Peter Singer and Paula Sharples

All Pete Singer's pots are made to be used. Whether it is a teapot, a large platter, a sushi plate or a garden planter, for Pete, a pot is not completely finished until it is being filled with food or plants and enjoyed at the table or in the garden. His earthenware pots are dipped in a white slip and then decorated with oxides and underglazes. He uses old and new brushes, fingers, grasses, twigs and anything else he feels will make interesting marks on the slipped background. His stoneware pots tend to be more muted in colour and texture, allowing the clay to show through the greens and blues he uses to glaze them.

Pete’s pots are fired either in his electric kiln or in a reduction atmosphere in a large communal wood-fuelled kiln. There will always be variations in his pots, as he does not make perfectly matching sets. There may be fingerprints, glaze drips and other marks from the making process: natural traces left by the potter while transforming mud into ceramic.

Paula Sharples' art practice was born when she turned her creative hand to painting following a lengthy career in textile and ceramic design, designing for noteworthy homewares companies such as Coloroll, Portmeirion and Churchill China. Paula's paintings incorporate still life and landscapes, with her background reminiscent of Italian frescoes with the framing of a distant landscape. She works on gesso-prepared board with acrylics, ink and graphite.

Paula was brought up in Brighton, and the coast is a constant inspiration for her paintings. Now living in the Peak District, she also draws inspiration from the beautiful landscape surrounding her home.