AUTUMN ALCHEMY

Autumn Alchemy brings together a selection of contemporary makers who explore the threshold between raw natural matter and radiant transformation. Set against the clean white gallery interior, the exhibition is a study in contrast: the season's cooling dormancy meets the fiery brilliance of precious metals.

The works on display trace a journey from the elemental to the sublime:

Sotis Fillipides' bark- and rock-textured ceramic bowls open to reveal deep, liquid-golden interiors…

Michael Thacker's hand-carved marble and limestone sculptures are struck through with unexpected veins of gilding…

In a direct dialogue with modernist form, Hannah Souter's frosted silver jewellery echoes the clean, pierced and hollowed geometries of Barbara Hepworth, catching the light across concave, gilt-etched surfaces…

Stacey West's handcrafted 'Found Treasures' jewelry celebrates transmutation into beautiful precious gemstones, seemingly emerging from frothing elemental puddles of pewter and silver, while her 'Interlocking Strata' jewelry imprisons movable, interlocking textured silver, bronze, and glass elements cast from the rocky cliffs of Cornwall, in hand-forged silver cages…

Rachel Wood's hand-built textural and 'split' stoneware 'vessels', swathed with mist-like layers of slips and matte glazes, evoke the autumnal transformation of Springtime's forest and woodland colours and textures, following a 'scorched-earth' Summer…

Complementing the made objects is a changing backdrop of autumnal-toned and -coloured paintings and artist prints:

Trevor Bell's wall-sized canvases are ablaze with the elemental fiery colours and ejecta of Autumn fires and the Underworld's sulphurous seizures, echoing the earthy origins of clay, metals, stone, and pigments.

A rich autumnal colour palette of pomegranate, red wine, sienna, ochre, and deep rust infuses Melvyn Evans' paintings and linocut prints, which explore the thin veils between the British landscape's past, present and future.

Rare signed prints and cast bronze sculptures by St Ives and British Modern names also feature, including:

'November Green' 1970, by Barbara Hepworth;

'Untitled Composition' 1972, by Patrick Heron;

'Turkish Sundial & Tree' 1967, by Ben Nicholson;

'Head II' 1969, by Margaret Lovell;

'Wing Forms, Penzer' 2024, by Tommy Rowe.

Specially chosen ceramics by Dylan Bowen, Simon Carroll, Björk Haraldsdóttir, Tadami Hirota, Ruth King, and Stephen Murfitt complement the collection.

Ultimately, Autumn Alchemy explores the 'interior'. It invites the viewer to look inside the hollows, behind the frost, and beneath the surface to find warmth, light, and memory just as the year begins to turn.