Graduate Show 2024
1-16 October 2024

Preview Saturday 5 October at 2-4pm

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King Street Gallery are proud to be hosting the Graduate Show 2024 showcasing the work of talented fine art graduates from Carmarthen School of Art.

 

Janie Pridham is a ceramicist making socially topical work, allowing each topic to shape her approach. This body of work explores homelessness in the UK, with a focus on people who find themselves having to live on the street. The intention is for viewers to be drawn to the patterns and colours, the narrative only unfolding upon closer inspection, inviting consideration of the human right to be adequately housed and evoking empathy for the difficulties faced by far too many people in getting a safe, warm night’s sleep.

 

Jayne Gilbert is an artist working with mixed media, I create visual stories fashioned from objects, ephemera and material collected from within a finite area; I reimagine a sense of that place across time. My work uses the remnants of something forgotten, reassembled to evoke a shared memory, part imagined and yet familiar. Found things, lost things, things ignored or trodden underfoot, become symbolic when they no longer have a real existence. Yet all come together to form the fabric of a possible past, representing real lived experiences. They are fragments within reliquaries that offer you a glimpse of home.

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Paula Topham ‘Do You See Me’. A collection of paintings fusing materials and memories, inspired by found photographs from the 1970s. These blurry, faded images trigger lost memories of childhood and family life, via snaps that are relatable in their ordinariness. Context is given by combining these lost figures within the original fabrics of the era, like ghosts in the walls of forgotten rooms. The people merge into the patterns, fading gently over time into the designs. The canvases attempt to elevate the simple photographic snapshot into an oil painting. A limited palette and diminutive size reflects the intimacy of lost photographs, bringing them back to life for a moment in time. The faces are deliberately blurred to conceal identities, and also allow the viewer the freedom to imagine that they themselves could be pictured in the canvas.

 

Hannah Christie is an artist who works with clay. This current body of work began with challenging perfectionism and expressing the artist’s frustration at how difficult she found learning to throw on the potter's wheel. It has developed to explore wider feelings of frustration felt by the artist and others of her generation due to the current political and socioeconomic situation, as well as the sense of disempowerment, and the struggle to afford to live independently from parents. These frustrations are processed and released through actions inflicted upon leather-hard coil built vessels inspired by Ancient Greek Amphorae, leaving them cracked, dented and broken. This is further emphasised through the raku firing process, putting the pieces through further stress due to extreme changes in temperature, with wax resist used to preserve cracks left by the alteration. These vessels are displayed alongside whole, un-altered pots, combining coil built bodies with ‘failed’ attempts at throwing a cylinder on the pottery wheel as a neck, linking back to the origins of this work in the artist’s struggle to learn to throw. These un-altered pieces are glazed with a glossy black base as well as reactive glazes, reflecting the unpredictability of the throwing process as well as the contrast between the artist’s ease with the coil building process and her struggle to create work on the pottery wheel.

 

While Peter Midmore has made pottery for many years, his interest has been developed and strengthened by studying for a ceramics degree. His current work draws on his interest in the rural landscape in North Ceredigion, both as a rich location for walking but also as a site of contention. O’r Mynydd i’r Mor was an unsuccessful rewilding project in this area that was dissolved in 2022 due to local, especially farmer, opposition. These pots were inspired from reflections on this, on many walks up from the coastal lowlands to the hills above. Although he has given them the characteristics of traditional landscape representation, in terms of colour, texture and topography, there are underlying conflicts arising from landscape between nature, outdoor recreation and food production, and difficult questions about how to resolve them.

 

Carole Jones Hovey is a fine art painter.

The inspiration and consequent reflection for these pieces lies in the observation of a sequence of storms. Nine extreme weather events occurred, starting with storm Agnes, which hit on the 27th September 2023 and culminating in storm Jocelyn on 7th April 2024. These were all named storms due to their severity; I witnessed them from my place of work that overlooks Pendine Sands, with the sea and sky of Carmarthen Bay beyond.

The size of the canvases corresponds directly to the size of the plate-glass window through which these events were viewed. This work expresses the response of the viewer to the rapid changes in the immediate environment.

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Ebony Lane
‘Last Orders’
In my role as a barmaid at a rural pub, I have encountered a fascinating contrast in perceptions. On one hand, I am celebrated as the star of the village, recognized for my dedication to serving customers. On the other hand, I grapple with the complexities of facing misogyny and the persistence of outdated language in this setting.

My artistic exploration delves into the intricate dynamics that unfold among our diverse clientele. I am particularly interested in examining the nuanced differences between those who become my closest friends, those who occasionally display inappropriate behaviour, and the intriguing way these opposing traits can coexist in the same individual. This exploration of the love-hate relationship within my local environment serves as microcosm, offering insights that reflect broader societal patterns and dynamics. When the pub closed, I felt a profound sense of mourning. My personal growth was deeply

tied to that space, which both empowered and constrained my identity. Through my work, I explore these conflicting emotions and the irreplaceable connections I can no longer reclaim.

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Charlotte Emily Clewes is a documentary photographer based in West Wales, exploring the intricate connections between people and their environments. With a thoughtful and immersive approach, Clewes uses her lens to invite viewers into

diverse, often untold narratives that shape our world. Her photography highlights the beauty, resilience, and subtle complexities of everyday life, offering a window into the extraordinary that exists within the ordinary.

Coastal Threads, a photographic project intimately capturing the connection between individuals and the sea along the coast of Wales, delves into the traditions and resilient spirit of these communities, exploring the impact of the ever-changing tides on their lives. From the exhilarating rush of cold water swimming to the shared laughter and friendship amidst the cold winter months, this project encapsulates the essence of belonging and empowerment found within these coastal enclaves. Through these images, viewers are invited to immerse themselves in the rich tapestry of coastal existence, offering a glimpse into the enduring bond between people and the sea that defines the identity of these communities.

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Nancy Simmons   Nancy Simmons is a Pembrokshire-born textile artist based in Milford Haven. She specializes in
hand-woven, naturally dyed cloth and often approaches her practice with a mixed-media flare.  At the heart of her designs is a commitment to sustainability and ethical textile making. Recently, her work has been exploring deeply personal narrative and healing through art and process.
This work is the external representation of an introspective journey - an exploration of body image and personal agency.
Realising that she had rarely allowed herself to be included in photographs since gaining weight motivated Nancy to use images of her own body as the centre point of this work and, in doing so, allowed herself to look at her form through a new and uncomfortable lens. Viewing herself as the ‘art’, with the intent that she starts to see herself as just another piece of art and of nature.  In response to years of frequent unwanted physical and verbal attention, an experience shared by most women, Nancy unconsciously internalised these assaults as a benchmark against which to measure her self-worth. By reclaiming her body, she hopes to regain autonomy of her own self-image while subverting the norm that historically, women's bodies are depicted naked by men.
The woven structures derive from Nancy’s desire to highlight the importance of showing love and validation to your current self no matter the form you take. She wants to reinforce the belief that a body is just a vessel for what is truly important: your ability to love, your thoughts, feelings, and ideas.

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