JANINE PARTINGTON & KATRIN MOYE

ENAMELS, CERAMICS, PAINTINGS AND DRAWINGS

2 – 23 March 2013

CASTLE GALLERY, INVERNESS

JANINE PARTINGTON ENAMEL WORK AND SCALPEL CUT DRAWINGS

Janine Partington is an enamel artist and for her exhibition at the Castle Gallery she will be showing enamel panels, jewellery, free standing sculptures, clocks and scalpel cut line drawings.

Her parents were both artistic and Janine grew up in a creative environment in Staffordshire, never thinking that one day she would be able to make her own living as an artist. Her early career was as a museum curator but in 2002 she took a part-time evening course in enamelling with Matt Benton at Filton College, Bristol, and her future was set. She started exhibiting at the Contemporary Craft Festival at Bovey Tracey, the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair in Manchester and Origin in London and now exhibits throughout the UK and has completed several public commissions. She is a member of the Devon Guild of Craftsmen and of the British Society of Enamellers. Her work has recently featured in BBC Homes and Antiques, Craft & Design Magazine and Period Living.

Janine’s approach to enameling is fresh and contemporary, using hand-cut stencils and sifting techniques to fuse glass onto metal.

She is inspired by nature and draws seed heads, trees and birds onto card which she then cuts into to make her stencils. The stencils are placed over a piece of copper and powdered vitreous enamel sifted on top. The card stencils are then removed and the copper panels placed on a trivet in a kiln where they are fired to around 800°C. A clear enamel known as flux is used to coat those parts of the panel which are to remain as copper. Some pieces are designed as panels and are mounted on m.d.f. whilst others form jewellery or free-standing sculptures.

The part of the process of enamelling that most appeals to Janine is the cutting of the stencils and so she has recently begun to make scalpel cut drawings in their own right, independent of the enamel process. This is a new development and the Castle Gallery is excited to have the opportunity to show these pieces as part of her show in March 2013.

The part of the process of enamelling that most appeals to Janine is the cutting of the stencils and so she has recently begun to make scalpel cut drawings in their own right, independent of the enamel process. This is a new development and the Castle Gallery is excited to have the opportunity to show these pieces as part of her show in March 2013.

KATRIN MOYE CERAMICS AND PAINTINGS

Katrin Moye is a multi award winning ceramicist, specialising in highly decorative domestic ceramics. She received a grant from Arts Council England in 2011 enabling her to change from production ceramics to more ambitious, one off collectors’ pieces, plus a new body of work in two dimensions, including watercolour paintings and printmaking.

All of her ceramics are hand made (wheel thrown or hand cast) in white earthenware clay, with decorations hand applied with coloured slips and underglazes, using a variety of decorating techniques including paper cut resists, trailing, sponging and painting.

Her decorative style and subject matter recalls her childhood memories of growing up in England and Germany in the 1970s. Items remembered from this time, including folk art, textiles, book illustrations and home made crafts plus particular items such as herb jars, coffee pots and cushions, all take their place in the iconography of her patterns and drawings.

For her exhibition at the Castle Gallery, Katrin Moye will be showing a wide selection of her ceramic tableware including her hugely popular, individually painted designs with dandelions, hoops, dotted stripes and foxes and hens. The tableware includes platters, large and small bowls, jugs of various sizes and cups.

Katrin has made her reputation as a designer/potter but her new collection now also includes watercolours, lino-cuts and greetings cards. Early twentieth century novels and the art of Eric Ravilious, Winifred Nicholson and John and Paul Nash have greatly influenced the tone of her more recent pieces. Moye’s work echoes their interests in capturing the ordered shapes of plant and tree forms with a sensibility for pattern making; an interest she shares in common with other 21st century artists such as Mark Hearld and Angie Lewin.

A visit to Sherwood Forest inspired a group of hand-painted ceramics exploring the symmetry and geometry of tree structures whilst her interest in Scandinavian design led to the introduction of animals, such as deer. Katrin continues to seek inspiration in the natural world and will be using her exhibition at the Castle Gallery as an opportunity to make fresh work with new themes and ideas. Collectors of her work are eagerly awaiting her new paintings and ceramics. There is an obvious dialogue between her two and three dimensional work – the one influencing the other, to power her creativity forward.

This watercolour incorporates many elements that are special to Katrin including her favourite colours, (blue and green), patterned fabric, structural plants and handmade or vintage tableware.

This watercolour incorporates many elements that are special to Katrin including her favourite colours, (blue and green), patterned fabric, structural plants and handmade or vintage tableware.

Source: Castle Gallery