“Re-naturing the Vessel: the shared approach of Julian Stair and Simone ten Hompel” 

This joint exhibition by German metalworker Simone ten Hompel and English potter Julian Stair developed out of their shared interest in the vessel.  The exhibition will present pieces by each artist and will show them collaborating for the first time on a number of works in metal and clay. Despite different cultural backgrounds and chosen mediums, both ten Hompel and Stair have a common history of exploring the multivalence of the vessel, its operation in social space and its capacity to disclose memory, sensation and symbol. 

Stair and ten Hompel insist on a social locus for their work and for its realisation through physical use in contrast to the way contemporary art engages primarily through the visual and conceptual. They are conscious of how the complexity of material culture can be lost through static displays that do not encourage diverse forms of interaction. As artists they are committed to developing knowledge of objects through haptical appreciation and regard phenomenological engagement as fundamental to our understanding of the world. The Rosemarie Jaeger Gallery with its idiom of domestic architecture is an evocative setting for re-valuing these ‘everyday’ objects.