Susan J Foulkes

Susan J Foulkes is a designer/weaver who lives in Durham City. She loves to use natural yarns in her work, such as linen, silk, alpaca, cashmere and merino wool. She produces a range of scarves, stoles, towels and, of course, cloth which she uses to make Japanese Happi jackets. She is fascinated by the long history of weaving and researches ancient textiles and the techniques used to produce them.

Wendy Parkin

Wendy came to the North-East with her fiancé in 1981 and planned to stay two years.  When her youngest child left home she took the opportunity to  do a Fine Art degree at Sunderland University.  

Since graduating in 2008 she has produced and shown a variety of work - mostly in oil or acrylic on canvas, and  now concentrates on paintings of fabrics and children.  

Depicting fabrics in paint has come about through the study of the Old Masters and how they so successfully replicated each fold and flow of clothing onto canvas.  

Zoe Garner

Zoe Garner is from Sunderland.

To create her pieces, Zoe use the technique of flame working, using both borosilicate rods and tubes and then sculpting them in the flame which reaches temperatures of 1200 degrees, then adding colour and texture to her work. She also uses other materials and has designed a range incorporating cuttlefish, cast silver and glass with crystal inclusions. Some of her commissions have included lighting for a Vivian Westwood Boutique, Boheme in Wansford Cambridgeshire, and also, most recently, she has been featured in February Vogue 2011 with her jewellery designs

Maggie Smith

Maggie loves textured surfaces, colour, stitch and the process of creating.  In her stuffed and stitched pieces she works with meticulous detail transforming simple materials into characters from her imagination, often with references to historical costume and literature.

As an artist she uses dye and print to achieve pleasing surfaces that are colourful but subtle, contain simple repetitive imagery and have depth through layering. She follows this with hand or machine stitch from a simple stitch dictionary where she feels a mark is needed. Her work, though appearing pared down, contains unexpected depths when closely viewed.

Mark Murphy

Mark is an Artist/Printmaker based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, currently studying for a Degree in Fine Art at the University of Sunderland. The works presented here are original linocuts created by hand carving into linoleum and creating a relief print. The highly physical process involved in their making, intensifies the images. This work explores social identity in today's Mass Cultural world and as Mark is a native to the North-East, there is a definite regional flavour present

Philippa Whiteside

Philippa combines ceramics and textiles to experiment with surface decoration and texture; exploring the slab-building technique and use of words.

Upon graduation in 2010 she won a Scholarship at Creative Cohesion, a great opportunity to continue making and develop work. Now running her business from there,  more recently Philippa has been developing a porcelain jewellery range. Her work is unique and designed to make you smile.

Rena Holford

As well as being a glass artist, Rena runs, with her family, an established and successful livery yard in the countryside of North East England. An accomplished horsewoman, her lifelong passion is reflected in her work.

Based on images from cave paintings and her own horses, she creates equine figures in kiln formed glass, which she then gives colour and texture using various techniques.

Both wall mounted and free standing sculptures are available in a variety of sizes.

Richard Baxter

Richard has been a professional potter for 30 years.

He works from his studio and gallery in Leigh on Sea, Essex.

Recently, he made some large porcelain pieces for Stella McCartney for her new Hong Kong and Paris flagship stores. He also made some jugs for Heston Blumenthal for his Roman Feast Channel 4 TV show. He is currently making work for the Henry Moore Institute at Perry Green. He exhibits widely in galleries in the UK and at shows such as Art In Action and Art In Clay, as well as selling throughout the world via his website.

Jill Dexter

Jill Dexter is a woven textile artist living in Hexham. She began weaving about 16 years ago, having always been interested in textile, canvas work, lace and spinning.

Each item is individually designed and her range includes scarves, cushions, rugs, hangings and table ware, and lengths of cloth made to the client’s specification.

Jill uses various yarns such as wool, rayon, cotton, linen and silk, often being hand dyed or handspun. Many of her fine scarves use a technique which she has been developing over the past two years, whereby having wound a white warp   ( the long threads) in sections, they are hand painted with a subtle mix of colours before going on the loom and weaving over them. When finished the colours in the warp shine through showing pleasing mixes and gradations of colour.

