Dennis Farrell
I have been making ceramics for over fifty years and many of those early formative years happened when I was living in Yorkshire. In the late 70's I won a Crafts Council/ Yorkshire Arts award to be Artist in Residence at Swarthmore Education Collage, Leeds, in the early 80's I was awarded a Yorkshire Arts travel grant and became a member of the Yorkshire Arts Crafts Committee under Simon Roodhouse. I later became Chair of Designer Makers North, was a member of Northern Potters and appointed lecturer for the Studio Ceramics Course at Harrogate College of Arts before moving to Shropshire in the early 90's to take up a lecturing post at the University of Wolverhampton.
I am pleased to be represented in the collections of three major Yorkshire galleries, Leeds Art gallery (Lotherton Hall), York Museum and Art Gallery (Bill Ismay collection) and Huddersfield Art Gallery. So I have a lot to thank Yorkshire for and relish returning to work, see many dear friends and exhibit most recently at the CPA York Ceramics Fair in September this year. Over the years I have been fortunate to exhibit with Godfrey & Watt and I'm delighted to be invited to participate in this very special show.
My current work responds to observations of rural and coastal landscapes. Details in the landscape such as weather-worn eroded structures are of particular interest, whilst atmosphere and sense of place are important elements. Indeed 'White Cliff' and 'Coastal Form' in the exhibition, are a response to the chalk cliffs of Flamborough and North Landing on the NorthYorkshire coast.
These ceramic forms are produced by hand-built techniques using red earthenware blended with black stoneware crank clays. White engobe is applied to the clay surface sometimes being drawn through when wet. Brushed coloured engobes and underglaze colour are then worked together on the leather hard clay surface like paint on canvas. Forms are brushed with transparent glazes and fired to 1120˚C; post- firing some surfaces are reworked using diamond pads.
I am pleased to be represented in the collections of three major Yorkshire galleries, Leeds Art gallery (Lotherton Hall), York Museum and Art Gallery (Bill Ismay collection) and Huddersfield Art Gallery. So I have a lot to thank Yorkshire for and relish returning to work, see many dear friends and exhibit most recently at the CPA York Ceramics Fair in September this year. Over the years I have been fortunate to exhibit with Godfrey & Watt and I'm delighted to be invited to participate in this very special show.
My current work responds to observations of rural and coastal landscapes. Details in the landscape such as weather-worn eroded structures are of particular interest, whilst atmosphere and sense of place are important elements. Indeed 'White Cliff' and 'Coastal Form' in the exhibition, are a response to the chalk cliffs of Flamborough and North Landing on the NorthYorkshire coast.
These ceramic forms are produced by hand-built techniques using red earthenware blended with black stoneware crank clays. White engobe is applied to the clay surface sometimes being drawn through when wet. Brushed coloured engobes and underglaze colour are then worked together on the leather hard clay surface like paint on canvas. Forms are brushed with transparent glazes and fired to 1120˚C; post- firing some surfaces are reworked using diamond pads.
