tea in the wood
bev ellis
may 6 – june 15, 2021
ccbc shop & gallery
“Tea In the Wood” consists of 6 Sculptural tea pots, and one large birch sculpture. These fantastical forms engage the viewer, drawing connections to nature, craft, and their significance to our daily lives. The ceramic teapot’s many parts are specifically crafted so that it can be filled up and poured out. At times people have been referred to as vessels. When filled with warmth and steeped in love and care, humanity is able to give out kindness that could make a difference in another’s life.The gift of refreshment extended in the form of a pot of tea or a walk in a wood, are sometimes taken for granted. The forest is a sensitive environment that needs time and care not unlike a specially brewed pot of tea. Clay and the essence of tea come from nature. The forest and the warm cup of tea have the ability to nurture and bring connection.
about the artist: bev ellis
An accomplished ceramic sculptor, Ellis was the recent winner of the Surrey Art Galleries Clay Competition, Winner of the SSICA Ceramics Biennial People’s Choice Award, and a Large-scale Ceramic Installation for Vancity. Bev enjoys creating highly textured surfaces with clay. Her favourite muse is nature, where often beauty is found in brokenness. Burned out trees, and layers of peeling bark, bear a common thread of beautiful imperfection. Her sculptural forms have a hyper-realistic quality, drawing the viewer into forest textures of birch bark and fungi. Not content to replicate nature, Ellis plays with form and colour, creating fantastical sculptural shapes, unusual colours, sometimes enhancing the visibility of fungi by her addition of 22K gold. Bev has been requested to speak at conferences and Galleries, and has been Artist in Residence in many schools. She has been published in Artist Journals, magazines, the Book of 100 Vancouver Artists: WeMakeStuff, and in The Crafted Dish: a Juried Collection of talented clay artists from Across Canada. Represented by several Galleries, she has exhibited her work throughout the Province, across Canada, and in the US. Her artwork is in corporate and private collections around the world.
Bev is a Crafted Vancouver event partner, you can see more of her work here and here.