Lost Horizons : Julia Cooper & Jane Wheeler

10 October - 7 November 2015

4 Bartlett Street Bath BA1 2QZMon - 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.

Pinkmixed media on canvas80 x 100cm£2,250 4

Julia CooperJulia 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.

5

Hazelnutmixed media on panel22 x 28cm£475

Tansymixed media on panel17x 27cm£450

6

Hickorymixed media on panel44 x 54cm£900

7

Jane WheelerJane 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 Bottle24 x 22cm£600

9

Spring Rain Carved Stitch Bottle16 x 11cm£220

Rainy Day Clematis Bottle16 x 11cm£230

Spring Rain V Bidori Bottle16 x 11cm£280

10

Buttermilkmixed media on panel38 x 49cm£750

11

Pont Pillmixed media on panel22 x 28cm£475

Blue Gribbinmixed media on panel22 x 28cm£475

12

Ruanmixed media on canvas80 x 100cm£2,250 13

Boragemixed media on panel22 x 28cm£475

14

Spring Rain Clematis Winged Bottle25 x 20cm£450

Drennickmixed media on panel22 x 28cm£475

15

Turmericmixed media on canvas80 x 100cm£2,250 16

Rainy Day Carved Stitches21 x 22cm£620

Rainy Day Moon Clematis Impression22 x 22cm£620

17

Troughmixed media on panel22 x 28cm£475

Squallmixed media on panel22 x 28cm£475

18

Lanticmixed media on panel38 x 49cm£750

19

Comfreymixed media on panel22 x 28cm£475

Olivemixed media on panel22 x 28cm£475

20

Alemixed media on panel44 x 55cm£850

21

Large Black Ice Meander Flagon55 x 42cm£1,250

Large Black Ice Listening Pod49 x 29cm£600 22

Rainy Day Clematis Impression Bottle17 x 11cm£230

Rainy Day Clematis Impression Bottle17 x 11cm£230

Black Ice Bottle16 x 11cm£220

23

Aperitifmixed media on panel22 x 28cm£475

Spicemixed media on panel22 x 28cm£475

24

Thymemixed media on panel48 x 38cm£750

25

Krugmixed media on canvas80 x 100cm£2,250 26

Spring Rain Clematis Winged Bottle17 x 18cm£280

Carved Stitches on Spring Rain Bottle41 x 21cm£750 27

Melting Ice Meander Listening Pod50 x 23cm£600

Rainy Day Clematis Impression Bottle21 x 22cm£620

28

Clematis Stem Bottle23 x 22cm£550

Carved Stitches with Combed Circles on Pearly Chun Glaze23 x 25cm£650 29

Walnutmixed media on panel48 x 38cm£750

30

Novembermixed media on panel18x 24cm£450

31

Riprapmixed media on canvas58 x 68cm£1,250

32

Quaymixed media on canvas80 x 97cm£2,250 33

Spring Rain Clematis Winged Bottle15 x 15cm£280

Rainy Day Clematis Impression Bottle34 x 16cm£600 34

Carved Stitches on Black Ice Bottle15 x 11cm£220

Clematis Spring Rain Bottle24 x 25cm£550 35

Slipmixed media on panel22 x 28cm£475

Paddlemixed media on panel18 x 24cm£450

36

Quaymixed media on panel46 x 68cm£1,150

37

4 Bartlett Street Bath BA1 2QZMon - Sat 10am - 6pm (Wed 2pm - 6pm)

01225 460189

www.davidsimoncontemporary.com