Image and Object
Two well established artists join together for the first ever exhibition in The Gallery Upstairs
Carole Ann Grace very colourful expressive paintings
Michel Ducos contemporary ceramic sculptures
JULY 4TH to SEPTEMBER 30TH 2022
Monday to Saturday (closed Wednesdays afternoons)
10am-4pm
First time to the site? Start here
About the Artists
Carole Ann Grace:
The central theme of my work is land and seascape and my interaction with the forces of nature. My paintings may be relatively representational or much more abstract according to the sensations I experience, not only directly but also working from memory. Principally I use acrylic, often with many layers of pure hues to produce a highly coloured, sometimes textured surface overlaid with gestural mark-making. My working method embraces both objective observation and spontaneous, subjective responses in order to investigate the fusion of mand-made and natural forms. I am interested in both the visible and that which is otherwise sensed and intend my work to fuse intellect and intuition: the landscape within.
I am a retired lecturer who specialised in contextual referencing, critical studies and studio practice. I maintain a particular interest in British Modernism and American Abstract Expressionism.
Born in Leicester in 1947, I studied at various colleges and universities in the Midlands and North of England. I lived and worked in Norfolk from 1973 to 2005 and was the owner of Snettisham Studio. Having retired to Cornwall, I returned recently and am now spending time between homes in Rutland and Norfolk.
My paintings are currently exhibited in galleries in Cornwall, the East Midlands, the Isle of Harris and Norfolk.
Michel Ducos:
From carving lumps of plaster scavenged from bombed out houses as a child in French North Africa to sculpting forms in clay today, 3 dimensional creation has always been part of my life.
Not allowed an Art education as no proper job could come from it, I was pushed into studying Law and Politics. I soon escaped and became a professional potter in England when the opportunity presented itself.
With my wife, Heather, we have earned our living as professional potters since 1972 and over the last 20 years ceramic sculpting and conceptual form making have increasingly become my creative language. A progressive exploration into other materials and found objects has widened my creativity and focussed my political and ethical commentary over the last few years.
Coming from a background in crafts we have always endeavoured to please people and I have used my skill and experience to realise people’s ideas and wishes. I have been lucky to have many clients and collectors who have given me justification to pursue my interest in sculpture.
My non commissioned work tends to be to a theme, in ceramic and other materials often re purposed and recycled and these have been wide ranging over the years from trompe l’oeil to political statements to more romantic meanderings like Italo Calvino’s book Invisible Cities to making in series of a similar form slowly evolving like Reliquaries and Steampunk designs. All have pleased, many have sold, some have resulted in further commissions and all has fed my creative obsession.
