'Adventures in Watercolour and Clay'; an exhibition with Susanna Birley and Bill Rickinson
12th-17th July 2022
Open Tuesday - Saturday 10am - 4pm, Sunday 11am-3pm. Please note, the café will will not be open on Sunday 17th July.
The Setting gallery, Three Storeys, Old Bristol Rd, Nailsworth, GL6 0JE
Susanna Birley is a watercolour & mixed media artist, exhibiting paintings and collage in this joint show with ceramics artist Bill Rickinson.
Susanna has lived and worked in the beautiful, Cotswold village of Chalford near Stroud since 1995. She gained a First Class BA Hons. in 3D Design at Manchester Metropolitan University in 1978, after which she became a full-time potter for 13 years with part-time teaching in Adult Education. For the last 30 years she has been exploring the exciting process of water-colour and mixed media painting; largely inspired by landscape, flowers and still-life, but more recently has been experimenting with abstract and textural effects.
Susanna has also completed a number of commissions for Portrait Heads in Bronze and Terracotta, one of which was accepted by the RWA.
'“I am largely a self-taught painter having studied the work of many contemporary water-colour artists such as Edward Wesson, John Yardley, David Curtis, Trevor Chamberlain, Ann Blockley and many others.
Inspired by the natural world, and often by the effects of light and shade, what I am trying to achieve in my paintings, is not a photographic copy of the subject, but an interpretation in terms of a balance of colour, tone and form whilst exploiting the beautiful, transparent and unpredictable qualities of watercolour itself.
I also enjoy using many different techniques to create exciting textural effects.”
Bill Rickinson is a ceramics artist. He was born and brought up in Stoke-on-Trent, he began ‘potting’ at an early age.
He completed a degree in 3D Design – Wood/metal/Ceramics at Manchester Metropolitan University in 1966.
Having taught part-time (ceramics and painting) in Adult Education (inc. Stroud College) for many years, he now works at home in his studio at Chalford, Gloucestershire.
Bill will be exhibiting thrown and hand-built ceramic forms using largely stoneware clays and glazes. Some pieces are combined with found pieces of natural wood and/or stone.
