On The Road To Binnel Bay

On the road to Binnel Bay, I met…

The eight resident artists of Binnel Bay Studios are opening their doors once again in August to give visitors the chance to see their work where it is created. Style caught up with them to find out more about this inspiring place.

Celia Wilkinson

Celia’s exuberant canvasses fill the walls of her studio at Binnel. “They’re landscapes but not always about the landscape – very much about me,” says Celia. “I don’t know what I’m doing until I do it. They’re semi abstract with layers of colour. I start with broad brush strokes or splashes of colour and once you have something on the canvas you have a sense of perspective. “I’ve been here for eight years – I like the privacy and quiet and the space,” adds Celia. Her large airy studio has tall windows to a small garden area, skylights, and daylight lighting. Influenced by her surroundings, one of her paintings is about the erosion of the south Wight, and others feature the strange yellow light we had when the Sahara dust was in the sky. “I do a lot of horse riding, and this inspires me. The downward projection of the paintings is because I’m high up on a horse. Your eyes never stop looking do they. It’s an all-consuming thing being a painter, and I don’t work from photographs. “Last year in October I had some work at Florence Biennale and I won a Lorenzo il Magnifico Award for painting. “We (at Binnel) don’t all exhibit on the Island, so the open day gives Islanders the opportunity to see what we do down here.

celiawilkinson.co.uk

Matthew Chambers

“Although we’re a group of studios there’s not much traffic, which suits me fine. I bring my dog in with me and we go for a walk to the beach most days. It’s a mostly gentle and calm place to work, especially at this time of year. “The surrounding landscape isn’t integral to my work, but being amongst it certainly helps with the flow, so it does feed my work in this way. “I make abstract sculptural pieces that aim to convey a beauty and serenity. I like to play with the three dimensions in the works by making exploratory forms that take the viewer’s eye through the layers, whether outside or going in. “I’ve an exhibition opening at the New Craftsman Gallery in St Ives on July 2nd, and in the spring of next year I’ve a show planned alongside David Firmstone in the Campden Gallery in the Cotswolds. “I’m also getting a 5ft bronze cast at the moment, partly inspired by my surrounding landscape. I’ve looked at the rhythm in movement, including the flow of waves. The work will be installed at Marchmont House in the Scottish Borders on completion.” matthewchambers.net

Molly Attrill

At Binnel Studios since 2014, Molly was one of the founder members after having her studio at the Garlic Farm for many years. “The reason it’s worked so well for me here is that we don’t have people wandering in all the time, so I’ve been able to work,” laughs Molly. “It’s given me a new lease of life. “I’ve gone back to trying out all different clays and glazes. I’ve mainly worked in earthenware maiolica, but I’ve been

mollyattrillpottery.weebly.com

David Firmstone

David is exhibiting at his home, The Orchid House, which is on the road down to Binnel Studios, although he did have a studio here and was the first artist to do so. “There will be big paintings as you walk in, and more in the rest of the house as you come through,” he explains. “There’s a new studio area where the able to do a bit of this and a bit of that. I spent lockdown doing a series of satirical plates. “I’ve enjoyed the freedom to experiment and revisit different clays and firing schedules. I have an electric kiln and a gas kiln – these are for high fire reduction work. You get subtle differences of colour with the gas kiln. “I still work with the maiolica earthenware with opaque tin glaze and painting on the top of the unfired glaze. It has to be quite fluid. I’ve brought together my drawing with the pots.” Molly originally trained with Bernard Leach’s son, Michael, and has been running her own pottery since 1982 — 40 years! Born at Knowles Farm, St Catherine’s Point, she has recently had a show at Quay Arts with her sister, Bridget Macdonald, who is a painter based in Malvern.

conservatory used to be, where I have paintings in progress. “I’m working on paintings for the exhibition I’m having with Matthew at Campden Galleries. It’s mainly landscape and a couple of seascapes. It’s about how the paint is applied. You pour it and then pull it back and end up with a surreal quality. “I paint the Isle of Wight but it’s not always about the Island – there’s incidents that bring it back to reality like a figure or an animal. Richard Cork, the art critic, called me a romantic surrealist. “A lot of my current work is about parts of the world I’ve seen. I produce them on quite a small scale and then enlarge them in the studio. The one I’m working on at the moment is 10ft by 5ft! “The landscape here is quite magical. I don’t actually go out in it anymore, but it influences the work in different ways; the colour and the atmosphere are a big influence – it is spectacular.” davidfirmstone.com

Jane Cox

Ceramicist Jane Cox has been at Binnel Studios for eight years, moving her successful studio from London to the Isle of Wight, and exhibiting recently at the prestigious Ceramic Art London at Central Saint Martins. “Working at Binnel Studios where everyone contributes different skills to make it successful was an eye-opener,” says Jane. “It’s not dependent on one person and we work well as group, which is great. “My studio has an area for displaying finished work and a dry area for design and drawing. To the rear are my kilns and throwing wheels with sink and a spray wet area where I can be really messy. “The main difference in this location is the light and space are superb, enabling me to work larger and expand my glaze palette. “I’m an earthenware glaze specialist, producing unique combinations of glazes and colours. Moving to this environment helped really develop this aspect of my work. “I used to work mostly in very bright colours, but have introduced subtle colours including variations of speckle glazes inspired by the textures of the shoreline and clear crisp night skies – there is so little light pollution here. “The exuberant plants and foliage growing near here are inspiring prints, drawings, and new hand-built work which I will be launching at the summer show. This is experimental work using the clay as a decorative motif, so they are more personal and focus more on form.”

Amanda Wheeler

Amanda has been at Binnel for five years, painting mainly semi-abstract coastal scenes, and she lives just up the coast at Steephill Cove. “It’s all about the sea for me, and it really influences me and my work,” explains Amanda. “It’s impossible not to be inspired by it and this particular part of the Island has a magnetic draw. janecoxceramics.com

From Steephill Cove around to the Needles in particular – I don’t think there’s anywhere else quite like it. “There’s a special energy here with the setting and with the other artists. Even on the drive down here. You feel like you’re entering another world – quiet and calm. It’s lovely. “I always start with a sketch to get the basics and tonal values and then I add a bit of colour. Then I bring those sketches here to the studio. I’m really drawn to blues and greens. “When I first started painting, I was living in central southwest France, but it wasn’t until I moved back to England that I was truly inspired, as I missed the coastline and the water – it’s an Island thing perhaps? “Every October I go to North Cornwall with a bunch of artists where the landscape is different – majestic and dramatic. I do love to travel.” Amanda exhibits on the Island at Seaview Art Gallery. See her work at instagram.com/coveart_ajw and seaviewart.co.uk/artists/amanda-wheeler

Sue Paraskeva

Although porcelain artist Sue has a studio in Ryde, she took on a space in Binnel Studios so that she could build an outdoor kiln, which she first fired in during May last year. “The wood-fired kiln will be moving my work forward,” she explains. “I’m looking to fill and fire the kiln – it takes a lot of time to get it ready. The Binnel space has given me this great opportunity; I built the kiln and then Covid came along. “The work that will be fired in the kiln will be stoneware and porcelain and stand-alone pieces. The wood ash flies around the kiln coating all the work. The stand-alone pieces won’t be glazed but will be finished by the firing. They’ll have speckles and shine in places, and pinks and apricots. Because of the direction of the flame, it leaves its trace and shows the route of the flame through the kiln. “I will be presenting my Smashing Performance for Ventnor Fringe on Wednesday July 27th at 8pm in St Catherine’s Church. I dramatically alter my work in a creative way, which is how they get their cracks. This will be accompanied by Kyle Abram playing minimal piano music. “I have performed at the Saatchi Gallery and for London Craft Week this May. I’ve been doing it for years – it offers an insight into my practice and the audience is visibly moved.” sueparaskeva.co.uk

Sadie Tierney

Painter and printmaker Sadie Tierney recently brought her etching press and Intaglio print making to Binnel Bay Studios. “I moved in in March and I’ve been very productive since, working on painted commissions and making work for the London Original Print Fair,” says Sadie who currently has a woodcut in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, in Grayson Perry’s marvellous curated room IV.

Recent paintings include large canvasses of carousels and ships at night, with lit up windows and beautiful multi-coloured skies, reflected in the waters around them. “I love looking at the ships and getting a new perspective on them from here. It makes me feel connected to the world, wondering where they are going,

and thinking about the journeys people make. I have painted cruise ships against backdrops of Norwegian fjords (my grandmother was Norwegian). “I’m currently drawing woodlands and waterfalls for a new body of work based on the beautiful landscape around St. Lawrence. I feel like my immediate surroundings are going to become more prominent in my work and it’s fabulous to be working in this studio group, full of inspiring painters and ceramicists.”

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