Abstract Expressions

About

Sam Swales Snowden was born in the Wirral and studied at Hull School of Art and Design receiving a B.A Hons in Fine Art in 2001. She has lived and worked in York for 8 years, having a workspace just inside the city walls. Her paintings evolve from a process of drawing. Expressive marks explore repeat motifs, at times building up into layers of colour, heavily worked. They keep the viewer at a distance not easily disclosing their subject matter. Referencing transatlantic abstract expressionism in style she has also looked for inspiration in the landscape, music and current affairs. Samantha is also the founder of York based, artist led group YO!Collective, who seek to promote contemporary painting and sculptural practice within the city and further afield. 

Peter Humpherson worked for many years as a scientist whilst in his spare time, and at work too, he applied his scientific knowledge to the creative process of making pots. At the University of York he played a key role in setting up an artists studio for staff and students. Drawing inspiration from fellow creatives in the studio, including potter Tara MacKee and from the work of the renowned York-based David Lloyd Jones, Peter's passion for ceramics eventually led him into the studio permenantly and in 1997 he set up his own studio in Haxby, York. 

Here today, he makes thrown pots and sculptural forms in stoneware and porcelain. His simple yet creative approach results in understatedly elegant pots which simultaneously look at home in the middle of a dinner table or placed on a plinth as an ornamental piece. Much of the work in this exhibition reflect the colours and textures of the coastal landscape of the Ardnamurchan peninsula and remote Hebridean islands. 

Like Peter, Milly takes inspiration from the beauty of the Scottish coastline, having spent her university career based in the beautiful coastal town of Dundee. She has developed her debut collections from the rich inspiration that Scottish beaches secrete, in doing so encapsulating the encrusted textures, shapes and forms found at the beach. Using precious metals she focusses on the detail of gritty seashell & barnacle surfaces, to design and craft stunning, contemporary jewellery, to be treasured, like the shells that one collects at the beach, by the wearer.