Local ceramic artist to celebrate Pride in Liverpool at Bluecoat Display Centre

A celebration of Liverpool’s LGBTQIA+ community will centre stage in a captivating window installation by local ceramic artist Simon Dredge.

As part of the festivities for Pride in Liverpool, Dredge’s evocative plates will be on display at the Bluecoat Display Centre from 1 July – 31 July 2024.

Combining porcelain and architectural clays, Simon uses a variety of mediums including ceramic body stains, underglaze, acrylic inks, paints, and spray paints to craft his striking pieces.

Bluecoat Display Centre has been awarded funding by the Ulrike Michal Foundation for the Arts to enable this window installation.

For the Pride window Simon wanted to celebrate the diversity of the gay and queer community in Liverpool and the wider Merseyside area.

Liverpool has a long history of being inclusive to this community and over recent years this inclusivity has become stronger and more prominent. From having the first LGBT quarter in the country to having one of the largest Pride festivals in Europe.

Simon wants to bring distant and unheard voices to his work so for this collection he wanted to include both historical figures interwoven with more modern and well-known people.

For Simon including people who were trailblazers and forward thinking for their time is so important as these are the people who made living now as open and proud LGBTQIA+ possible.

This collection is colourful and bright and a true celebration of a culture that has given so much to the world. Liverpool is and was so important to giving the world so much of this culture.

From the use of Polari, a secret language used by the community for many years to pubs and clubs that people may remember, and previous Pride festivals, this collection seeks to highlight an important history and recognise how we should always appreciate what the past has given this community.

Simon works with both porcelain and architectural clays. He uses ceramic body stains, underglaze, acrylic inks, acrylic paints and spray paints on his work.

The most important aspect for his work is layering and to give his work depth and intrigue. It must always be intriguing.

Language and its use are also important. It’s not about political messages, it’s about humanity and understanding.

Simon Dredge said:

“I wanted to make pieces that stand out, I didn’t want to create work that was just nice or non-descript. I wanted to look at the work and see layers that show a thought process.”

Simon’s work has recently been on exhibition at Collect Art Fair in London represented by Alveston Fine Arts, with works being bought by Ulster Museum in Belfast for their permanent collection. Visitors to Simon’s installation had been visibly moved by it.

Works from the In the Window for Pride in Liverpool Installation will be on display and on sale from 1 July – 31 July 2024 at Bluecoat Display Centre.

For more info on Pride in Liverpool click here. For more info on Bluecoat Display Centre click here.

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