Recently I became the owner of my first outdoor space, and I have to admit I was a little overwhelmed at the task of turning an empty concrete yard into a blooming garden full of plants. However I was determined to create a space to be proud of.  Three months (a lot of hard work and bags of soil) later, multiple pots and barrels were laden with shrubs, climbers and flowers. The last thing to add was a tiny wooden bee house I picked up in the local supermarket. I was sceptical any bees would come and live in this little wooden house but I popped it on the garden fence near some flowers and hoped for the best.

Only two weeks later I saw a bee flying around the tubes, much to my delight the bee was sleeping in one of the tubes at night and filling the holes with pollen from the plants by day! At the end of the summer I was the proud owner of three tubes capped off with mud, filled with pollen and baby bees!

Fast forward to the spring of the following year, two of the three tubes hatched out, and multiple bees spent the summer buzzing around our plants. Heading towards summer, this year I am happy to report we have four new tubes capped off in our little bee house.

I was completely enchanted by the power of nature; this inspired me to design a new bee collection of screen printed vessels (seen above.)

Each piece has a honey colour applied to the surface using a silk screen making every one completely unique. The final touch is the sweeps of gold, hand painted onto the rims before they complete their third and final firing in the kiln.

The collection comprises of ring pots, planters, bottles and vases. To shop now click here.

Images all by Yeshen Venema (except bee house- artists own.) All images subject to copy write.

Back in October last year I was lucky enough to be selected to exhibit at the Farnham Maltings Festival Of Crafts. At the festival, I was delighted to be selected as ‘the most exciting maker’ by the New Ashgate Gallery team. My prize was a solo exhibition to be held this year at the gallery, my first solo exhibition! Planning commenced in January 2016 to design every piece by hand.

Six months flew by making and firing work, including my new for 2016 collection of porcelain wall pieces. The launch evening was here before I knew it!

My final collection included screen printed porcelain vessels, wall pieces and wearables. Each piece hand printed through a silk screen directly onto the raw clay surface; making in this unusual way results in each piece being totally unique.

My collection at the New Ashgate Gallery was inspired by Victorian curiosity cabinets, and the stories that surround the objects contained within. My vessels are printed with text from old dictionaries, images of beetles, mushrooms, Octopi and birds, layered with colourful stenciled slip decoration. The forms are taken from Victorian apothecary bottles often contained within the cabinets.

The preview was a beautiful balmy Friday evening attended by makers, friends and local craft collectors. The New Ashgate Gallery is housed in a lovely Tudor building in the heart of Farnham in Surrey. Contained within is a wonderful range of contemporary craft from functional clay vessels to hand etched decorative prints.

I was delighted to launch my exhibition along side an exhibition of selected makers from the Crafts Council’s Hothouse six program. The Hothouse program is designed to helped emerging and early career makers develop there practice. It provides maker/ designers with skills and tools to grow a sustainable business.

The hothouse exhibition consisted of eleven makers picked from this years Hothouse program, including bold ceramic vessels from Hannah Townsend, colourful glass sculptures by Kira Meyer and fascinating articulated jewellery by Toby Cotterill.
Another favourite was Tina Macleod, who incorporates metal, textile and found objects in her captivating jewellery.

Rhian Malin’s delicate blue and white porcelain vessels, intricately decorated by hand, adorned one of the gallery’s Tudor window sills.

At the launch evening I was lucky enough to be introduced to Dutch born ceramist Arjan Van Dal, one of the Hothouse six participants. His simple colourful porcelain forms a great contrast to my own work.

As part of the launch evening Arjan and I both gave short talks about our inspirations and making techniques. I always find it useful to hear what inspires other artists and how they negotiate the journey of making.

If you would like to see all the work for yourself, my exhibition is on at the New Ashgate Gallery along side the selected Hothouse six makers exhibition until September 10th 2016.

This week I had a talk from Nina Hole one of the founders of Guldgardergard ceramic research centre where I am currently part of a residency called Project Network. What an inspiring woman, she has lead such an amazing life and has such an infectious passion for ceramics! I felt totally invigorated after listening to her speak about her approach to her work. She makes these huge fire sculptures where she fires ceramic structures on location. Seeing one of these monumental pieces being fired is now on my life to do list!

For more info: http://ninaholeceramic.blogspot.dk/