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 – Sue Bulmer

Sue Bulmer – Designer

Sue grew up on a farm in the North East of England and this is where she developed her interest in art from an early age. In 1990 she went to the University of Nottingham to study Pharmacy, and spent the next 15 years involved in the sciences but her passion for the arts never went away.

Sue’s stand at BCTF April 2012

Finally in 2005 Sue came back to her artistic roots when she enrolled on a Foundation course in Art and Design. This gave her the opportunity to enhance her artistic skills and techniques and develop her creative practice. Since then Sue has been mostly self-taught and has explored a variety of media, such as watercolour, textiles and stitch, print, drawing and mixed media. She is constantly learning and feels that as an artist you should never stand still for too long, life is too short and there are too many ideas to explore.

Folded tea towels

Sue loves nature, and is constantly stimulated and inspired by the landscape and the natural world, the changing colours and textures of the seasons. Being outdoors in the open spaces of the countryside or in her cottage garden motivates her with her art. In contrast she is also inspired by home life, and, living in a 200 year old cottage filled with plenty of vintage finds, she finds a wealth of material to spark her creativity within her four walls.

Home Tweet Home tea towel design

Sue loves the comfort and sentimentality of home and family, and being somewhere you feel settled and at peace and thinks this is reflected in her work. She loves nothing more than curling up on the sofa, in front of a roaring fire, with a piece of cake, cup of tea and a good book. She also loves her kitchen, and finds it an inspirational place to be, old pots and pans, coffee and tea pots, herbs and spices and a rack of old cook books, perfect for new ideas.

Ain’t No Mountain High Enough tea towel design

Friends Forever tea towel design

We currently have Sue’s fabulous tea towels in stock and Sue will be expanding her range with us in the Summer of 2013 as part of our Wedding Exhibition ‘I DO’.

Love isn’t love until you give it away

Whilst researching for the new displays for the run up to Valentine’s Day it got me thinking about love of course so here is a little blog post of things I love that are now in Heart Gallery for you to love too …

Bear Hug – Julia Ogden

Original pencil drawings, giclee prints and cards based on Love, Friendship and Support by our very own super talented Julia Ogden.

‘And on’ partnership pair of silver rings with diamond

Diana Porter’s jewellery range includes her signature ‘and on’ partnership rings, ‘and on’ bangle and ‘I who is you who is I’ set of silver bangles.

close up of detail on the notebook case

Fabulous leather pieces concentrating on music lovers and bookworms by emerging local artist Rod Boyes.

Kindred Spirit

Andy’s etched glass work was a hit at Christmas and we are so chuffed with his new pieces. Perfect for homemade drinks such as damson gin, lemoncello vodka but these lab bottles work really well in the bathroom for shampoo and conditioner too.

Silver and 9ct gold heart rings

Karen’s popular silver and 9ct gold heart range now has a cute little addition of these rings.

Silk Scarf digitally printed from a hand-dyed original design

Sarita’s Reminiscence Collection of floaty scarves and lavender filled pouches and eye-masks will make a lovely gift not just for a Valentine but for a Mum too as Mothers’ Day is not that far away.

Ethical recycled silver jewelery

Ali’s ethical jewellery is inspired by her love of dancing and the dynamic lines of movements she creates whilst dancing.

Ceramic Hearts (can be personalised)

We love Laura’s ceramic hearts and they are certainly the perfect little love token at this time of the year. Our personalised service includes bridal favours matched to the wedding colours where possible with the wedding date stamped on as a great keepsake.

Ceramic Hearts (can be personalised)

And there you have it, a little snippet of new pieces we love and hope you love too….Love isn’t love until you give it away.

Speaking of love, I can’t end this blog post without an image from Kate Lycett though. A customer sadly lost her Dad recently and with a little bit of money he left her she really wanted something that reminded her of him and where he lived so every time she looks at this she will remember the years filled with love that they spent together:

Waterfront – Kate Lycett

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 – Lesley Nason

Lesley Nason – Ceramicist

After working as a textile designer in the fashion trade for 20 years, Lesley decided 8 years ago to take a break from the creative world. She started a natural health business which allowed her plenty of free time and it was in this free time that she decided to enroll on a beginner’s ceramic course. Lesely was hooked! Her ceramic work has now taken over from her other business and Lesley is once again enjoying working creatively and designing and making beautiful objects…..only this time her medium is clay!

Three trees – ceramic wall plaque

Using porcelain clay Lesley creates contemporary wall art, decorative vessels and jewellery inspired by the countryside surrounding her home in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. Her work combines the use of engraved surface texture, oxide, resist and crackle glaze to depict and capture the beauty of the British landscape.

