Artists, Laurel Keeley, SWAc and James Tatum, SWAc are delighted to present their new exhibition during Exeter Art Week

Uncommon Ground

This exciting new exhibition is a collaboration of two artists with shared views of what contemporary art can say today. Laurel's stunning ceramics and semi-abstract paintings and James' expressionistic paintings and drawings use traditional methods to tell a contemporary story that directly connects people to the landscapes of the South West. Using possibly the oldest forms of artistic expression, ceramics and painting, in order to describe our environment at present, both artists have strong desires to show the familiar in new ways.

“My pots and paintings are about places I have visited, sometimes many times, sometimes only once or twice,” says Laurel, “They can be a very simple representation of physical elements of that place, or a more abstract expression of light, weather and colour. I use drawing, photographs and layers of studies on paper, and then sometimes the pot comes first. Another day and another way of looking and the painting must precede the pot.”

Laurel Keeley lives in Exeter and has been a professional ceramist for forty years. Born in Essex, she moved to Devon to go to Exeter University. She completed a degree in English and American Arts and Film, followed by an MA in Commonwealth Literature in Toronto, then moved back to Exeter to start a Phd in the American Arts Department. A year of research gave way to a long held ambition to learn about Ceramics, and she moved to Exeter College of Art and Design for post graduate study. The first Pottery was established in the late 1970’s, in Cheriton Fitzpaine, Devon. In1982 it was moved to Exeter, in the heart of the West Quarter.

A strong part of her degree was a folio of creative writing, but the intangible quality of language needed realisation in form, objects one could touch. Clay had been a lure since childhood, from the scratching out of clay from an Essex riverbank, with subsequent attempts to “fire’ it in the cooker at home, to persuading art teachers that clay work really was a way forward for the entire class. Results in both instances had been variable, but the passion for clay remained undimmed. The making of pots became both a way to make a living, as well as fulfilling a fundamental creative drive.

Recently, her ceramics have moved away from a decorative approach to pots, towards work that is more involved with surface texture and form and her painting has emerged as a strong counterpoint to her work with clay.

James is an established landscape painter, also based in Exeter, Devon. The two artists are exhibiting together for the first time as a result of for a long friendship and shared mutual interests in the landscapes of the South West. James exhibits regularly in Devon and throughout the U.K. as well as having solo exhibitions in Holland, Switzerland and the U.S.A. He is also a successful painting tutor and runs workshops through out the year in Devon, Holland and France.

James' paintings often utilize a field of tension between figuration and abstraction, not to be wilfully obscure, but to, as James says, "leave room for the viewer". Painterly, innovative mark making using spatulas, scrapers, rags, fingers and even the occasional brush are all hallmarks of James' expressive style.

His unique approach to painting is a balance between close observation and an intuitive, visceral response to nature and the landscape.  His process involves long periods of walking slowly, thinking slowly, feeling slowly and then, after a substantial length of time, painting quickly.  This method has evolved over many years, creating an arena for authentic, visceral responses to the landscape.  For James, painting is a way of finding things out and it involves taking risks in order to discover something new and to deepen the experience of being in the landscape.  He says "I want to show that light is movement and movement is emotion."

The exhibition is part of ‘Art Week Exeter’ an annual city-wide art festival in Exeter, Devon. Its aim is to encourage and frame artistic activity: this involves working with artists, producers, organisations, venues and local government to produce a programme that showcases the best Exeter has to offer, alongside the work of nationally and internationally renowned artists.

The two artists are exhibiting together for the first time. FREE TO THE PUBLIC