A recent exhibit by artists Irene and Paul Aspell in the David Teiger Gallery incorporated both their sensibilities, combining Paul’s ceramic plates and Irene’s paintings. The artists have been married for 37 years.
Paul Aspell, who taught at Newark Academy for 16 years, specializes in stoneware pottery. Many of Irene Aspell’s paintings, which include flora and fauna, draw from her experience as an organic gardener. After Paul retired from teaching in 2002, the couple moved to the Maryland shore, where they have a studio and show their work locally. You can follow Paul’s latest work on Instagram.
The Newark Academy gallery hosts the Aspells’ work every other year, including a 2015 exhibition by Paul, Plates and Platters, and a joint 2013 exhibition, A Marriage of Materials. According to Paul, “The process of making art is evolutionary. The inspiration I receive from creating one piece is infused into the next.”
“Since moving to the eastern shore of Maryland in 2002, I have sought out local materials that are abundantly available here such as old red brick from former home sites and native tree branches such as river birches and redbuds. I have been using them to make both imprints of crushed brick dust and botanical images impressed in clay. Although my work appears rustic in nature, it is utilitarian and nothing pleases me more than my pots being lived with and used in people’s everyday lives. Bringing nature into our lives keeps us grounded in the real world.”
Paul Aspell
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