Claire Cansick
Born in Great Yarmouth in 1971 and trained at Norwich University of the Arts, Cansick’s practice is rooted in an emotional and psychological response to landscape, particularly the sea. Now based in the Norfolk Broads National Park, her work draws on nature as both refuge and confrontation.
Her paintings are not straightforward seascapes. Instead, they act as layered, symbolic terrains where land and water merge with inner states. Motifs such as shadowy figures, skeletal forms, or elemental forces (fire, flood, wind) emerge and dissolve, suggesting a tension between beauty and unease.
Recent highlights include exhibiting in the group show "In Proximity" at Castle Museum, Norwich earlier this year, with planned exhibitions in Scotland (Cold Paradise at Sheildaig, Scotland from 2026 to Snape Maltings, Suffolk for their Summer Contemporary exhibition later this summer. She has also showed at Sainsbury Centre (2025); FirstSite, Colchester (2024); and at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (2022).
Her 2026 statement emphasises duality—calm versus disturbance, surface versus depth. The sea becomes a metaphor for both personal introspection and broader anxieties about climate and the state of the world. Her use of diptychs reinforces this idea, presenting fractured wholes and uneasy symmetries.
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James Evans
A graduate of Central Saint Martins, Evans approaches ceramics as a collaboration between artist and material. His process emphasises listening to clay rather than controlling it—allowing form, glaze, and heat to co-create the final piece.
His work avoids literal representation. Instead, it suggests influences drawn from the human body, architecture, and historical ceramics. A key inspiration for this exhibition came from the Victoria and Albert Museum, particularly Chinese ceramic traditions known for fluid glazes and sculptural vitality.
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Evans’ career spans international exhibitions and major recognitions, including shows at the Barbican Centre and inclusion in the V&A’s permanent collection. In 2023, he became a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors.
For this exhibition, he explores high-temperature stoneware firing, creating unified forms where glaze and structure fuse into a single expressive surface. The result is tactile, dynamic work that invites what he calls a “haptic gaze”—you almost feel it with your eyes.
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About the author
Paul Vater
PAUL VATER
Paul conducts studio visits to maintain strong relationships with artists, designers and craftspeople who show their work with us. He manages the main C&C website and has developed the online shop where selected works are presented for sale.
Paul established his design company, Sugarfree, in 1990 and quickly gained a reputation for delivering fresh, effective marketing campaigns and brand identities for clients including Save the Children Fund, United Nations Association and UNHCR. Over the years those added to the roster include IPC Magazines, Arts Council England, The Roundhouse, Barbican Centre, Arts Marketing Association, Look Ahead Housing and Care, Paddington Waterside, BBC Worldwide, Commonwealth Foundation, Prestel, City of London Corporation, Baker Street Quarter, Victoria BID and the University of East Anglia.