Lost Horizons : Julia Cooper & Jane Wheeler 10 October - 7 November 2015
4 Bartlett Street Bath BA1 2QZ Mon - Sat 10am - 6pm (Wed 2pm - 6pm) 01225 460189
www.davidsimoncontemporary.com
Lost Horizons : Julia Cooper & Jane Wheeler 10 October - 7 November 2015 The paintings of Julia Cooper convey a sense of working from memories of a place but also memories and observations of objects and materials such as the worn layers of paint on the hull of a fishing boat, or the weather-battered stonework of a harbour wall. Julia’s paintings are built up through many layers of paint, oil stick and charcoal, and like the surfaces of the harbour walls and the cliff edges, these are often partially scraped back to reveal a history. The enjoyment of the materials that she uses and the simple profundity of mark-making is as important as the subject of each painting – the technique is the content. Jane Wheeler’s ceramics reflect the same ideas of age and history through the building of layers in her distinctive technique. Through the development of each vessel, Jane adds a combination of coarse grog, slips, oxide and chun glazes to the slab-built structures, exploring surface textures and a history to each piece. This is an exhibition that takes hold of very traditional subjects – still life, landscape, bottles and vessels, and uses these themes to express a unique and personal response - both of these artists have acknowledged the notion of their subject and have gone on to truly explore their main focus: their enjoyment and mastery of their respective materials.
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Pink mixed media on canvas 80 x 100cm ÂŁ2,250
Julia Cooper Julia Cooper paints using different media including oil paint, oil stick, crayon and graphite. Surfaces are washed with colour then scored, scraped back or obliterated to create an interesting narrative which allows her to explore colour and rhythm. Whether abstract or figurative the image is discovered through this process. Julia’s studio overlooks Fowey harbour where the changes of light on the water’s surface are reflected in her use of colour. Julia has exhibited her work widely in the United Kingdom and her work has several times been featured in Cornwall Today. She was also included in Cornish Muse, Helen Hoyle’s ‘Women Artists.’ Her studies include a Fine Art Diploma with Distinction and Interior Design Diploma, the latter which resulted in her working with the Cornwall National Trust on their 87 holiday cottage refurbishment projects.
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Tansy mixed media on panel 17x 27cm ÂŁ450
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Hazelnut mixed media on panel 22 x 28cm ÂŁ475
Hickory mixed media on panel 44 x 54cm ÂŁ900
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Jane Wheeler Jane Wheeler was born and raised in Norfolk and studied in ceramics at Bath Academy of Art in Corsham. For Jane, the vessel is a space-containing hollow form that offers the richest language for working in clay. Its conceptual simplicity allows readings which allude to our most distant cultural pasts, and to the state of being human. Its limitations are those for which the potter’s tools and equipment are designed. Jane Wheeler finds it essential to push the boundaries in order to attempt discovery of new or hidden qualities of this profoundly significant, yet ordinary object. The apparent fragility and age of these vessels tempers their insistent sense of function. The cracks in a bottle form which deny it the possibility of containing a liquid produce a deliberate uncertainty about what constitutes a vessel. The appearance of age and wear, as if the pieces had somehow been weathered and eroded over geological and archaeological timescales, evokes a sense of history and of humanity. Jane’s vessels are made of stoneware clay bodies with added coarse grog, sand, quartz and feldspar granules. They are reduction fired to 1260-1300 º C. Layers of oxide, slip, and chun glaze producing the textured surface which both reflects and absorbs light and refracts it where the chun gathers into thick runs full of miniscule bubbles. 8
Clematis Stem Bottle 24 x 22cm ÂŁ600 9
Spring Rain Carved Stitch Bottle 16 x 11cm £220
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Spring Rain V Bidori Bottle 16 x 11cm £280
Rainy Day Clematis Bottle 16 x 11cm £230
Buttermilk mixed media on panel 38 x 49cm ÂŁ750 11
Blue Gribbin mixed media on panel 22 x 28cm £475
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Pont Pill mixed media on panel 22 x 28cm £475
Ruan mixed media on canvas 80 x 100cm ÂŁ2,250
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Borage mixed media on panel 22 x 28cm ÂŁ475
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Spring Rain Clematis Winged Bottle 25 x 20cm ÂŁ450
Drennick mixed media on panel 22 x 28cm ÂŁ475
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Turmeric mixed media on canvas 80 x 100cm ÂŁ2,250
Rainy Day Moon Clematis Impression 22 x 22cm £620
Rainy Day Carved Stitches 21 x 22cm £620
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Squall mixed media on panel 22 x 28cm £475
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Trough mixed media on panel 22 x 28cm £475
Lantic mixed media on panel 38 x 49cm ÂŁ750
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Comfrey mixed media on panel 22 x 28cm £475
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Olive mixed media on panel 22 x 28cm £475
Ale mixed media on panel 44 x 55cm ÂŁ850 21
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Large Black Ice Meander Flagon 55 x 42cm £1,250
Large Black Ice Listening Pod 49 x 29cm £600
Black Ice Bottle 16 x 11cm £220
Rainy Day Clematis Impression Bottle 17 x 11cm £230
Rainy Day Clematis Impression Bottle 17 x 11cm £230
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Spice mixed media on panel 22 x 28cm ÂŁ475
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Aperitif mixed media on panel 22 x 28cm ÂŁ475
Thyme mixed media on panel 48 x 38cm ÂŁ750 25
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Krug mixed media on canvas 80 x 100cm ÂŁ2,250
Spring Rain Clematis Winged Bottle 17 x 18cm ÂŁ280
Carved Stitches on Spring Rain Bottle 41 x 21cm ÂŁ750
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Melting Ice Meander Listening Pod 50 x 23cm £600
Rainy Day Clematis Impression Bottle 21 x 22cm £620
Carved Stitches with Combed Circles on Pearly Chun Glaze 23 x 25cm £650
Clematis Stem Bottle 23 x 22cm £550
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Walnut mixed media on panel 48 x 38cm ÂŁ750 30
November mixed media on panel 18x 24cm ÂŁ450
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Riprap mixed media on canvas 58 x 68cm ÂŁ1,250
Quay mixed media on canvas 80 x 97cm ÂŁ2,250
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Rainy Day Clematis Impression Bottle 34 x 16cm £600
Spring Rain Clematis Winged Bottle 15 x 15cm £280
Clematis Spring Rain Bottle 24 x 25cm £550
Carved Stitches on Black Ice Bottle 15 x 11cm £220
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Paddle mixed media on panel 18 x 24cm £450
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Slip mixed media on panel 22 x 28cm £475
Quay mixed media on panel 46 x 68cm ÂŁ1,150 37
4 Bartlett Street Bath BA1 2QZ Mon - Sat 10am - 6pm (Wed 2pm - 6pm) 01225 460189
www.davidsimoncontemporary.com