Exhibitions
EARTH | GROUND
Two artists whose work has been deeply influenced by the Dorset landscape, prehistory and deep time.
Bridport Arts Centre is delighted to present EARTH | GROUND, featuring ceramics from the archive of Alan Wallwork (d.2019) and paintings and other works by his daughter Amanda Wallwork.
Alan Wallwork was born in Watford in 1931. After attending Goldsmiths College, in 1957 he began making ceramics at Forest Hill, South London, initially setting up his own gallery with fellow students and later moving to larger premises in Greenwich. He enjoyed early success making a range of distinctive individual hand built sculptural forms, his pieces resembling archaic, sometimes totemic shapes.
In 1964, Alan moved his studio to Dorset, closer to the landscapes and evidence of prehistory that were an influence on his early work. Setting up studios in Marnhull, and later Uplyme, his work evolved to reflect the shapes, colours and textures to be found in the coast and countryside of Dorset - especially the cool bleached colours of the seashore where the pebbles and rock formations have been eroded into their unique shapes by the action of the elements over countless millennia. Widely exhibited, with pieces selected by the Design Centre in London, Alan’s work can also be found in many public and private collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Kyoto Museum in Japan.
“Alan Wallwork was one of the great individualists in British pottery, one who steered his own course, always interested in new developments, but not in the suddenly changing winds of fashion. If Alan’s art is part of any tradition, it is that tradition of exciting and experimental building that grew up around the Central School and Goldsmiths College in the 1950s. He was one of a new generation of artist-potters who explored the sculptural possibilities of built clay.”
David Whiting, 2012
Amanda Wallwork is a visual artist using drawing, painting, mapping and installation to explore our experience of landscape. In her quest for a real understanding of what lies beyond the aesthetic, she examines a wide range of visual clues - from what can only be seen from above through aerial photography and new remote sensing technology, to the secrets beneath our feet and the vast unimaginable timescales of geological deep time. Her work is greatly influenced by childhood experiences of visits to archaeological sites and museums and growing up watching her father manipulate clay - although preferring to use other mediums herself. Amanda’s work involves deep investigation and immersion in a place before extracting, abstracting and re-interpreting data in a form that aims to reveal what is not immediately apparent – what can’t always be seen on the surface. More recently she has been working directly with earth and rock specimens, deconstructed and re-constructed, to further explore concepts of deep time.
“I’m always seeking the narrative of place - fascinated by what you can read in a landscape - interpreting the boundaries, borders, tracks and traces of past human activity and what it reveals about our relationship with the earth. Taking a deeper look at the underlying factors that determine how our land has been formed, used and shaped and how we move through it.”
Amanda Wallwork, 2023
Gallery open 10am – 4pm Tuesday – Saturday | Free Entry
Unfortunately there is no disabled access to the gallery and we also cannot allows dogs to enter this exhibition due to the delicate nature of the work. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Alan Wallwork was born in Watford in 1931. After attending Goldsmiths College, in 1957 he began making ceramics at Forest Hill, South London, initially setting up his own gallery with fellow students and later moving to larger premises in Greenwich. He enjoyed early success making a range of distinctive individual hand built sculptural forms, his pieces resembling archaic, sometimes totemic shapes.
In 1964, Alan moved his studio to Dorset, closer to the landscapes and evidence of prehistory that were an influence on his early work. Setting up studios in Marnhull, and later Uplyme, his work evolved to reflect the shapes, colours and textures to be found in the coast and countryside of Dorset - especially the cool bleached colours of the seashore where the pebbles and rock formations have been eroded into their unique shapes by the action of the elements over countless millennia. Widely exhibited, with pieces selected by the Design Centre in London, Alan’s work can also be found in many public and private collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Kyoto Museum in Japan.
“Alan Wallwork was one of the great individualists in British pottery, one who steered his own course, always interested in new developments, but not in the suddenly changing winds of fashion. If Alan’s art is part of any tradition, it is that tradition of exciting and experimental building that grew up around the Central School and Goldsmiths College in the 1950s. He was one of a new generation of artist-potters who explored the sculptural possibilities of built clay.”
David Whiting, 2012
Amanda Wallwork is a visual artist using drawing, painting, mapping and installation to explore our experience of landscape. In her quest for a real understanding of what lies beyond the aesthetic, she examines a wide range of visual clues - from what can only be seen from above through aerial photography and new remote sensing technology, to the secrets beneath our feet and the vast unimaginable timescales of geological deep time. Her work is greatly influenced by childhood experiences of visits to archaeological sites and museums and growing up watching her father manipulate clay - although preferring to use other mediums herself. Amanda’s work involves deep investigation and immersion in a place before extracting, abstracting and re-interpreting data in a form that aims to reveal what is not immediately apparent – what can’t always be seen on the surface. More recently she has been working directly with earth and rock specimens, deconstructed and re-constructed, to further explore concepts of deep time.
“I’m always seeking the narrative of place - fascinated by what you can read in a landscape - interpreting the boundaries, borders, tracks and traces of past human activity and what it reveals about our relationship with the earth. Taking a deeper look at the underlying factors that determine how our land has been formed, used and shaped and how we move through it.”
Amanda Wallwork, 2023
Gallery open 10am – 4pm Tuesday – Saturday | Free Entry
Unfortunately there is no disabled access to the gallery and we also cannot allows dogs to enter this exhibition due to the delicate nature of the work. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
CREDIT