Joan

Lynn Rocks

Is an artists living and working in County Durham.  Surrounded by the wonderful countryside, moorland, woodlands, rivers and waterways that rural County Durham has to offer. This, along with frequent visits to nearby coastal areas and my love of 'heart lifting' latino music and dance, has coloured my art with movement, energy and light, allowing for pure and simple snapshots of nature to be painted with passion and an emotion so strong as to reach out from the painting. My compositions range from: tactile, 'sculptured' florals; to images of the human form which instil a sense of longing for the honest and simple pleasures in life; to crisp, sweeping seascapes and sultry, warming sunsets, that ensure the spectator is left in awe and in no doubt at all about the infinite wonder of Mother Nature's glory

Fleur Grenier

Fleur completed her M.A. on The Goldsmithing, Silversmithing Metalwork & Jewellery course at The Royal College of Art, London in 1996.  In 2001 Fleur returned to W. Sussex and established a studio where she works on one-off commissions and small production pieces.

Her designs are a combination of sculpture and function; her influences are varied ranging from the lines of a ballet dancer, the neck of a swan to the images collected while working on a voluntary project in the Amazon rainforest in Peru.  

She developed a passion for pewter after discovering it while doing her degree and found it to be a material with lots of possibilities. Its polished lustre complimented the tactile quality of her designs.  

Gordon Lamb

Born in Fife, Scotland, Gordon has been painting since boyhood with an interest in the colour, rather than in line, and is still inspired by French and Scottish colourists.

He lives near Blanchland with his wife and daughter.

Gordon is free ranging in his subject matter and approach. He works quite rapidly in watercolour, trying to achieve spontaneity and a sense of loose reality. His subjects are landscape and seascape with abstract influence, still life and portraits. In all this he tries to capture the spirit and get to the heart where truth is.

Helen Russell

Helen lives and works in Rochdale. She likes to create artwork that makes people smile and takes her inspiration from the natural world.

She makes her own moulds using slip casting techniques, and then further enhances the product with glazes and surface finishes, and some pieces are vitrified to maintain the earthiness of the material.

Her work ranges from the delightful Blob Birds to sophisticated jewellery.

Jan Allison

Jan Allison was founded in St. Ives, Cornwall, in 2005, by Janet Stevens and Allison Carter. They both have creative backgrounds and had worked in the jewellery business for years. They now create unique pieces using silver and semi-precious stone. The elegance range is an addition to their repertoire using silver and gold.

Deborah Cauchi

Deborah was born in Sunderland and still lives locally.

She graduated from Sunderland University in 2009 with an Honours Degree in Art.

Deborah works predominantly in oils and has a love of nostalgic imagery.

She paints the human figure and, in doing so, explores deeply personal psychological issues and emotional responses to contemporary life.

Dilyana Evtimova

Dilyana is a jewellery designer-maker based in the Black Country. She started her jewellery business in the beginning of 2010 when she joined the Design Space programme in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter.

Born in Varna, Bulgaria, Dilyana originally studied sculpture and drawing in her native city.

Dilyana’s collection ‘Ruffles’ is inspired by the fashion trend of folding - pleats and gathers are recreated in silver using the techniques of corrugation and microfolding.

Eleanor’s Attic

Helen Sutcliffe started a farmer’s market stall in Dolgellau, a small town in Snowdonia National Park,  in selling accessorises and gifts. One day she was given a piece of coated cotton from which she made a bag to sell, and Eleanor’s Attic was born, named after her daughter.

Helen makes all her bags with off cuts of oilcloth and they are uniquely beautiful and practical.

Elizabeth Shaw

Elizabeth Shaw was born in Leicestershire.

After graduating from Sunderland University with an honours degree in Glass and Ceramics in 2009, she stayed in the area and pursued her career. Her ceramics are beautifully simple useful items, inspired by, and reflecting the colours and forms found in nature

Christine Baxter

Christine has been fascinated by sculpture since the age of six when she made a model with her grandfather. She is a classically trained sculptor, who studied at the Camberwell School of Art in London.

