Alchemy showcases the best of craft at Downpatrick exhibition

Alchemy showcases the best of craft at Downpatrick exhibition

10 August 2016

TURNING basic materials into something precious is the everyday business of artists working in the creative craft sector.

Eight artists, participating in the ‘making it’ business development programme, have come together to show how it’s done in a new exhibition at Down Arts Centre called Alchemy.

Led by Craft NI, the Arts Council for Northern Ireland and Invest NI, ‘making it’ encourages craft artists to develop their work while placed with a host organisation.

The Alchemy exhibition artists — Andrew Cooke, Nicola Drennan,Sasha McVey, Malcolm Murchison, Angela O’Keefe, Wendy Ward and Helen Faulkner — are a diverse group presenting ceramics in porcelain, earthenware and stoneware and jewellery in precious and contemporary materials.

Potter Helen Faulkner initially studied Contemporary Crafts in England before beginning the CCOI Pottery Skills course, in Thomastown, to improve the technical side of her work.

More recently she moved back to Northern Ireland to take part in the ‘making it’ Programme.  As part of the programme she has been placed at South Eastern Regional College in Downpatrick for the first six months and then Down Arts Centre for another 18 months.  

The bowls she presents in the exhibition are part of a new range Helen is developing while on the programme — serving bowls that are made to be used and are decorated to inspire get togethers with family and friends.

Alongside the bowls there are handcut and decorated tiles which are a new direction for Helen, looking at how ceramics are used throughout the home.

“The work I make is mostly for food — my other love in life,” she said. “I make pottery to be used in the kitchen, serving family and friends.”

Designer-maker of bespoke porcelain lighting, Wendy Ward, from Hillsborough,has partnered with Belleek Pottery in Fermanagh, to produce a range of commercial, luxury lighting.

The porcelain lighting range combines traditional craft methods with new technologies. Wendy’s Woodland collection, exhibited as part of Alchemy, is inspired by the beauty of the Fermanagh Lakelands where her studio is based. 

This collection cast in porcelain and finished by hand captures light’s interaction with the forests of Fermanagh and the patterns created through light and shadow,.

Sasha McVey is an award winning artist specialising in  ceramics, currently placed with Northern Regional College, Ballymena. Sasha uses both porcelain and black clay to create sculptural forms influenced by her natural surroundings, exploring the seaside, forest and coast of her hometown in Glenarm.

The  touch of a pebble, the white rock face of a limestone cliff, and the curves and contours of the landscape itself are some of the things that inspire Sasha.

Nicola Drennan, currently based with Studio Souk, Belfast, makes ceramic sculptures, giftware and jewellery from stoneware clay.  She uses raku and saggar firing techniques to apply a range of materials such as horsehair, sawdust, seaweed, etching ink and glazes onto the white surface of the clay, creating unique patterns on each piece she creates. 

She is inspired by the relationship between man-made and natural environments and how they interact. 

Andrew Cooke,  currently placed with the South Eastern Regional College, Bangor, is a maker of unusual ceramic instruments.

After working for over 20 years in the car body repair trade, classic car restoration and as an aircraft technician, Andrew became a self-employed designer-maker.  At the age of 40 he took the step to go back to school and this led to completing a degree in Fine and Applied Art (Ceramics) at the University of Ulster in 2012.

Andrew makes a range of objects which follow a theme, mostly motorcycles, classic cars and music. He believes in recycling and gives his work a unique look and feel by firing his kiln with reclaimed wood and waste vegetable oil.

Malcolm Murchison, based with the Ulster University Belfast School of Art, is the long-time Arts Officer and manager of Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart for Coleraine Borough Council.  

He has a particular interest in the ‘hot crafts’ processes of ceramics and glass. He likes to make ‘ceramics with surprises’ and has received a number of awards for his work.

Angela O’Keefe is based with the Surgery Studios, Belfast and Ulster University Belfast School of Art.

An exploration of colour and texture, Angela’s experimental jewellery uses salt crystals, glass shards and crushed silicon carbide in combination with precious metals, resin and pigment. 

She has exhibited her work internationally and was recently awarded Editor’s Choice for Visual Impact at International Jewellery London 2014.

Noirin McKinney, Director of Arts Development, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, said the ‘making it’ programme had been an unprecedented success, supporting a total of 42 craft businesses since its introduction in 2005.  

“Globally there has been a marked shift from the declining traditional ‘heavy’ industries to the creative industries and that is also reflected here in Northern Ireland,” she said. “Our creative sector remains one of the few areas of economic growth and is a vital source of our competitive strength, wealth and job creation.”

Alan Kane, chief executive, of Craft NI, said almost all of the 42 craft businesses they had assisted were still trading very successfully.  

“In addition a very high percentage of the makers export their products and many enjoy huge international recognition,” he said. “It has become a flagship programme, which not only has assisted the makers who participated in it, but has also served as an inspiration for all makers in Northern Ireland. With the ongoing support of Invest NI and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland it can only go from strength to strength”

Alchemy opened on Thursday at Down Arts Centre and runs until Saturday, August 27. It is free to view during normal opening hours.