From Out of Silence by Antonia Salmon and The Solway Series by David Lucas

David Lucas

Born in Yorkshire and now based between Sheffield and North Cumbria, David Lucas’s latest collection of paintings marks a return to his roots and to some of his earliest artistic inspirations.

The Solway Plain, looking across the Solway Firth towards the lowland fells of south-west Scotland on one side and the northern fells of the Lake District on the other, has played a formative role in Lucas’s artistic outlook. His deep-rooted relationship with this landscape—its distinctive character, shifting light, expansive western skies and striking sunsets—has been a constant source of inspiration. Emerging from the Shaft of Light series, the Solway series seeks to reconnect with a landscape that has, in some respects, been overshadowed by the better-known Lake District National Park.

Inspired by astrophysics, philosophy and the natural world, Lucas explores the intersection between external landscapes—from the Pennine moors to dramatic coastlines—and the internal experience of perception. Working primarily in oils on canvas, his process balances structural control with the potential for accident, embracing the tension between intention and chance.

Through intense colour, contour and form, Lucas attempts to distil the experience of a moment: not simply to represent a landscape, but to explore how it is perceived and remembered. By reducing the northern landscape to its essential tones, shapes and atmospheric qualities, he creates a visual language of light and shadow that is both rooted in place and open to interpretation.

“His large paintings, in particular, allow viewers to feel immersed in the colour and atmosphere of the paintings in a way that mimics the experience of being in a landscape. The paintings are not topographical in any way but seek to evoke a memory or a feeling that connects us to our own unique experience of our awesome natural world.” Karen Sherwood, Director 

Antonia Salmon

From Out of Silence brings together a collection of ceramic sculptures by Antonia that explore the intimate relationship between landscape, sound, silence and the body. Rooted in her experience of walking through the moors and valleys of the Peak District, these works are not representations of the landscape in any conventional sense, but an attempt to translate its rhythms, vibrations, textures and changing qualities into sculptural form.

“The ceramic sculptures that you will see in this exhibition capture qualities from the natural world, predominantly through somatic listening. They are visual representations of the qualities of sound in wind, water, mosses and rocks as I walk in the moors and valleys of the Peak District.

What do I mean by somatic listening? This is listening with the whole body, not only hearing with the ears. Somatic listening is a natural experience of sensing sound and vibration within the body. As I walk in a landscape I feel that I am moving over a giant vibrant sculpture; the body is breathing in the vibration, shapes and light of the land, the wind, rain and vegetation. What then follows is that sensing of sound is assimilated and naturally translated into visual structure, forms and textures.

The ability to perceive somatically is available to anyone by being in touch with silence within. Quiet the mind. Sound that arrives into our awareness has emerged itself from silence. Hence the title of this exhibition From Out of Silence is referring to both sources of silence – which are naturally connected.” Antonia Salmon

Each work represents many months of hand building and careful honing. Many of the works are hand burnished over and again to impart a fine polished finish - they quite literally express the hand of the maker. There is a kind of ritual nature to the burnishing and also at the point when the sculptures are offered up to the smoke firing.

“Antonia makes exquisite lyrical ceramic forms often polished smooth. A sense of movement is conveyed via gentle curves, a spiral or a circular form. These are strong shapes laced with delicacy due to their design and the smoke firing which decorates the sculptures with the effects of the process and sometimes creates surface patterns reminiscent of classical marble and rippling water.

The sculptures are often black or white only coloured with the carbon from the firing process, but Antonia also uses an evocative and rich blue/turquoise colour which adds to a deep sense of calm. I find these works, beautiful, as in full of beauty and meditative. The smooth surfaces and flowing lines also make you want to touch them. Born out of silence and something deeply personal, their strength is their beauty and their stillness.” Karen Sherwood, Director