Two Trees

Lesley’s  initial sketches are transferred onto the soft clay with texture then following a bisque firing resists, oxides and crackle glazes are applied to add detail, shading and contrast to the piece.

Running Hare

Heart Gallery is showcasing Lesley’s stylish wall plaques and vessels in the Christmas Exhibition and we love her colour palette and designs of the British countryside.

Vessel

 

Meet The Maker – Sarah Tyssen

Sarah Tyssen – textile artist/weaver

After graduating from West Surrey College of Art and Design with a degree in woven textiles Sarah worked as a designer for Morgan and Oates. This gave her an invaluable insight into all aspects of working in a design studio and the processes involved in commission weaving.

Sarah Tyssen – Hand woven blankets

After three years she started her own business producing ranges of scarves and throws. Sarah works on a 16 shaft George Wood dobby loom, for production on power looms in Yorkshire. All her yarns are sourced and dyed in England.

Sarah Tyssen – hand woven chenille and wool scarves

In 2007 she moved to The Weaving House – built in 1896 during the Arts and Crafts Movement as a weaving workshop. Sarah is very excited to bring weaving back to the house!

Sarah Tyssen – close up

Sarah designs on her hand dobby loom, using a rich colour palette of natural yarns, sourced and dyed in the UK. She then works closely with a Yorkshire mill to produce her small limited edition ranges of scarves, throws and blankets – which make perfect gifts for men and women.

Sarah Tyssen – hand woven chenille and wool scarves

We have fallen in love with Sarah’s new lambswool design that has now arrived at Heart Gallery just in time for the cold snap!

Sarah Tyssen – handwoven merino lambswool scarves

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 – Mike Topham

Mike Topham – Artist

Michael was born in Yorkshire in 1954 and studied design at Trent Polytechnic in Nottingham. After a brief spell as an exhibition designer he travelled to Qatar to work with a leading British sculptor and environmental artist, for the Emir’s office.

Old Boot

Here Michael was involved in a diverse range of design activities including interiors and furniture, landscaping, conceptual design, architectural drawing and model-making.

Avoiding the Trap

After four years Michael moved to Dubai where, for a further fourteen years, he was mainly involved with landscaping design/construction and project management.

Takeaway

During his busy career in the Middle East Michael managed to exhibit art works in Qatar and Dubai.

Lying in Wait

Uphill Struggle

He returned to the UK in 1996 to be a self-employed garden designer and contractor, and continues to produce amusing creations in a variety of materials including wire, plaster and paper, in both two and three dimensions.

Windy Day 1

Windy Day 2

Mike’s collection for Heart Gallery is fun and right up our street so I hope you enjoy the selection …. I don’t know about you but I can certainly relate to this last one!

Bad Hair Day

Meet The Maker – Nick Tankard

Nick Tankard – artist

For this series of pictures of New York, Nick took inspiration from the films and photographs of 1940’s and 50’s America.  Nick has endeavored to create a vision of the bustling metropolis, a city where the grandeur of the Flatiron Building and the buzz and hum of Radio City Music Hall sit alongside late night diners, bars and neighborhood stores.  

 

FlatIron – Nick Tankard

Nick attempts to channel his fondness for films and vintage photographs by the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, Frank Capra and Fred Herzog to conjure images that contain similar themes seen in these classics of Americana.  Mystery, drama and a hint of absurdity can be found in Nick’s pictures of a lost world, but these images are not merely an exercise in nostalgia, they are also a celebration of the individual, an ode to non-conformity, a quiet reminder that in a time of bland commercialism and corporate bluster there are friendly independent shops, galleries and museums and even beautiful old cinemas being left to fall into ruin that deserve our attention to ensure they don’t turn into lost things.

Drugstore Manhattan – Nick Tankard

Nick’s pictures are produced using a cross- hatching technique with a fine line pen, layers upon layers of cross- hatching are built up to form structures and shapes whilst other areas are left untouched in order to hint at a flickering light or billowing clouds, it’s a time consuming process but one which he enjoys as it allows him time to listen to Tom Waits, audio books and radio plays. 

Radio City NYC – Nick Tankard

Nick lives next to a cobbled lane and rumbling train line in the village of Saltaire. We first spotted his work at a local private view and we have been hankering after it and pestering him for some ever since! Nearly camping out on his doorstep whilst he finished the originals for us! We hope you enjoy your piece of Nick as much as we do.

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