She works from a converted barn studio in Gloucestershire. Her interest lies in the classical human form and objects in nature. Christine’s main area of work is in garden sculpture where she seeks to make each individual and unique, handmade from start to finish.

Christine Keers

Christine Keers has worked at the National Glass Centre since finishing her degree in 2005. Christine enjoys her varied role within the studio, which includes blowing glass, public demonstrations and teaching.

Christine also pursues her own work in glass, for exhibition, competition and sale.

The simple use of colour and form is a re-occurring theme throughout Christine's work and she enjoys both the restrictions and the creative possibilities this allows. Christine finds inspiration in many things but much of her work is directly inspired by the British landscape.

Christine Warren

Christine was born in London and now lives in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.  Apart from a short course at U.W.E. in Bristol, she is self taught.

Her surroundings in the forest and frequent trips to west

Cornwall provide her inspiration. Christine looks at everything around her for shapes to adapt into jewellery.

She is a full time maker and run workshops in her studio.

Amanda Cox

Having previously lectured in jewellery and metalwork at Plymouth College of Art and Design, Amanda has returned to original passion - designing and creating contemporary jewellery at her studio in Yorkshire.

After successfully launching in May 1999 at Harrogate’s British Craft Trade Fair and in London, sponsored by Yorkshire Arts, at Top Drawer Autumn 1999, Amanda’s jewellery is now available exclusively at select shops and galleries throughout the UK and Ireland.

Amanda’s work has developed from, and been inspired by, a combination of  metal’s tactile properties and the visual qualities of simple organic forms.

Angie Young

Angie is an established jeweller based in Fife, Scotland. She graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee in 2005 with a Bdes (hon) degree in Jewellery & Metal Design, winning the Goldsmiths Precious Metal Bursary prize. She now works full time as a jeweller and tutor, teaching jewellery making to both adults and children.

The inspiration for her work comes from natural materials, textures and forms.

Shaun Hall

Shaun works and lives in Essex.

He has been working in Raku since 1998. He has developed a personal style of decorative and sculptural ceramics based on the vessel form. Shaun has exhibiting nationally and internationally, most recently in France and Japan.

He is well known for using Copper Matter fuming techniques as well as a lustrous copper glaze. This means each piece is handmade and unique

The Gallery has over 30 artists exhibiting at any  one time.  Artists refresh work on a 3 monthly basis, making it a more interesting venue for both visitors and artists.  

Please see below artists statements all based locally or within the UK.

Jackie Stonehouse

Jackie was an established artist working and exhibiting in North Yorkshire until she recently moved to Bishop Auckland.
Her approach is as varied as her subjects, from landscapes, still life and figure drawing. Sometimes pieces are left as a simple sketch or are carried through to the point of abstraction. Acting purely on instinct and gathered experience, she works and reworks her image until she has something she feels she is happy with.
The common thread which ties her work together is her confident use of colour and a strong element of design

Neil Bage

Neil was born in County Durham, spending most of his childhood and youth outdoors, where he developed an interest in drawing. Photography was a natural progression, and Neil quickly established a preference for black and white landscapes and seascapes, taking inspiration from the beautiful scenery of the local area.

Kris Lambert

Kris was born in 1951 in Durham, where she still lives.

Failing eyesight reluctantly forced her to resign from a

successful career in  architecture. She was

then registered blind and now has a guide dog.

She has had no formal art training but studied ceramics at night school.

She set up her small studio in 2000. Pure form and

texture are of greatest important to her because of

her limited vision.

Robert (Bob) Gowland

Robert was born in Crook in 1942. He trained as a cabinet maker with A-Lacks & Sons and has worked locally ever since. He now works and lives in Toronto, Bishop Auckland.

He spends his time making scale models of field barns and dolls houses, as well as his miniature chairs. All his furniture is hand made from oak, using traditional techniques.