Out of the Box: Art Bank

Recent works by Rose Ellis, Lili John, Bev Knowlden, Jan O'Highway, Julia Finzel and Rowan Day.

With 30 years’ experience of model making and puppet animation, it is no surprise that Bev Knowlden focuses on human and animal heads in her experimental and theatrical clay sculptures. Moulded in silicone for casting, she has developed a technique to combine jute fabric with resin for porosity and a sense of fragility, with iron powder adding a rusted metal patina and sometimes evoking an unsettling or haunting mood.

In her predominantly coil-built clay sculptures Rose Ellis depicts stylised humans, creatures and natural forms. She works with stoneware and raku, with some thrown earthenware pieces suitable for use with food and drink.
There is some control in the making process and surrender to chance in the firing. This keeps my interest alive and challenges me to learn from failure and to rejoice in success.

For Jan O’Highway a rigorous training in fine art in the late 1950s preceded a lifetime of exploratory mulitdisciplinary work through ceramic, mosaic, sculpture, digital photography and warm glass.
Enjoying colour and haphazard shapes, she combines found objects with glass and ceramics, "slightly redeeming the ecological footprint by keeping a little plastic waste out of the landfill and rivers".

Having grown up on a farm, Julia Finzel has a strong connection with animals. She makes drawings and uses a range of printmaking techniques to portray their character and essence, and finds etching, photo etching and monoprint processes particularly rewarding for their immediacy.

Rowan Day works with oil paint and 24ct gold leaf to produce sky and seascapes characterised by dynamic movement, bold strokes and textures juxtaposed with soft, blended edges. With its changing qualities of light she describes her engagement with the gold leaf as a surrender.
"My work speaks of hope, of light in the darkness and the dynamic motion of life and nature."

Drawing on her mixed Celtic and African heritage and her creative background in antique porcelain restoration and fashion design, Lili John makes work in mixed media and ceramic with bold colours, texture and movement.

For more information visit https://www.harbourhouse.org.uk/g21-re.shtml