Local born and raised artist, designer and potter Carol Newmarch, is currently exhibiting her artwork, running workshops and inviting conversations about art and our environment.
Carol’s work can currently be seen in three different venues in Middlesbrough – Dorman Museum, The Cleveland Centre, and Gallery TS1 in Corporation Rd. This coming weekend she will be ‘In residence’ at Gallery TS1 in Corporation Rd, and, in collaboration with One Planet Middlesbrough, she is offering family pottery and art workshops and an invitation to get involved with local growing initiatives.
Carol’s current exhibition at Gallery TS1 is a celebration of spring, with her pots for plants and gardens heralding the new season with a scented display of ceramics planted with spring bulbs and fresh green plants.
Carol said “Some work is for sale and some of the pots are from my own personal collection – I’m showing them to illustrate how my garden planters look after many years of weathering and gathering moss!”
Orders can be taken on any of Carol’s designs and you will have them soon after the exhibition officially finishes. She is also exhibiting large paintings inspired by her tackling of her own arachnophobia! “I had to tackle it head on,” she said, “you can’t work in a garden without dealing with creatures!” The paintings are subtle but a metre square, representing how spiders can be hidden, but fear of them looms large in many people’s lives.
Meanwhile, in one of the external display windows of the Cleveland Centre, she has installed a vibrant celebration exhibition of the cultural fusion that is Boro Mela. It features a commemorative bowl commissioned by Middlesbrough Council and designed and made by Carol to celebrate twenty five successful years of Middlesbrough’s popular festival. The display also includes examples of the kind of work made by children during the last Mela, during family clay and print workshops offered in the mima foyer by Carol’s social enterprise, The Secret Artists’ Company CIC. The exhibition also heralds the coming of the 26th Middlesbrough Mela in July 2016.
Carol Newmarch was born and raised in Middlesbrough, she had her first ‘taste’ of pottery at Stainsby Secondary School and was encouraged by her pottery teacher at Acklam High School to develop her talents and attend Teesside College of Art before training in ceramics in London. “I’m very proud of our local creative scene here in Teesside,’’ said Carol, “on any given day you can find exhibitions of local art in a range of venues, to suit all tastes, as well as some of the most famous ceramicists and artists held in permanent collections in mima. Our museums also have fabulous collections, and we need to fight to keep these rich educational resources open.”
Dorman Museum has a permanent exhibition of one of the most celebrated of designers, Christopher Dresser, whose influence was behind the celebrated Linthorpe Art Pottery. This dedicated gallery is where you will find Carol’s ‘Dresser Table’, a permanent multi-material installation. Her design includes ceramics, glass, wood and metal, and enables visitors, particularly children, to literally get their hands on some of the materials that Dresser designed for.
Many of Dresser’s very contemporary looking designs were influenced by his travels in Japan. Some are still produced today by Italian Company Alessi. Carol’s ceramics in the Mela Window are raku fired, originally a Japanese technique. “The word, raku, means joy or happiness. The vibrant turquoise glaze of the Mela Commemorative Bowl is reminiscent of some of my favourite Linthorpe ceramics.”
Her table design also reflects Christopher Dresser’s training as a botanist, he was inspired by nature as well as drawing from many cultures throughout the world. “His work in turn is inspiring to me.” explained Carol. “My own work is eclectic and crosses borders between the traditional and the contemporary. It was probably my interest and knowledge in the industrial heritage of Linthorpe that won me my place on my degree course – and obviously, I’m also inspired by nature!”
- Verdant Earth exhibition: Gallery TS1 until March 18th 10am till 4pm Monday to Saturday
- Artist’s Talk and private view – Gallery TS1 Friday March 11th 5pm till 7pm
- Artist’s ceramics demos and public discussion, Saturday March 12th 10am to 4pm
- Celebrating Boro Mela: Cleveland Centre Display window until mid May 2016
- Dresser Table: Christopher Dresser Gallery, Dorman Museum Tuesday to Sunday 10am till 4pm
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Telephone 07810 145318