Celebrated ceramic artist Felicity Aylieff brings new exhibition to Kew Gardens
Saturday 26 October 2024 - Sunday 23 March 2025, Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Kew Gardens
Release date: 5 March 2024
Expressions in Blue: Monumental Porcelain by Felicity Aylieff comes to Kew’s Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art
Landmark exhibition of monumental ceramics created in Jingdezhen, China - the Porcelain Capital of the world
Major solo presentation includes works inspired by botanical illustrations from Kew’s archive
Gallery entry included in general admission to Kew Gardens
£1 Universal Credit ticket and £9 young person's ticket available
From 26 October 2024, acclaimed ceramic artist Felicity Aylieff brings a major solo exhibition of porcelain vessels, architectural in scale, to the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art at Kew Gardens. One of the UK’s leading artists working in clay, Aylieff is renowned for her longstanding collaboration with the porcelain production workshops and artisan craftspeople of Jingdezhen, China, where she has continued her extensive research and produced works on a monumental scale. Her large-scale works, all hand-thrown and hand painted, are a towering testament to the centuries-old traditions which established Jingdezhen as the “Porcelain Capital” of the world.
This new exhibition will encompass a selection of works, including incredible 5-metre-tall vases painted using a vibrant range of cobalt blue oxides in a technique known as Qing Hua, a signature of Aylieff’s work. Transporting visitors to the workshops of Jingdezhen, the exhibition will also incorporate source materials, tools, sketch books and works in progress to tell the story of Aylieff’s work, and the close collaborative relationship she has maintained with the craftspeople of the province for nearly 20 years. Alongside this, a specially commissioned film will further immerse visitors in Aylieff’s artistic process and the creative life of this remarkable city, showcasing the artistic traditions with which it has become synonymous over many centuries.
Alongside Aylieff’s ‘new Ming’ vases will be a selection of Fencai enamel vessels, hand-painted with stylized designs depicting an array of plants found in China and across the world. Additional works in this series draw inspiration from botanical illustrations in the Shirley Sherwood Collection, which will be on display concurrently in Gallery Six, depicting a series of vibrant plants including tulips, peonies and cyclamen.
Felicity Aylieff says: “Having once lived just across the river from Kew Gardens, I’ve always sought inspiration from this incredible place, its historic glasshouses and its world-renowned plant collection. This new exhibition is by far the most challenging project I’ve worked on to date, exploring the limits of what can be achieved with the ‘magical’ Jingdezhen porcelain. As part of this process, it’s been wonderful to have the opportunity to study the botanical illustrations in Kew’s archive, and I’m thrilled to be presenting a selection of new works which draw on the rich traditions of the past in all aspects of their creation.”
Maria Devaney, Galleries and Exhibition Leader at RBG Kew adds: “This exhibition at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art promises to be a wonderful opportunity for visitors to Kew Gardens to explore Felicity Aylieff’s remarkable work and extraordinary techniques, drawing from centuries of artisan tradition, and from Kew’s rich history and heritage. In unveiling Felicity’s beautiful pieces, we also mark the gallery's inaugural embrace of ceramic artistry, further expanding the horizons of art within the unique setting of Kew Gardens.”
An accompanying book will be published by Kew Publishing. This exhibition has been made possible through close collaboration with Adrian Sassoon, the UK’s leading gallery for international, contemporary works of decorative art.
At the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, we’re dedicated to harnessing the power of plants and fungi to end the extinction crisis and secure a future for all life on Earth. With Kew’s world-leading research, global partnerships and beloved gardens – home to the world’s most diverse collections of plants and fungi – we’re using our trusted voice to shape policy and practice worldwide. As a charity we rely on the critical support of our visitors, not only to sustain the gardens, but to protect global plant and fungal biodiversity for the benefit of our planet and humanity.
ENDS
Image credits: Image(s) courtesy of Adrian Sassoon, London. Photography by Alun Callender.
Admission to the exhibition is included in a ticket to Kew Gardens. Pre-booking online offers the best value visit.
For more information or images, please contact the Press Office at pr@kew.org.
Notes to Editors
About the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a world-famous scientific organisation, internationally respected for its outstanding collections and scientific expertise in plant and fungal diversity, conservation, and sustainable development in the UK and around the globe. Kew’s scientists and partners lead the way in the fight against biodiversity loss and finding nature-based solutions to the climate crisis, aided by five key scientific priorities outlined in Kew’s Science Strategy 2021-2025. Kew Gardens is also a major international and top London visitor attraction. Kew’s 132 hectares of historic, landscaped gardens, and Wakehurst, Kew’s Wild Botanic Garden and ‘living laboratory’, attract over 2.5 million visits every year. Kew Gardens was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2003 and celebrated its 260th anniversary in 2019. Wakehurst is home to the Millennium Seed Bank, the largest wild plant seed bank in the world and a safeguard against the disastrous effects of climate change and biodiversity loss. RBG Kew received approximately one third of its funding from Government through the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and research councils. Further funding needs to support RBG Kew’s vital scientific and educational work comes from donors, memberships and commercial activity including ticket sales. For tickets, please visit www.kew.org/kew-gardens/visit-kew-gardens/tickets. Since implementing a new accessibility scheme for those in receipt of Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Legacy Benefits, Kew has welcomed over 50,000 visitors with £1 tickets.
About Felicity Aylieff
Felicity Aylieff has an established reputation as a maker of large-scale, sculptural ceramics. Having worked from her studio in the UK for over three decades, 2005 saw her undertake an ‘incredibly liberating’ artist residency in Jingdezhen, China, the world-famous capital of porcelain production. It was to be the beginning of a lasting collaborative relationship with factories in Jingdezhen, where she now has a studio and makes monumental porcelain pots, the largest standing at over four meters high.
Her work shows her passion for material and process through its use of colour, pattern, and historically informed decorative techniques. Represented in major public collections her work has astounded collectors and curators alike.
Felicity has a teaching career that spans over 40 years and is currently Professor of ceramics and glass and research at the Royal College of Art, London. Her work is held in numerous international private and public collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA. She is currently planning a major solo exhibition at the Royal Botanic Gardens, at Kew, in London which will open in late 2024.
Felicity Aylieff is represented by Adrian Sassoon, London: www.adriansassoon.com
About the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art
Located at Kew Gardens in London, the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art is the world’s first display space dedicated solely to this genre. Since it was opened in 2008 by Sir David Attenborough, the gallery has held over 50 exhibitions, welcomed more than a million visitors, and become the hub of the worldwide renaissance of botanical art. Dr Shirley Sherwood OBE studied botany at Oxford University before starting the Shirley Sherwood Collection in 1990. Thirty years on, the Collection includes over 1,000 paintings and drawings, representing the work of over 300 contemporary botanical artists from 36 countries around the world. The collaboration with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew has been a huge success, with the gallery showcasing a huge diversity of botanical art, raising the profile of the genre and the plants it portrays. Its walls have seen paintings by renowned artists such as Margaret Mee and Rory McEwen, and collections from Brazil, Spain, Italy, South Africa, Japan, Australia, and the USA. As well as displaying pieces from the Shirley Sherwood Collection, the gallery hosts a roster of genre-pushing exhibitions by independent artists. Recent examples include the intricate graphite drawings of the UK’s oldest oak trees by Mark Frith, an immersive installation by British artist Rebecca Louise Law, and sculptures by Dale Chihuly and David Nash. Recent artists on display in the gallery have included Jan Hendrix, Andrew Parker, Zadok Ben-David, Pip & Pop, Anila Quayyum Agha and Mat Collishaw.