Tracy Turner, Zoë Rudin

Tracey Turner is a contemporary abstract painter and textile artist based in the Cotswolds.  Her passionate relationship with textiles evolved from a practical curiosity, to follow a much more artistic path. 

As her family’s demands on her time decreased Turner challenged herself to learn new techniques and mediums, studying at Cheltenham School of Fine Art, unleashing a ferocious appetite to put paint to canvas - which finds her rarely out of her studio.

Now working mainly in acrylic and oil, Turner’s work is a bold and emotional collection of organic shapes, growing and moving to form a cohesive conclusion. 

Fearless in her approach to working both on a large and small scale, she is inspired by nature’s textures and muted colours.  Her floral abstracts strive to find an elegance and charm in imperfection and ageing as she focuses on flowers after full bloom, looking to push past the obvious perceptions of beauty.  

Zoë Rudin -
After having kids I took an A level at Uni of Gloucestershire and various ceramic courses at Brewery Arts. Bought my first kiln in 2009 and have been making ceramic sculptures since then.
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I handbuild all my pieces, it starts with an idea or sketch, for my bigger sculptures I build smaller maquettes to discover a form that will work in the clay I’ve chosen.

A piece can take me anywhere between 4 and 10 hours. I love the raw surfaces and natural colours of the clays so I don’t decorate with colours or glazes.

Instead I develop the texture of the clay through carving, burnishing, scraping and keying processes. I aim to get a smooth and tactile finish like honed stone. I fire my pieces straight to stoneware temperatures.
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I am inspired to create sculpture as art, my work is decorative focussing on ‘centrepieces’ and wall hung sculptures.

The clay inspires me and I alter my form if I feel the clay is struggling with my intended design. I want to showpiece the texture and natural colours of the clay.