Popular artists John Hubbard and Adam Buick are both having their work showcased in Topsham Art Room. This exhibition brings together two artists who work with natural materials to describe the core elements of nature; water and earth, the essence of life.

John Hubbard uses vine charcoal in his series of vigorous drawings entitled Leonardo in Scotland. This impressive work was inspired by the ‘Deluge’ drawings by Leonardo held in the library of Windsor Castle.

They express the movement and dynamics of rushing, swirling water; tumbling currents, rocks and twisted trees clinging on for life. The work was made during a visit to Scotland in 2007 and was first exhibited at Marlborough Fine Art, London in 2008.

Hubbard is a serious and celebrated artist, born in the USA in 1931 and now living in Dorset. He has had a long and distinguished career exhibiting internationally with his work in public and private collections worldwide.

Adam Buick uses local clay and stone and the pure form of a ‘Moon Jar’ to create a narrative that describes the unique Pembrokeshire landscape where he lives.

Moon Jars (dal hang-ari) are a Korean form from the Choson dynasty (1392-1910) originally made from plain white porcelain. At the time they represented the epitome of the austere Confucian virtues of purity, honesty and modesty.

Housed in the British Museum is a Moon Jar that Bernard Leach brought back from Seoul, one of only ten originals in existence. Leach and his contemporaries in Japan admired it for its lack of self-consciousness, and the beauty of its slight imperfections.  Buick was also struck by these qualities, its serenity and simplicity, so much so that for the past seven years he has made nothing else, not to replicate but to capture the ephemeral qualities that the form resonates.

The pieces are hand thrown and the large ones are made in two sections or more then fired in a wood kiln.

Buick is an award winning ceramicist, born in Newport, Gwent in1978. He studied at Lampeter University, West Wales School of Art and with the Crafts Council of Ireland. He exhibits regularly at the London Craft Fair and other venues around the UK and in Japan. His work is in the permanent collection of the National Museum Cardiff.

Topsham Art Room is open on Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday, 11am to 5pm.

For more information visit:

www.theartroomtopsham.co.uk/ 
www.johnhubbard.com/
adambuick.com/