V&A and Crafts Council Gallery London.

Sardine Tin close up – Fiona Bates

Here are Heart Gallery these Sardine Tins of Fiona’s are our favourites and they are pretty popular with our customers too. Bob in soon to see them on our wall – you will be tickled pink!

Meet The Maker – Rowena Gilbert

Rowena Gilbert – Ceramicist

Searching for the perfect fusion of strong design, innovative style and spontaneous expression. The clay vessel is Rowena’s bold canvas; strong, simple and unfussy in form. Layers of clay echo periods of time, memories; slow, controlled, ordered. The surface evokes moods, tensions, actions and reactions.

Ceramic Stem Vases – Meadow Design

Rowena’s pots and bowls are slip-cast using a fine white clay body or adding metal oxides to produce coloured clay bodies. The coloured clay layers are brushed on or inlaid in incised lines and marks. The surface marks are created using various sgraffito tools when the clay pot is in a leather-hard state

Ceramic Small Bowls – Meadow Design

Rowena bisque fires to 1000C then masks areas on the outside of the pot/bowl using wax or paper resist, glazing the unmasked areas with a transparent gloss with its final firing at 1120C.

Dandelion Ceramic Curved Vases

Heart Gallery adores Rowena’s work and is proud to be one of her carefully chosen stockists for her latest range. Call in and see it soon x

Ceramic Deep Bowl – Meadow Design

Meet The Maker – Jill Govier

Jill Govier – textile artist

Jill is a lifelong avid seamstress and finds the tactile qualities of fabrics and thread lend themselves beautifully as a means to express herself.

Elderly couple with Ice Cream stitched canvas

Her work is heavily influenced by her passion for both textiles and words. She incorporates beautiful old fabrics and vintage finds alongside contemporary prints to create quirky textiles and practical home wares.

Cushion

Cushions, purses, peg bags, canvasses and more recently, handbags made from recycled tweet jackets are the mainstays of her designs.

Peg bags

Text features highly in her work in the form of quotes from famous people or children’s stories, sometimes motivational, sometimes with a sense of fun.

Key fobs

Jill clearly remembers tackling her mum`s treadle Singer sewing machine, making dolls clothes and stuffed creatures from whatever fabrics she could find around the house. She had an old book called `A 100 things a girl can make` and had a go at all of them!

Cushion

Jill believes she was born with an unabated obsession with textiles and what she could make out of them and now she gets to do it for a living! Recycling & reusing textiles has become something of a passion for her, some of the everyday vintage fabrics she comes across are amazing and have such potential!

Quote purse & key fobs

Jill is also drawn to the bright contemporary prints that are in the shops nowadays, mixing old with new and making beautiful things has become her favourite thing to do! Here at Heart Gallery we love the words and quotes Jill uses in her work as they often strike a chord with customers and we see them giggling whilst they choose that extra special gift or even end up treating themselves instead!

Make Up Bag

Meet The Maker – Elissia Grace

Elissia Grace – designer/maker

The arrival of a niece and nephew reawakened Elissia’s interest in childhood and in family life.  She really enjoys trips to the seaside and grand days out.

Dangling Leg ceramic range

These have become the focus of her design work and provide a great opportunity to bring together the things that she loves e.g. line, pattern and colour.

Dangling Leg range – textiles

Elissia often works from photographs that she has taken on days out. She can then produce line drawings and sewing-machine drawings, to which she then adds pattern and colour elements using a combination of collage and Photoshop. These images are then developed for homewares, fabrics and gifts.

Dangling Leg ceramic range

Her current range consists of ceramic ware, framed art work, interior textiles such as cushions, aprons and tea-towels, some of these in child-friendly sizes.

Child’s apron from Dangling Leg range

Meet The Maker – Colette Halstead

Colette Halstead – Glass artist

Colette is a glass artist based in Lancashire who enjoys working mainly with kiln fused glass but she does also use stained glass techniques.

Colette Halstead Glass – Landscape Dish

Colette’s artistic background is as varied and colourful as Blackpool, the town she was born in. She trained professionally as a fine art printmaker and on returning to her home town she worked for fifteen years as one of three artists at ‘Blackpool Illuminations’. She was the only female in a team of forty skilled workers and as artists they we were responsible for translating the designers’ ideas into the brightly lit six mile display.

Colette Halstead Glass – Seedhead Dish

 Her desire to work with glass started with a leaded light course in 2003. Glass captivates Colette like no other material; its translucency combined with the muted colours she uses, create beautiful lighting effects. She uses recycled and reclaimed window glass in her work and whilst temperamental it has a particular uniqueness of its own. Old window glass previously used to view landscapes through now hold another landscape between the layers. 

Colette Halstead Glass – Landscape coaster set

Colette’s work is always a response to the surroundings and situations that she’s in. She developed her work taking inspiration from both urban and natural landscapes, big skies and open spaces. Leaves taken from the landscape gift her work with the beauty of their organic shapes as she fuses them into the glass to create a simple composition of a tree.

