For our latest blog, we have decided to delve into the rich and tactile realm of textures, exploring the diverse techniques and materials employed by our artists. Their work transcends mere materiality, transforming raw elements into intricate expressions of artistic vision through the masterful manipulation of texture. From Japanese lacquering to Italian burnt wood, our featured artists transform their materials into pieces that captivate the senses and tell compelling stories.
Yoko Ozawa creates intricate surfaces, using clay from South Australia and glaze crafted from yellow box ash (eucalyptus) from her own fireplace. The natural crackle glaze creates a tangible, organic texture that enhances the characteristics of the forms that she skilfully makes. This is a great example of Ozawa’s flair for creating harmonious ceramics that explore the relationship between perfection and imperfection.
Takahashi McGil, an artistic duo based in Devon, seamlessly blend Japanese heritage with western techniques to create functional art and homeware from a mixture of local or sustainable hardwoods. Takahashi McGil’s works celebrate the imperfections of the materials they use, including knots and air-dried cracks, resulting in organic creations which stay true to their natural form and its inherent beauty.
"What all our pieces share is the central role of the hand and of hand tools, primarily through carving." Beautifully made by Malcolm Martin and Gaynor Dowling, this impressive work was carved using limed and scorched oak, by working with traditional hand-tool techniques. Martin and Dowlings works are both elegant and abstract in form and detailed with intricate texture, irregular and free in pattern, punctuating both the hand made and free, instinctive process.
In the sunlit landscape of Camino, Italy, Marco Bellini imbues his wooden sculptures with a sense of timeless reverence and emotional resonance. His distinctive approach involves carving and burning the locally sourced walnut wood. Bellini crafts ‘cult’ objects to create a sense of the sacred, giving form to idols to inspire ancestral awe, to “free our mourning from what we’ve lost.” His objects conjure a remote time in which the sacred and profane were not separate concepts: “when a house could also be a temple, baking bread could be a ritual”.
Paired in harmonious contrast, Marco Bellini's sculptures sit beside Krista Mezzadri's abstract beautifully soft wall pieces. Self-taught, Mezzadri maintains an experimental approach to her artistic practice, which explores the movement of repetition, utilising contrasts of texture and translucency, silhouetted depth and distinct flatness. Engaging with the coexistence of opposites, her work exhibits the fusing of many opposing physical elements together - tissue and wood; light and darkness; geometry and irregularity.
Inspired by memory, architecture and everyday objects, Kiho Kang constructs strictly geometric vessels and tableware by coiling and pinching, slowly building up each piece. The hand building process is slow and precise, and creates and in Kiho's works, creates and intriguing, repetitive surface pattern that tells the story of it's making.
Sonoko Matsuda, is a celebrated glass artist from the Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan and currently based in Kyoto. She creates delicate glass boxes that encapsulate the essence of nature's beauty. Her intricate designs are achieved through kiln casting and an extensive cold working process, including carving, moulding, and sandblasting. The result is a series of exquisitely detailed boxes with frosted surfaces and botanical motifs. Matsuda’s work is a testament to the time-honoured craft of glassmaking, where each piece is meticulously fashioned to reflect the natural world’s ethereal grace.
A grouping of pieces that display a delicate balance of dark tone and minimal form with intricate and subtle surface pattern, Akiko Hirai, Cheng Wei and Dora Good share soft texture evocative of ancient, timeless pieces.
Gaku Nakane’s ceramics are renowned for their distinctive crackle effects, achieved through the layering of two types of clay. His work draws inspiration from natural phenomena, with vein-like markings that evoke the delicate patterns of cracked eggshells or rivulets of flowing water. This innovative approach not only enhances the visual texture of his pieces but also reflects Nakane’s deep connection to the natural world and its inherent beauty.
Created by repeatedly layering natural materials such as washi, soil and pigment, Hatano Wataru's pieces explore tone and surface through heavy textures and tranquil colours to exude an aura of harmony. Renowned for his washi paper craft, he says "I think I am good at painting simple, with a soft touch, and using my washi gives a special vibration to the painting." Annette Lindenberg explores the rich dialogue between texture and form through her innovative ceramics. Utilizing the traditional Japanese technique of kurinuki, Lindenberg carves her pieces by hollowing out solid clay, achieving a nuanced balance between softness and ruggedness.
The inspiration for Dora Good’s designs come from her surroundings; feeling her work is a quest to express the balance of nature. Using the flame of the gas kiln to her advantage, Dora creates wonderful and unique one-of-a kind pieces with spectacular and organic textures.
Hannah Blackall-Smith's work is an ongoing exploration of form, surface and texture. Taking inspiration from Ancient Greek and Roman pottery as well as forms found within antiquity, the work exhibits some beautifully subtle rustic smoke markings, traces of the unique firing process inherent in Blackall's practise. Creating visible traces and irregularities of the hand making process in her work is a form of communication with the piece’s final owner. These pots have lived several lives before they are even used: on the wheel, in the kiln and (in the case of the smoke fired pieces) in the fire.
Crafted by London based artist Iva Polachova, the marks on the surface of these vessels embody the energy of making. Polachova combs the surface of the clay leaving traces of a horizontal rhythm running around the vessel. These marks on the clay surface have a soothing quality, they evoke healing practices of body combing or brush therapies. These touches are what make the pieces precious. Like the esteemed artist Agnes Martin who attained peace of mind in her rhythms of line, we can find calm on the surface of this piece.
Emi Suzuki, an artist from Kanagawa and Shizuoka, Japan, harnesses the tactile qualities of hand-collected soil to create compelling abstract works. Her 泥 (Mud) paintings are crafted through a meticulous process of layering soil, sand, and natural pigments on wooden panels. As we explore these diverse approaches to texture, we invite you to appreciate the sensory and conceptual depth of each artist’s work. From the intricate layers of lacquer to the elemental power of fire and soil, texture in art provides a tangible bridge to material and meaning.
