Work of Carol Numan & Steph Jamieson

Sat/Sun 4th Jul to 30th Aug 11am-5pm. Open during the week by appointment.

Carol Numan – Artist Statement:

My work is rooted in the landscapes, coastlines, and islands of the Scottish West Coast and Northumberland — places where the weather is dramatic, the light is constantly shifting, and the land holds the traces of those who came before us.
I work primarily from photos I take on location, using images gathered on walks and visits as the starting point for prints that are never intended to be literal representations. Instead, I use rich, often heigh tened colour to convey mood and atmosphere — the feeling of standing in a particular place, rather than a faithful record of it. Pattern and texture are central to how I work, and the printmaking process itself — with its layering, and the element of serendipity — suits this approach perfectly.
Wildlife generally appears in my work as silhouette: instantly recognisable forms that draw the eye without demanding fine detail. Birds in particular punctuate the landscape, grounding the composition in the living world.
I am equally drawn to the deep history embedded in these places. Standing stones, rock art, and the idea of what may still lie undiscovered beneath the soil all find their way into my work — sometimes as direct reference, sometimes as imagined archaeological finds from a past we can only sense rather than see.
My practice has been shaped by workshops with Peter Wray RE and Katherine Jones RA, and I am inspired by the work of fellow printmakers Barbara Rae RSA and Hughie O’Donoghue RA, whose bold use of colour, texture, and mark-making resonates deeply with my own artistic vision.

Steph Jamieson – Artist Statement:

I am a ceramic artist living and working in the Allen Valley of Northumberland. This remote region gives me the space and freedom to work with smoke and fire.

My simple smoke fired vessels including fossils and arrowheads reflect my interest in geology and archaeology and capture a moment when a stone or pebble has been picked up, changed by man, used and discarded to return back to the earth.

Each sculpture is unique, hand built from white stoneware, formed and burnished before being smoke fired.    Colour is achieved by the careful use of salts, oxides and minerals during the firing process.    The results can sometimes surprise and add to the beauty and unpredictability that is smoke firing.