BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.4.5//EN TZID:Europe/London X-WR-TIMEZONE:Europe/London BEGIN:VEVENT UID:6446@artinliverpool.com DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London;VALUE=DATE:20210727 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London;VALUE=DATE:20210808 DTSTAMP:20210721T132341Z URL:https://www.artinliverpool.com/events/arthouse-pottery-and-pastel-a-re trospective-by-chris-hughes/ SUMMARY:ArtHouse Gallery: ArtHouse: ‘Pottery and Pastel’ – a retrospe ctive by Chris Hughes DESCRIPTION:‘Pottery and Pastel’ – a retrospective by Chris Hughes\nW ith so much uncertainty at present\, it is hardly surprising that people a re being drawn to seek out activities that will provide some structure to their day during the pandemic. TV programmes like ‘The Great Pottery Th row Down’have certainly fired people’s curiosity during lockdown into attempting new skills and hobbies.\nFor any creative artist\, the stimulus of their media will always be the inspiration for their craft - painters using oils\; weavers and their threads\; sketchers working with charcoal. Likewise\, there is an inherent tactile attraction to the potential of mou lding a humble lump of wet clay into an accomplished work of art.\nThis sa me appeal is well to the fore in the stoneware ceramics of avid potter\, C hris Hughes\, who has been perfecting his clay working skills well before the first lockdown hit\, producing hand-built bowls\, lampshades and clock s from his studio in Ainsdale.\nChris confirms\, “It is amazingly acces sible. You can buy a bag of clay and make your pots – on the kitchen tab le or the garden bench – if they go wrong you dry them out and reconstit ute the clay and start again.”\nChris goes on to add\, “I believe tha t most artists are drawn to the medium that suits them the best. I like cl ay. I like the feel of it the way it changes\, you can model it\, stick it together and build with it\, carve into it\, colour it and just leave it as the colour of the earth. By training I am a geographer\, clay is all ab out earth\, fire and water\, pretty similar really.”\nA former primary s chool teacher\, Chris began making his pots in the late 1970’s after att ending courses at Edge Hill College in Ormskirk run by Brian Cook. As his interest in pottery took hold\, Chris undertook night-school classes at So uthport College and gained a one-term secondment at St Martin’s College in Lancaster to attend the course ‘Clay as a Teaching Medium’ ran by Barry Gregson of Caton Pottery. It supported teachers from both primary a nd secondary school to improve their own pottery skills and to learn new a nd innovative teaching methods to use with the children back at their scho ols.\nMore assured in his ability\, in 2005 he initially set up a studio – Ainsdale Pottery - in his own back garden. Then\, on retirement two ye ars later\, Chris enhanced his studio environment by building a full works hop and installing his own kiln. The new studio now provided Chris with th e space to increase the quantity of pots he could produce and expand the r ange of shapes and glazes used to create his original and unique pottery.\ nAll Chris’s pots are hand-built using pinching\, coiling and slabbing t echniques and glazed in sympathetic natural tones. Favourites are blue and black (Tenmoku) and iron\, cobalt and copper oxides enhance his usual s urface decoration.\nA life-long walker and climber\, the landscapes of the Lake District and Snowdonia play a substantial part in the decoration of Chris’ pots and contribute to their overall shape and composition.\nChri s’ biggest relief landscape lamp so far (pictured) will be on show at The ArtHouse exhibition. “This is the largest lamp I have ever made\, s een here paired with a lamp shade made by Joanne Eddon. The landscape is a  scene of the Coniston Fells - Coniston Old Man and Dow Crag as seen from the southern end of Coniston Water. This is a place we have stayed at eve ry year for a very long time and this view means a lot to me and my family .”\nChris also likes to draw\, using soft pastels\, choosing landscape a nd abstract subjects. His abstract drawings draw heavily on aspects of the landscape and reflect his own interest in\, and educational background\, as a graduate in geography.\n“I don't make pots during the winter months as it is impossible to dry the slabs so I concentrate on drawing. I work in pencil\, pen and pastel and prefer to work at quite a large scale\, but I sketch all the time in reasonably small sketchbooks. I have filled many of these over the years and many more this year. It is just not practical to continue to work at large scale so it is these much smaller sketches t hat I have looked to make use of in making my cards and coasters.”\nCaug ht out\, like some many other artists during the lockdowns\, with retail o utlets shut\, galleries closed and exhibitions cancelled\, Chris has been reinforcing his on-line presence. “I have hosted my Ainsdale Pottery we bsite for many years but it has really only worked as a 'showcase' and a l ibrary of my work. Although I have sold a few items\, I have never really tried to do more. But with the closure of all other sales outlets\, virtua l sites have become far more important. I have certainly become more atten tive to Facebook and started to use Instagram more effectively. My son\, w ho is my 'webmaster' has created several new sections on the website\, mos t noticeably a 'shop'.”\nTreasurer of\, and regular exhibitor with\, The Southport Palette Club and also at Lancashire Makers in Churchtown and Or mskirk\, Chris will be exhibiting at The ArtHouse in Southport end of July .\nDirector of Southport Contemporary Arts\, Norrie Beswick-Calvert\, conf irms that "The ArtHouse is pleased to welcome Chris Hughes’ solo exhibi tion which celebrates Chris’ love of landscape and will feature his cont emporary\, semi abstract landscapes and his landscape inspired ceramics” .\n‘Pottery and Pastel’\n27th July – 7th August 2021\nTues-Fri: 10 am-3pm/Sat: 11am-4pm\nArtHouse\nSouthport Contemporary Arts\n65 Eastbank S treet\, Southport\nPR8 1EJ\nwww.sca-network.co.uk ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.artinliverpool.com/wp-content/upload s/2021/07/Huge-lamp-with-design-of-the-Coniston-Fells-with-Silk-fabric-sha de-scaled.jpg LOCATION:ArtHouse Gallery\, 65 Eastbank Street\, Southport\, Sefton\, PR81E J\, Southport\, United Kingdom GEO:53.645169;-3.004323 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=65 Eastbank Street\, Southp ort\, Sefton\, PR81EJ\, Southport\, United Kingdom;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TI TLE=ArtHouse Gallery:geo:53.645169,-3.004323 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20210328T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR