Studio 3 is home to an impressive group of resident artists, they also host a regular number of guest artists every month which means their displays are always fresh and interesting. Read all about their super talented August guests. A reminder that Studio 3 is open from Monday to Saturday from 10.00. a.m. to 5.00 p.m. and Sunday from 11.00. a.m. to 4.00. pm.

DENISE LONSDALE AND SIMON MELICAN  EXHIBITING UNTIL 23rd SEPTEMBER 2023

This talented duo are the Demonpotters. They started making ceramics in Hampshire in the early 1990s and became Demonpotters when they moved to Bristol in 1999.

Denise has been a keen artist since childhood and, over the years, has worked in a variety of media. She was first introduced to the possibilities offered by clay while at school, soon graduating from making pinch pots to creating menageries of small animals to take home as presents!

Denise now divides her time between making ceramic sculptures and pots and enamelling. Her work aims to explore the properties of both media to produce beautiful and unusual pieces.

Texture, surface additions and inclusions are features of Denise’s ceramics.  Her figurative work uses various techniques to shape and texture clay to capture the essential character of the animals.  Her vessels are also hand built but use surface additions, including moulded shapes, impressions and oxides, to produce unusual, individual pieces.  At the other end of the scale, she builds up layers of enamel on metal to make textures and patterns, creating brilliantly coloured enamel jewellery and pieces to go on the wall.

The elephants on show here were inspired by a safari in Botswana.

The joy of art for Denise comes from the feeling experienced when the piece turns out well. If – through the process –  there was a sense that it might not quite work, it’s always a pleasant surprise when it eventually comes together.

Denise has exhibited at galleries and various venues in and around Bristol and is a member of the North Bristol Artists group, Clevedon Art Club and The Wildlife Art Society International.

If you’d like to know more about Denise’s art before you visit, check out the demonpotters website here Denise is also on Instagram @miniradish. Her contact details are denise@demonpotters.co.uk

SIMON MELICAN, ARTIST EXHIBITING UNTIL 23^RD SEPTEMBER 2023

Simon started making ceramics in 1994 as he wanted to learn to throw.  He has  been hooked ever since.  His work is quite diverse but the common factors are that it is still all thrown, mostly stoneware fired and reflects his ongoing interests in experimenting with new techniques, glaze ingredients and textures.

Sgraffito

Simon’s sgraffito pieces make use of a very matt black slip, which originated as a potential base for a synthetic wood ash glaze, over a white stoneware clay.  The designs are generally linear and inspired by sources such as bamboo and in this case a drum from West Africa.

They were originally intended as decorative pieces but they will hold water although Simon recommends placing them on a mat and not directly on pervious surfaces as they can get condensation forming on them if they have cooled down overnight and then the central heating comes on.

The mugs have a silky white glaze over them to make them which makes them nice to hold (and dishwasher proof)

Splatter

These are thrown from crank clays, and Simon uses various techniques to apply copper, chrome and manganese oxides.  He then uses more techniques to apply the glazes in ways which will give rise to many different thicknesses.  The interactions between the oxides and glazes give a range of different colours.

Simon likes the fact that a 90° turn of the pot can give a completely different look to each one.  Once again, although they were originally intended as decorative pieces as they are stoneware fired Simon recommends placing them on a mat.

Clouded Sky Blue

This is a glaze that seems to be highly dependent on the clay, the thickness and the firing temperature.  Where thinnest, the underlying clay burns through, and with crank, this gives an iron orange colour; slightly thicker, it gives the sky blue and then where thicker, the clouds start to emerge.  The work here shows some of his latest trials with this endlessly variable glaze.

Aqua

The Aqua range is Simon’s latest focus.  Again, based on the black slip, which contains manganese and cobalt with a white glaze applied over it.  At sufficiently high temperatures, the glaze reacts with the oxides in the slips to produce combinations of colours. To achieve this, the glaze has to be applied thickly and fired sufficiently hot to give the effect but not so hot that the glaze runs or drips off the pots.  These experiments are still a work in progress.

If you’d like to know more about Simon’s art before you visit, check out the demonpotters website here Simon is also on Instagram @demonpotters. His contact details are simon@demonpotters.co.uk

MICHAEL HAYTER, ARTIST EXHIBITING UNTIL 13^TH SEPTEMBER 2023

Michael is a well-known artist who currently has a studio at Spike Island Artspace in Bristol, home to a community of over seventy artists, designers, makers, artist-led organisations and creative businesses, right in the city’s heart. Check it out here:

Michael is primarily a mixed media figurative painter of the human condition, taken from the perspective of personal experience. He qualified as a veterinary surgeon in 1986 and went on to study Fine Art at London Guildhall University in the 1990s, having begun painting during his veterinary studies.

Michael’s work derived initially from experiences of depression but has continued to be an investigation of interior worlds, extremes of experience, power and vulnerability, and that point at which the individual meets society – with all the moral and existential difficulties it presents. His childhood is a powerful influence and a rich source of material.

Michael has been able to move through his depression by making these images and hopes that by showing them, he may help others to do the same.

If you’d like to know more about Michael’s art  before you visit, check out his website here: He is also on Instagram @haytermichael and Twitter @MichaelHayte His contact details are here:

RACHAEL CAWLEY, ARTIST EXHIBITING UNTIL 13^TH SEPTEMBER 2023

Rachael’s original degree was in education, but after twenty-five years of teaching, she returned to the University of the West of England to complete a Masters in Multi-Disciplinary Printmaking, gaining a Distinction.

For nearly forty years, Rachel commuted to the ‘big city’, rarely having time to enjoy or participate in the local community. Besides escorting her son to daily sporting and social events, she mainly just prepped for her next day lecturing and slept.

Early retirement, caring for an elderly relative with dementia, finally allowing herself to own a dog and Covid changed everything for Rachael. She walked everywhere and saw buzzards, rabbits, otters and foxes…colours that changed with the seasons, winding pathways, lazy rivers, threatening skies and endless field patterns. Rather than glimpsing at these aspects of nature through a windscreen, she saw them first-hand; they inspired her thinking and were a catalyst for change.

Two years ago, Rachael pulled the large unfinished canvases off the back wall of her home studio and decided to paint uniquely what she had seen. Filled with trepidation, she started small. She transferred to plywood so she could sand it all back if it went wrong, which of course, it did initially.

Rachael was taught at “art school” that women’s artwork is invariably concerned with the domestic, which was decorative, illustrative and narrative. Pattern and colour were not considered high-brow in academic esteem. Reaching sixty, Rachael no longer cared what academia thought of her.

Her work now is concerned with the layering of translucent colour and form built up over time to create ethereal and symbolic imagery. She uses paint, gold leaf, digital media and thread to achieve this.

“To me, every picture tells a story. The landscape has a multiplicity of layers, from the people who worked it through history to the scored lines of transportation, the characters involved, and the flora and fauna supported by the richness of our soil and our history. I am interested in the ways in which colour and form can be used to tell a story and evoke emotions. I combine observation, memory and imagination with a view to transform them into visual narratives.

I achieve this by recording the world around me and taking note of the contextual colours, textures, and patterns that make up my surroundings. By painting layers of pattern, sanding back and repainting, I seek to weave these observations into a tapestry of narratives. Sometimes the stories are obvious; other times, they are more subtle. Each painting tells a unique story, but they all share a sense of curiosity and playfulness. Hopefully, these are stories that unite us all.”

If you’d like to know more about Rachael’s art before visiting Studio 3, you can check out her website here She’s also on Facebook here  Twitter here and on Instagram here

NATALIE THOMAS OF FAIRLAND GLASS STUDIO EXHIBITING UNTIL 13^TH SEPTEMBER  2023

The Fairland Glass Studio is set in a beautiful rural part of South Wales, close to the M4. Natalie’s work is original and individually designed with care, patience and dedication, to ensure that she produces beautiful and unique glass artwork. Her skills and interests in art and design are wide and varied, from illustration, design, print, pattern textiles and painting to my deep love of colour, tone and light.

Creating Fused Glass gives Natalie the opportunity to use a combination of these skills within individual pieces, giving them character and style. All of the work is produced using the highest quality glass and glass powders. The glass is hand cut, shaped and decorated, then fused in the kiln, sometimes several times to achieve the desired effect.

Commissions

Natalie is extremely passionate about her commission work and sees it as a real privilege to create a personal piece of glass art for a client. Wall panels, or free-standing designs, are focal points that bring colour, light and beauty to any space.

She works closely with clients to develop a step-by-step approach which will ensure their involvement. She uses a combination of theme, colour schemes, and shared creative ideas to create a visually attractive and individual outcome.

Workshops – Learn the techniques of handling art glass.

No experience is necessary to take part in this workshop. You can work at your own pace with one-to-one guidance. One-and two-day courses are available.

You start by sketching a design idea; a lack of drawing skills is not a barrier. Then you will select a colour theme for your design, select powders frit or coloured glass, and decide on a panel curve or framed piece; the choice is yours. Natalie supports you and guides you through the whole process whilst ensuring that you are given the space to explore your ideas and produce a unique glass – art piece for yourself or to give as a gift.

For further details, check out her website here Natalie is also on Instagram @natalie.fairglass, and these are her contact details: natalie.fairlandglass@hotmail.com

ADRIENNE HUGHES  EXHIBITING UNTIL 14^th OCTOBER  2023

In January 2018, Adrienne took the plunge to leave her career as a primary school headteacher to become a full-time artist.

As an artist, Adrienne is mainly self-taught. Her primary education gave her a reasonable start exploring with crayons, papier mâché, collage and paints, but her abysmal secondary art education left her floundering.

Since then, Adrienne has taken the odd day course (screen-printing, lino-cut, fused glass) and then explored techniques for herself. She watched her grandmother and father, both talented amateur painters, and picked up tips from them.

Now that she has her own studio in Flax Bourton, Adrienne can play with a wide range of techniques…pen and ink sketches, water-colour, acrylic painting, mosaic, digital art, photography, silk-screen, collage, sculpture and lino-cuts. More recently, she has taken up ceramics again and loves it! Strongly influenced by the landscape and the natural world, Adrienne’s work is often colourful, highly patterned and textured.

Adriennes’ other passion is the world around us, particularly the countryside and coast, and she loves to travel. Both the natural and built environment feature in her work, as do flowers-often ones from our own garden. Her cats creep into her pictures too!

Adrienne has a good knowledge of the work of a range of artists, having visited many galleries and exhibitions over the years. She appreciates the work of the old masters and is intrigued by some contemporary work, but if she had to choose her favourite artists, the ones that have moved her to tears or made me smile the most, she would say, in no particular order, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Tove Jansson, Frida Kahlo, Anselm Kiefer, Barbara Rae, Barbara Hepworth, David Hockney, Marc Chagall and Mary Fedden.

If you’d like to know more about Adrienne’s art before visiting Studio 3, you can check out her website here She’s also on Facebook, Adrienne Hughes Art and on Instagram @adriennes_art. Adrienne also sells on Folksy: Adrienne Hughes Art on Folksy.com

If you’d like to know more about Studio 3, you can check it out here: www.studiothree.art and these are the contact details: Studio 3, Clevedon Craft Centre, Clevedon, BS21 6TD Telephone:  07557331967 Email: studiothree111@gmail.com They are also on Instagram @studiothree_gallery

Another quick reminder of the opening times which it’s worth mentioning are not the same as the Craft Centre: open Monday to Saturday from 10.00. a.m. to 5.00 pm and Sunday from 11.00. a.m. to 4.00. pm.