PLATFORM: ARTIST TAG TALK; ABE ODEDINA, CAROL MCNICHOLL, CECILIA CHARLTON, DENISE DE CORDOVA AND FRANCES PRIEST

ABE ODEDINA: Abe Odedina’s paintings speak through a highly legible allegorical vernacular. His work is bold and mythical whilst always accessible – their readability is paramount. Odedina describes himself as a folk artist and his practice is inspired by the rich figurative and oral traditions of African art, infused with a trace of magic realism. His practice seeks to revive and deconstruct quintessential classical themes spanning from ancient Greek to Yoruba mythologies to create a charged dialogue between epochs, cultures, and peoples.

CAROL MCNICOLL: Carol McNicoll is one of a group of female artists who transformed the British ceramics scene since the 1970s. She studied fine art at Leeds Polytechnic and  Royal College of Art from 1970 to 1973. 

CECILIA CHARLTON: American artist Cecilia Charlton creates technicolour, highly-patterned textile works that reference personal and cultural histories while questioning notions of medium by bringing together traditions of painting, craft, abstraction, and folk art. Aesthetically revolving around formal references to abstraction, the works’ titles often reveal autobiographical content.

DENISE DE CORDOVA: Denise de Cordova was born in Birkenhead in 1957. She trained in sculpture at Brighton Polytechnic and the Royal College of Art, and was awarded a Rome Scholarship in 1983. Through her work, de Cordova considers how the idea of the female figurative sculpture can express landscape narratives, intercultural exchange and blended identities that draw upon European and non – European sources which allude to terra mater mythologies and folk traditions.

FRANCES PRIEST: Frances Priest’s current work in clay explores and interprets languages of ornament from different cultures, places and periods in history. The work is heavily influenced by a book she grew up with, The Grammar of Ornament by Owen Jones, first published in 1856. As a child, Frances read this book from cover to cover, and so began her love of pattern. From her Edinburgh studio Frances creates intricate and colourful ceramic objects that celebrate this fascination different cultures have for ornament and pattern, using clay as a canvas on which to build richly drawn and layered surfaces of inlaid line, glaze colour and enamel decals. The results are intricate and beautiful.