Studio visit: Steven Will and Annie Turner

We included Steven James Will's wonderfully moulded ceramics in last year's exhibition ROCK PAPER SCISSORS at Houghton Hall Stables. The exhibition focussed upon the relationship between the material choices and the creative outcome for each artist and maker that took part.

Steven made a series of pit fired vases that mimicked the forms of laboratory glass vessels. Each delicately flame flecked vase was lined with a coating of liquid latex to seal the interior. Their prosaic forms and charred shadows on the exterior, contrasted beautifully with their bright latex interior.

For 2022  we will be featuring some of Steven's thrown salt glazed vessels as well as pieces molded from Crag, a local clay that looks like delicious maltloaf that he digs up from secret sources on the Suffolk coast.

We have admired Annie Turner's work for many years and were delighted to take advantage of the open studio event and arrange to meet her again and discuss our plans.

We have to finalise what and wherefore, however at some point we will be displaying new ceramic work by Annie Turner during summer 2022.

Annie has a different approach to her ceramic work to anybody else we have shown. An alumnea of the Royal Collage of Art (RCA), She has displayed her work throughout the UK and internationally in the US and Asia.

Individual pieces are sculptural following a more pared down contemporary aesthetic. Her handmade structural meshes and grids could easily be mistaken for machine made products until you engage with her eye for surface texture and detail. These self supporting  structures inhabit a role somewhere between disciplines.

Although Annie's visual references are often taken from forms and surfaces you would see at the quayside, she frequently works in series and each structure develops its own identity independent of any obvious origin. Crisply conceived and finely composed, they are extremely pleasing.

About the author

Paul Barratt

Paul Barratt started working in contemporary art galleries in 1989, having graduated in Fine Art from Goldmsith’s, London University. He initially worked at Anthony d’Offay Gallery, one of the contemporary art dealers, who dominated the London art market in the 80s and 90s. He was approached by the Lisson Gallery to be gallery manager for the influential art dealer Nicholas Logsdail. This was followed by a short period in New York at Gladstone Gallery, to work for visionary art dealer Barbara Gladstone, working with the artist and filmmaker Matthew Barney.

 

On his return to London, Paul secured a place on the postgraduate curatorial course at the Royal College of Art, to complete an MA. After graduation in 2001, he worked as an independent curator on several projects in Oslo, London, Brighton and Basel, before joining Paul Vater at his design agency Sugarfree in 2004. He has worked with Paul ever since.

View all posts by Paul Barratt