Collector Reviews
Burslem Artists are Breaking Through
Review by Fred Hughes, April 2010
I’d like to share this picture with you. It is by Rachel Grant who has for a while been nudging the boundaries in the interpretation of renewal – inside lost/found communities – transition. I think it tells you what it feels like to stand on the brink of a minor revolution in art, for Stoke-on-Trent is giving tremendous signals that is on the cusp of change and has been for some time now if only it could be triggered.
And there is a regiment of artist engaged in trying to capture this change whether in traditional painting, in photography and film, writing and performance. And each has touched on various aspects of renewal. Great credit and continued encouragement must be given to all these people – in particular to the workshops, the collectives and the galleries that are reflecting all this change in its many forms.
You could say we are edging into the construal stage of the rebirth of the Potteries. Evidence of this be seen in how communities are responding irregularly to the political, economic and social conversion of Stoke-on-Trent. Having spent the past fifty years here I think I am able to feel a new heartbeat – or a defibrillation of a dying heart if you like. Some sort of revolution is shaking the old backdrop – the scenes are being shifted and the old stuff is beginning to be blown away. The exciting thing is that this is being reflected in art in all its forms.
Back to Rachel. She has been experimenting in her exceptional medium looking into and interacting with these changing communities and – as I have already said – been pushing at the boundaries. Now I think she has achieved a break through with her current contributions. This canvas in particular showing a full-frontal of Denry’s Restaurant (recently sadly closed in spectacular fashion and in no way referenced to the picture) in my opinion captures the changes I am referring to.
This is an illustration of the transfer of old to new and has caught the nostalgia of the past. And still there is a brightness of future – the merest glimpse of hopefulness – like a child’s expectation on Christmas morning, an alluring expression of someone not yet permitted to open the box of tricks – yet an expression ready to burst with delight.
What is in that enticing box of tricks Rachel? Her Denry’s picture hears the question but offers no easy answer. She lets the watcher see the movement of time – but very slowly. Congratulations! I’m really pleased to own this picture and I am waiting for others, and for other artists, to lift the lid on the box of tricks even more.
Fred Hughes - April 2010
