Alison Shelton Brown
Making with meaning is fundamental to me; exploring the consequences of the human touch on our world. I am an interdisciplinary artist whose butterfly brain and bowerbird eye inform intuitive hands helping them play with those fluttering thoughts through ceramics, metal and textiles to create experimental sculpture and art jewellery. I love the malleability of clay; to prod, tear and embed surfaces with the foraged and found, inviting a reciprocal interaction. Porcelain has a reputation for fragility, yet its fineness is its strength. Appearances can be deceptive. Featherweight components with an underlying process of playfulness and a light touch are often inspired by ethnographic collections, such as scrimshaw and bamboo traps. There is a circularity in life; forgotten themes re-emerge from a chrysalis, while tangible mark making and our impact on the natural world weave and cast shadows.
2022 Exhibitions
Jan-Apr Design-Nation: Our Journey The Hub, Sleaford
Feb-Apr Metamorphoses Bayerischer Kunstgewerbeverein, Munich
June Contemporary Craft Festival, Bovey Tracey
July SMCK on Reel Weltraum Gallery, Munich
July Flotsam Malthouse Gallery. Lyme Regis [curator]
Sept Flotsam Too, Teignmouth
Nov-Jan Shine, Bedruthan
2021 Exhibitions
May-Jul Time-Lapse at Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro. Design-Nation Cornwall &
Devon [joint co-ordinator]
Mar Painful Hope Alliages at Munich Jewellery Week
Jun-Sep Precious Things in time of uncertainty at Alliages, Lille
Sep Radiant Pavilion (virtual) Australia
Sep Craft Festival, Bovey Tracey
Oct London Craft Week with Design-Nation (virtual)
Oct-Nov Painful Hope Madrid
Nov-Dec Elements Malthouse Gallery, Lyme Regis [curator]
Dec-Mar22 Material Matters Design-Nation Cornwall & Devon at MAKE Southwest
[co-ordinator]
Dec Cluster Jewellery Edition, London
2020 Exhibitions
Dec-Feb 21 Painful Hope at Alliages, Lille
Nov Virtual - Cluster-Crafts London
June Virtual - Prism In Search of Impossibilities
May Virtual - Marshwood Art Awards
Feb Collect 2020 at Somerset House, London
2019 Exhibitions
Nov Marshwood Arts Awards, Bridport
Oct-Dec Shades of Clay at Kunsthuis Gallery, York
Oct Fragility pt2 at RBSA, Birmingham
Sep Cluster Jewellery at The Old Truman Brewery, London
Sep Devon Open Studios, Cotleigh
Sep Taster Show at Artizan Gallery, Torquay
Jul-Sep Jewellery // Sculpture at BACHT showroom, Vienna
Jun-Sep Précieux !? at Alliages, Lille
May-Jun Fragility at Hoxton Arches, London
Selected Exhibitions
2018 MA Degree Show, 44AD Gallery, Bath
Graduates MA Degree Show, Bath School of Art & Design
Town Hall Arts, Trowbridge with Robin Shelton & Nick Andrew
Bath Society of Artists, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
2017 RBSA, Birmingham
Black Swan Arts, Frome
Town Hall Arts, Trowbridge - First Prize winner Trowbridge Open
Also
Whitstable Museum & Art Gallery, Kent
Poole Museum, Dorset
The Mall Galleries, London
Alpha House Gallery, Sherborne, Dorset
Russell-Cotes Museum, Bournemouth
Holburne Museum, Bath
Avalon Gallery, Marazion
Walford Mill, Wimborne, Dorset
Strangeways, Covent Garden
Jan-Apr Design-Nation: Our Journey The Hub, Sleaford
Feb-Apr Metamorphoses Bayerischer Kunstgewerbeverein, Munich
June Contemporary Craft Festival, Bovey Tracey
July SMCK on Reel Weltraum Gallery, Munich
July Flotsam Malthouse Gallery. Lyme Regis [curator]
Sept Flotsam Too, Teignmouth
Nov-Jan Shine, Bedruthan
2021 Exhibitions
