Artists Describing Their Art:
Christopher Hughes - After leaving Swansea University, I joined the famous Royal Worcester Porcelain Company as a ceramic artist. After my apprenticeship, I painted their most prestigious vases and plaques. I was mentored and trained by the legendary Worcester artist, Jack Freeman. I left in 1980 to pursue a freelance career. I have sold my Handpainted china, watercolours, oils and signed prints, throughout the world for over 40 years. It has been a rollercoaster ride, but an amazing way to earn a living. We have travelled extensively, painting and teaching in the UK and Europe. We had an amazing house built on the incredible Greek island of Alonissos., where I first took painting holidays in 1985. In an ancient olive grove overlooking the Aegean, we created a wonderful garden with an outdoor studio. I taught watercolour painting from the island , as well as mainland Greece and Italy. With grandchildren arriving, we sold our Greek house and settled back near Worcester, in Upton upon Severn and the Malvern Hills. I paint in my new garden studio, fire my porcelain and display all my work. Our garden here has olive trees, oleander ,geraniums and lots of old Greek terracotta pots aEUR|.. just to make us feel ...
Skip Bleecker - Art Forms Most of my work consists of wheel thrown porcelain forms based on organic patterns of microscopic and macroscopic organisms. Some are based on seed pods, teeth, pollen, sea animals, squash, and even watermelon, but as the development proceeds, they merge and take on new forms of possible and imaginary organisms. All are hand made, one of a kind pieces, usually done in a series, so there might be some similarity among some pieces, but no two are ever exactly alike. Seed Pods For most of my life, I have been both attracted to and very allergic to, large numbers of trees, grasses, and bushes. I have refused to become trapped indoors just because of these allergies, and as I began to develop my own sculptural forms, I examined both macroscopic and microscopic forms in nature. By examining the form and structure of seeds and other natural objects, I found great beauty in these simple forms, and developed simple organic sculptural designs, based on slightly abstract versions of these natural objects. ...