Cass lecturer and ceramicist exhibits new work responding to Wiltshire location.
Date: 1 March 2018
Fred Gatley, who teaches ceramics at The Cass, is exhibiting new work at The Rabley Gallery in Wiltshire from 17 March - 28 April.
The gallery, situated on a working farm just outside Marlborough, has invited Fred to create a body of work using their landscape and environment as source material. Fred is appearing as guest artist supporting The Precious Hours which is a celebration of drawings and prints reflecting Katherine Jones’ year as artist in residence at Rabley Drawing Centre.
All the ceramics made for the exhibition contain varying amounts of material collected from the Rabley farm over the past year:
- The various flecks and inclusions visible in the ceramic body include, stones, sand, rust, mud and brick fragments.
- The metal bases are fabricated from copper reclaimed from the fine copper windings taken from within a large decommissioned electrical pump-motor donated by Andrew Ainslie.
- The bronze/copper bases were themselves cast into wooden moulds fashioned from wood salvaged from the Rabley estate.
- The tiny silver feet also came from Rabley in the form of scrap silver donated by Meryl Ainslie at the outset of the project.
Talking about the philosophy of his work Fred said: “Within my work I am always searching for simplicity, striving to make pieces that have visual richness yet convey a sense of calmness and simplicity, pairing away the non-essential.
“My work is often seen as being suggestive of ritual or ceremony whilst fundamentally it may simply question purpose and meaning. Everything I make comes from my involvement with materials and a fascination with making, within this I enjoy the challenges that come from balancing processes, materials, form and function.”
For those who can’t make it to Wiltshire, Fred Gatley is also talking at The Kiln Rooms in Peckham on 20 April and his work can be enjoyed on his website.
