PRESS RELEASE : 7 June 2002
Catrin Howell - Ceramics
7 September - 27 October 2002
Foyle Gallery: mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, B12 9QH.
Open Tuesday to Sunday 12noon - 8pm Admission Free
Since Catrin Howell showed her work at mac in 1993, shortly after her graduation, she has gone on to win several awards including the National Eisteddford of Wales' Gold Medal. Although she has shown regularly on a group basis this is her first solo exhibition.
She creates animal forms founded on legend, myth and fantasy and has built a growing reputation for her portrayal of lean, quivering dogs with needle sharp teeth, often formally arranged into idiosyncratic compositions.
Catrin was brought up and still lives on a farm in west Wales and local stories have inspired the fierce dogs and wild horses she portrays in her ceramic sculptures. The legend of Cantre'r Gwaelod, a drowned kingdom in Cardigan bay inspired a series of balancing dogs scrambling onto each others backs to escape the rising flood water. While a residency in the Caitness in Scotland inspired her with the local legends of the area. This resulted in a new, more lyrical series, this time inspired by the Kelpies of Corryveckan - lake dwelling Scottish water horses who prey on passing travelers.
Brought up in rural Wales Catrin Howell says she finds her subject matter inevitable. In the forward to the catalogue Jan Morris writes; " Deep in the conscious -or the unconscious - of Welsh people live the creatures of the animal kingdom. In life as in art, in the imagination as in hard fact, the birds and the beasts are always there."
The exhibition is toured by Ruthin Craft Centre
Ends
For further info please contact:
John Godbold on 0121 440 4221 ext 218
Email : john.godbold@mac-birmingham.org.uk o
Venue Details: mac (Midlands Arts Centre), Cannon Hill Park, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B12 9QH.
Information/ Box Office: 0121 440 3838
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