Wendy lives in Romaldkirk, just 4 miles from the gallery. She is Chair of the Kirkcarrion Artists’ Collective and has worked determinedly to establish her vision for a community gallery in Middleton-on-Teesdale.

Wendy is an established ceramicist who trained in Contemporary Art Practice and Printmaking at Leith School of Art. She moved to Teesdale in 2020 from Scotland, where she successfully sold her work through a number of galleries in Edinburgh and the Borders.

Wendy’s ceramics are hand built; she creates simple forms using slab and coil techniques to which stamped, carved or slip decoration brings meaning and refinement. She has a love of using modern interpretations of traditional pottery forms (the Japanese bottle and Korean moon jar) as ‘blank canvases’ for her creativity.

Her work most often takes inspiration from the rugged upland landscape, industrial heritage and wildlife of Upper Teesdale. One recent series of vessels reflects the scarred landscape created by lead mining in the area. This work has come to incorporate shapes and surface patterns inspired by the impact of lead mining on the landscape around Middleton-in-Teesdale, which abound in the form of seams, pits, hushes and spoil heaps.

www.raintreepottery.co.uk   Instagram: @wendydawsonyoungpottery