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Robin
Welch’s distinctive pots have interested
me ever since I stumbled across Studio Pottery some twenty years ago. Then, as
today, they didn’t fit neatly into any category or style. Thinking back I
suspect that unknowingly they were responsible for later sparking my interest
in art as to my mind they have a strong affinity to the informal abstract
painting of Denis Bowen that I have exhibited as well as the roughness of
texture of wood-fired pots – Shigaraki Action Pots in colour maybe?
Robin’s current pots are thrown,
coiled and slab built stoneware with sometimes a combination of these methods
used for an individual piece of work. Prior to biscuit firing he will usually
apply a slip and afterwards the pots undergo multiple firings for the clay
slips, oxides, lustres and enamels that he uses. His decoration although
often gestural always seems considered as does his use of expanses of colour
on other work.
Besides a variety of pots, the Harlequin
Gallery exhibition will include some purely sculptural items, framed wall
pieces as well as a few paintings. I chose these on my recent visit to his
workshop in order to give as wide a view of his current work as possible and
hope that you approve of the selection.
During his
fifty odd years of potting, Robin has not only produced one-off work as he
does today but has interspersed this with tableware production, including
designer work with the Wedgwood Group, Midwinter and Denby Potteries, as well
as commissions and teaching residencies in the United States and Australia.
His commissions have been numerous and have included a group of large
candleholders for Lincoln Cathedral and a pot for Dame Elisabeth Frink.
His work is to be found in major
collections in the UK, the Netherlands and his “second home”, Australia and
over the years he has been honoured with a number of solo exhibitions. In
1986 he had a major retrospective exhibition at Hanley Museum in
Stoke–on-Trent and since then has shown at most of the leading galleries,
culminating this year in his first solo exhibition at the Harlequin Gallery!
Well, although it will be his first solo show here I think I ought to concede
that it might come a little way down the scale from the exhibition that will
take place at Rufford Craft Centre from August to October this year. The
Centre in north Nottinghamshire states that it will be the most ambitious
project they have undertaken. It will feature contemporary pieces as well as
a comprehensive retrospective exhibition covering his entire career and a
catalogue/book is to be produced for the occasion. A fitting tribute to a
fine artist and one I am sure that has much more to offer. However, before that there is this
exhibition to come and enjoy.
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