Liz Gascoigne & Vivien Shelton: Unearthed

Both artists embrace texture and love what is revealed beneath the surface. Liz Gascoigne is an abstract expressionist, her paintings consist of layering, mixed media and emerging motifs. Liz starts painting without an intention and lets the process lead the way. Sometimes her painting becomes an abstract landscape or has a sense of place. Mostly, the outcome includes an element of realism such as hints of a figure, a sculpted shape, a ceramic outline or vegetal semi-natural imagery. This serendipitous approach brings total freedom, as a painting reveals when it is complete, the point when it is unearthed. Vivien Shelton is a ceramicist working in central Oxford. From a small workshop in her garden, Vivien makes all her work by hand, using ancient techniques including pinching, coiling and slab building; a slow but very satisfying process. Keeping within a limited colour palette, Vivien likes to explore ideas of shape, texture, flowing lines and ultimately the landscapes or tableaux created when the work comes together and the individual piece becomes part of the whole.