Story and photo by James Woollen
The ‘Shaped from the Earth’ ceramics exhibition at Millennium Galleries in Sheffield city centre, features some the Burngreave area’s premiere ceramic artists such as Anna-Mercedes Wear, Victoria Dawes, Brain Holland and Emilie Taylor.
As a creative person myself, I went to visit the exhibition and was particularly interested in a piece by Page Hall’s Anna-Mercedes Wear.
Anna’s ceramic art is very distinctive. She often makes sculptures of animals such as cats, and foxes. However, the central piece of work in this exhibition entitled ‘Mother and child’ is a very individual work of figurative ceramics and shows great skill, with a hint of cultural diversity that reminded me of Indian/Eastern figurative art with the grittiness of the 1940s female factory worker.
Creativity is important to an area such as Burngreave as there are no social barriers, making art accessible to all, regardless of language, religion, and education.
Having Burngreave artists participating in the exhibition shines a good light on the area, which has recently been receiving negative press reports in both the local and national media.
The exhibition began on 18th June and will run until 9th October. It is free and open to all.