Open for Excellence

By Roz Whistance

The seven artists of Binnel Studios open their doors just once a year. All are established in their specialities, their work highly sought after, and exhibitions at home and abroad lead them in all directions. Catch them at their 9th Summer Exhibition over the August bank holiday weekend.

The paintings of award-winning artist David Firmstone, on show a step away from Binnel Studio at Orchid House, have an excitement to them, a sense of something about to happen. In exotic climates or on the Island, they tear up the rulebook. There is an edge to snapshots of serenity: even stubble burning takes on an apocalyptic feel. ”I like to tilt and turn the paper, letting the paint run, so I’m ’drawing with the pour’,” he says. If that creates something that is merely abstract, though, he might spoil it, plunge the painting into water – ”so I have to struggle with it all over again.”

Ceramicist Matthew Chambers is amidst a year’s worth of shows at home and abroad. It is unsurprising he is in demand: the work, based on his extraordinary skill of throwing pots in closely regulated sizes and pushing one into another, is endlessly fascinating. ”I vary the sizes and colours, and have recently experimented with different clays textures and fleck.” New are his organic-feeling Bud Forms, intriguing works that spiral outwards, while untextured red clay pieces seem impossibly smooth.

Celia Wilkinson’s vibrant landscapes, which hint at land contours and obvious snatches of sea or hill, are tantalisingly recognisable. From walks, or from riding on horseback, she captures a feeling of the landscape. ”I never paint from life but from my memory of a place,” she says. ”I suppose in my work I deconstruct actuality and rebuild it – which is why my landscapes appear familiar to many, despite being my own creation.” Be prepared to be immersed.

Painter and printmaker Sadie Tierney describes her painting as ’big and messy and wild’ – a whirling fairground carousel, lights, colours, and horses spinning, dominates her studio. But her prints are almost completely serene. In adding woodcut prints to her repertoire of etching, lithography, and screen printing she said: ”The challenge was to make the same expressive marks in wood, for the same feeling in the paintings.” One woodcut print captures a cascading waterfall over a figure sitting in a boat, tiny in the huge landscape.

Amanda Wheeler has had an explosively creative year. ”I don’t sketch anymore, I just have to get things down on canvas. I can be anywhere and think ’I need to paint that now’.” She captures sun, wind, limpid blue sea with vibrant colour: ”I’ve come to realise that painting is a deeply spiritual process,” she says, ”and for me there is a strong desire to manifest the true beauty and feeling of a place that is not always seen.” She adds: ”Late spring and early summer all brought colour to the Island. And I’m inspired by my morning swim – even in rain you get those beautiful greens in the sea.”

Molly Attrill is carrying two large trays of cups when we meet, ready for firing. ”It’s a commission for a longtime patron,” she says, adding that she’s also just delivered a commission for Quarr Abbey. Molly’s work is indeed timeless. The earthy beauty of her traditional thrown cups and plates in a variety of clays and glazes is sometimes enhanced with sgraffito decoration – slippery fish, alert hares, and purposeful birds. Freely painted majolica ware is Molly’s other forte, and Carisbooke Castle has recently acquired a plate from her political Shysters & Charlatans series for their permanent collection. New is a striking collection of patterned buttons. ”They’re in bright slip colours,” she says, ”but some will be porcelain, fired in Sue’s wood kiln.”

‘Experience – the Isle of Wight Festival 2002 to 2023’ will run from May 27th to September 17th 2023 at Dimbola.

Sue Paraskeva’s busy year of exhibiting included showing in the Hauser & Wirth gallery, New York, where her split Ceremonial Vessels – inspired by Chinese vessels in the British Museum – and her new shape, Poppy Vessels, suggested by the colouring and shape of poppy seed heads, went down a storm. ”They are immediately altered after throwing to create the poppyhead ridges.” Her porcelain creations are exquisitely fine yet daring. Pure white clay is sometimes licked by flame in the kiln, or glazed in wood ash. ”They are traditional ash glazes but if I can use them in a contemporary way I can move tableware forward.”

Jane Cox, known for her richly glazed marine-coloured platters and jugs went to the Far East and came back ”completely discombobulated.” The exotic river vessels she had seen led her to recycle found things to create boats – whacky and imaginative, daft but pleasing. ”I like that they’ve come from beach finds, and still relate to the beach.” New tableware reflects that playfulness. She describes her tea sets in zingy geometrical shapes and colours as ’Russian Constructivist, but boaty too’. Their sturdiness is offset by something of a dance about them. ”They reflect shapes of sails and are in bright sunny colours. So I think the Island is creeping into the glaze,” smiles Jane.