May-Jul Time-Lapse at Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro. Design-Nation Cornwall &
Devon [joint co-ordinator]
Mar Painful Hope Alliages at Munich Jewellery Week
Jun-Sep Precious Things in time of uncertainty at Alliages, Lille
Sep Radiant Pavilion (virtual) Australia
Sep Craft Festival, Bovey Tracey
Oct London Craft Week with Design-Nation (virtual)
Oct-Nov Painful Hope Madrid
Nov-Dec Elements Malthouse Gallery, Lyme Regis [curator]
Dec-Mar22 Material Matters Design-Nation Cornwall & Devon at MAKE Southwest
[co-ordinator]
Dec Cluster Jewellery Edition, London
2020 Exhibitions
Dec-Feb 21 Painful Hope at Alliages, Lille
Nov Virtual - Cluster-Crafts London
June Virtual - Prism In Search of Impossibilities
May Virtual - Marshwood Art Awards
Feb Collect 2020 at Somerset House, London
2019 Exhibitions
Nov Marshwood Arts Awards, Bridport
Oct-Dec Shades of Clay at Kunsthuis Gallery, York
Oct Fragility pt2 at RBSA, Birmingham
Sep Cluster Jewellery at The Old Truman Brewery, London
Sep Devon Open Studios, Cotleigh
Sep Taster Show at Artizan Gallery, Torquay
Jul-Sep Jewellery // Sculpture at BACHT showroom, Vienna
Jun-Sep Précieux !? at Alliages, Lille
May-Jun Fragility at Hoxton Arches, London
Selected Exhibitions
2018 MA Degree Show, 44AD Gallery, Bath
Graduates MA Degree Show, Bath School of Art & Design
Town Hall Arts, Trowbridge with Robin Shelton & Nick Andrew
Bath Society of Artists, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
2017 RBSA, Birmingham
Black Swan Arts, Frome
Town Hall Arts, Trowbridge - First Prize winner Trowbridge Open
Also
Whitstable Museum & Art Gallery, Kent
Poole Museum, Dorset
The Mall Galleries, London
Alpha House Gallery, Sherborne, Dorset
Russell-Cotes Museum, Bournemouth
Holburne Museum, Bath
Avalon Gallery, Marazion
Walford Mill, Wimborne, Dorset
Strangeways, Covent Garden
My art practice circles around responses to place, nature, and the overlooked. Utilising appropriate techniques and materials to unfurl ideas fluttering in my head, revelling in the intricacy of nature, reflecting on what exists and the fleeting.
I live with my husband and fellow jeweller / photographer in an old chapel we are currently renovating situated in a green leafy valley in East Devon, not far from the sea. I studied ceramics at Camberwell School of Art in London in the early 1980s, then returned to education in 2015 achieving an MA Ceramics at Bath School of Art. In 2020, I was able to show and wear some of my graduation pieces at Collect, the international craft fair in London. I’ve organised and curated exhibitions and events for over thirty years for artists and the cultural sector. I’ve also got a lot of books.
I live with my husband and fellow jeweller / photographer in an old chapel we are currently renovating situated in a green leafy valley in East Devon, not far from the sea. I studied ceramics at Camberwell School of Art in London in the early 1980s, then returned to education in 2015 achieving an MA Ceramics at Bath School of Art. In 2020, I was able to show and wear some of my graduation pieces at Collect, the international craft fair in London. I’ve organised and curated exhibitions and events for over thirty years for artists and the cultural sector. I’ve also got a lot of books.
Feather Boa - porcelain, leather. Image: Robin Shelton
Botti'shelli' Beads - porcelain, metal, Egyptian paste. Image: Robin Shelton
Egyptian Bracelet - Egyptian paste, sterling silver,steel. Image: Robin Shelton