Art - Colour and Clay

As her contribution to the WW2 War Effort, artist Mary Potter worked on the Sussex farm near Rye where she had spent her childhood. Today, just back from her 45th trip to Greece, her artistic inspiration is still drawn from these early experiences. Using Batik and collage made from handmade paper, she creates mesmerising and idealised agricultural landscapes: trees in rows, perfect Greek hillsides, immaculate Sussex crops. A member of the Crafts Council and the Sussex Guild, Mary is one of four women artists currently exhibiting in Colour and Clay at Thebes Gallery.

Ceramicist Nannette Berresford is never happier that at her potter’s wheel in Laughton. Her rough textured and dusty-glazed vases and bowls are perfectly symmetrical, oriental in appearance and inspired by the work of Ben Nicholson. The central gallery shows batiks, prints and paintings of garden scenes and nudes by Jeni Sharpstone , a graduate of Eastbourne College who was initially prevented from attending art college by her Russian father on account of his disapproval of “beatniks”. She fits the bill now. The walls of the third space are taken up with paintings by, Mary Smythe who is fascinated by grids, as shown in her mosaic style tile paintings, semi-abstracts and oils. Of particular note are her oil paintings which show the scene at the launch of London’s Crystal Palace. Each pane of glass is perfectly represented. JW