P E RS P E C T IVE S
A passion for the countryside As Peterborough artists prepare to open their studios, homes and gardens to public view this month, Sue Dobson meets a printmaker, a potter and a painter who are inspired by nature
Sue Shields
P
eterborough Artists’ Open Studios (PAOS) was born when artist and printmaker Sue Shields moved to Peterborough from Brighton, where ‘open studios’ was a popular annual event. Keen to contact other artists in the city, she opened her own home one weekend, to see if there was any interest in starting something similar. Now in its 13th year, PAOS has grown to become an essential diary date in the region. On three weekends this month, more than 70 artists and craftspeople will be exhibiting their work in 27 venues across the city and in surrounding villages. Sue will be opening her house as usual this year, but she’ll also be spending time, along with fellow artists Anita Bruce and Julie Reid, occupying a hut at Swaddywell Pit nature reserve near Helpston to reveal site-specific artwork, drawings and sketchbooks, the result of the group’s two-year residency with the Langdyke Countryside Trust. For those who visit, it will be an interesting introduction to these artists’ interpretations of the reserve. “A girdle of limestone cliffs frames Swaddywell, hiding it from the open road. Although heavily polluted in the past, it is now an oasis filled with wild flowers,” Sue explains. “Large shallow pools of water are surrounded by tall grasses and reed which ebb and flow in the breeze. The reserve fosters a sense of
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a hideaway or haven and is full of constantly changing colour. “My work explores current attitudes to nature, proposing that our conservation of it resembles a quest for solace and salvation, overriding the harshness of the environmental pressures and pollution we impose on the land.” Time spent at Swaddywell has led her to delve into textile art, developing a series of conceptual maps of stitches that explore the area’s textures and land patterns. “These new works have begun to inform both my painting and prints,” she says. At the end of their time as artists-inresidence, there are plans for a group show. It’s going to be a busy year. Sue is taking part in Fresh Take, a contemporary art residency programme with an autumn exhibition at Burghley House and is also working towards Landed, her solo exhibition at Peterborough’s City Gallery at the end of November. Reflecting her lifelong relationship with both landscape and nature, she describes it as “A pilgrimage to a land full of wonder struggling for survival; but ultimately sacred and beautiful.”
Stylish pottery It hardly seems possible that three years ago Kathryn Parsons was teaching City and Guilds courses at Peterborough Regional
College, decorating wedding cakes and winning competitions in sugarcraft. When a colleague suggested she try working in clay, “it lasts longer”, little did she realise that a mere 18 months into her new career in ceramics, Kathryn’s work would be selected for a mixedmedia exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. “Much as I enjoyed teaching, I wanted something more art-based and to use my own ideas and response to things around me,” Kathryn says. “I found a fine clay, started experimenting and spent months with Rob Bibby at Woodnewton Pottery, learning about firing and glazing and coming to understand the technical side. I’ve just got my own kiln, which is very exciting. Now all I need is a garden shed for a studio. At the moment I’m still working in my small kitchen!” Favouring gentle colours and working in earthenware to create pieces inspired by nature and a sense of place, Kathryn’s plates, dishes and vases are constructed using small pieces of earthenware that are shaped by hand, then joined to create the desired form. Some of her most intricate bowls are made of over a hundred tiny pieces. It is a technique she has developed herself and each piece of pottery she creates is unique. For her jewellery, she uses leaves, flowers
NENE VALLEY LIVING JUNE 2013
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