Colette Halstead Glass – Hawthorn Landscape Wall piece

Inspired by nature, Colette’s unique leaf and landscape series capture the essence of the British countryside. Hedgerow and riverbank greenery from the landscapes are introduced into each piece and mark their organic silhouettes in the glass, capturing permanent memories of their once leafy existence.

Colette Halstead Glass – Landscape DIsh with Mill

Above all Colette creates pieces that she hopes give a joy and happiness to those who hold them.

Colette Halstead Glass – Hedge Parsley Rectangular Dish

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS – PART II

Heart Gallery (image courtesy of Sarah Mason Photography)

Following on from yesterday’s little post I just wanted to share a few more things with you so grab a cup of tea and enjoy part 2!

Group shot of room diffusers

Scent surrounds us every day, creating memories and helping us treasure special moments. Abode Aroma creates interior fragrances to evoke powerful feelings and enhance your living spaces. It’s about creating a desirable space to be, an ambient oasis for the senses.

Fresh Fig and Lemongrass

These amazing diffusers will scent your living spaces with an exquisite fragrance, allowing you to enjoy scent in your home without the mess of incense or the unsightly appearance of plugins. Their perfumes are sourced from all over the world, derived from natural essential bases, and because they use only high grade ingredients they produce a fragrance diffuser that is both long lasting and truly effective.

Pomegranate and Olive Grove

Available in a vast range of contemporary fragrances Abode Aroma offers fragrances that inspire, delight and beautify your surroundings.

Amber

Three friends enjoy lunch overlooking the River Dart in Devon on a perfect, English summer’s day. A second bottle of Verdicchio is opened as they share vivid recollections of time spent in Italy….. Inspired to capture their memories with fragrance, Di Palomo was born.

Wild fig & Grape Eau de Parfum

Since that very first inspiration, quality, style and attention to detail have been combined to create a truly indulgent collection of bath, body & fragrance products.

Wild Fig & Grape Dry Oil

Exquisite packaging and complex fragrances instantly take you to scene of the inspiration … from a Tuscan farmhouse in the early morning to an evening walk through the orange groves or a vineyard overlooking an Italian lake.

Wild Fig & Grape Hand & Body Lotion

Wild Fig & Grape Liquid Soap

Close your eyes & discover yourself in Italy…… and new pieces in stock now are their spa range of foot file, body mitt and nail brush to compliment their body and fragrance products (which use natural ingredients and are paraben free).

Footfile £5

Cleansing mitt £5

Nail brush £5

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS

Heart Gallery

Here’s a little post for you about the great design-led interior products we sell in Heart Gallery that you may not even know about … enjoy.

Flow wine rack Black+Blum

Salad Plant by Black+Blum

Black+Blum is a creative partnership steeped in innovation. It creates and markets products for the home and office, combining ruthless practicality with a mischievous and intellectually-satisfying design aesthetic. From a studio in the heart of London, Dan Black and Martin Blum delve into the everyday challenges of urban living, continually questioning convention and developing the critically acclaimed Black+Blum brand.

Dan Black

Martin Blum

Dan and Martin are driven by the opportunity to give each design its own unique character and soul. Their brief is to create functional products that will charm and entertain. They are passionate about design and realise that a true black + blum product is always a joint input of their own personalities. Hopefully you will get as much enjoyment from black + blum products as they got from designing them and Heart Gallery gets from stocking them.

Flower Loop by Black+Blum

Loop by Black+Blum

Twin brothers Richard and Antony Joseph founded Joseph Joseph in 2003, combining their respective experience in product design and business – Antony studied design at Central St Martins whilst Richard studied business at Cambridge University.  

Richard and Antony Joseph

Specialising in contemporary kitchenware, Joseph Joseph is now internationally recognised for producing some of the most stylish and technically innovative products available, and has become one of the fastest growing companies in the worldwide homewares market.

Hands On salad bowl Joseph Joseph

Index Advanced Joseph Joseph

Their unique ability to match form and function has earned them global recognition for their multi-award-winning designs.

Elevate utensil set Joseph Joseph

And with summer just around the corner I think you will have to agree that this little patio BBQ is the perfect little addition to their award winning range new to Heart Gallery for 2012. 

Hot Pot BBQ Joseph Joseph

Black + Blum have put the sizzle into bbq design. The Hot Pot BBQ is your bbq and herb-garden in one. It looks like a terracotta pot, but pull up the top and reveal a bbq grill underneath. Grow your herbs on the top to season the food you cook on the grill. It is ideal for small terraces or balconies and even looks good when not in use and includes stainless steel tongs. Made from stainless steel 430 & steel and with a heat insulating ceramic coating.

Heart Gallery (image courtesy of Sarah Mason Photography)