Women and Pattern, the latest exhibition in The Bowes Museum’s refurbished ceramics gallery, will showcase the unique work created by ceramicist Charlotte Hodes over the past decade.
Hodes is a British artist whose work crosses a range of processes and is renowned for her large intricate papercuts and ornate ceramic vessels. Central to her work is the exploration of the female figure and its relationship to decoration and pattern. She uses standard vessel forms and everyday tableware, which she treats as her ‘canvas’, to build up rich and complex surfaces through a direct process of drawing and collage.
The display includes work from her Fragmented Images exhibition as well as examples of her work from her forthcoming installation After the Taking of Tea.
Two overriding themes in Hodes’ work, that she proposes to address in this display, involve the relationship between the pictorial and the pattern, and the representation of women. Her display will present examples of work from her time at the Spode factory and the Wallace Collection, up to the present day, and will include vases as well as examples of her tableware.
“I am delighted to have the opportunity to present my contemporary work amongst the ceramics collections at The Bowes Museum,” she said. “The space offers a formal display for what I hope sets up a dynamic narrative between the historic Collection and my own practice.
“In addition, I think that there are links to be made between my practice, in which women are central, and the role and presence of the Museum’s founder Joséphine Bowes.”
Charlotte Hodes studied Fine Art at the Slade School of Art (UCL) in the early eighties. She was the recipient of the Jerwood Drawing Prize in 2006 and is currently Professor in Fine Art at London College of Fashion. Her work is held in a number of public collections including the British Council, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Brighton Museum and New Hall Art Collection, Cambridge.
Charlotte Hodes: Women and Pattern opens at The Bowes Museum on Saturday 13 October and runs until Sunday 24 February 2019.
The Bowes Museum is open daily from 10am – 5pm. For further information visit www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk
