Subject Matters
Tom Wood Paintings
Ceramics: Adele Howitt, Brian Holland, Charles Brown, Cosmin Ciofirdel
24th April 2026 – 6th June 2026
This exhibition brings together a compelling group of artists whose practices explore the expressive and tactile possibilities of clay, paint, and material form. Spanning generations and disciplines, the show celebrates both tradition and innovation, revealing how contemporary makers reinterpret historical influences through deeply personal approaches.
At its centre is Tom Wood, a significant figure in British art whose career spans decades of teaching, exhibiting, and institution-building. From early involvement with printmaking in West Yorkshire to major exhibitions and international recognition, Wood’s work is held in prestigious collections including the Yale Center for British Art and the National Portrait Gallery. His contribution anchors the exhibition in a rich legacy of artistic practice and cultural engagement.
Adele Howitt, Director of Studio Eleven, merges ceramic practice with architectural and public art. Inspired by natural patterns, post-industrial landscapes, and cultural identity, her work evokes a poetic sense of place. Combining traditional techniques with contemporary design, she creates pieces that are both tactile and atmospheric, reflecting clay’s enduring relevance as a sustainable and expressive medium. Work can be found in international and local collections.
Alongside this, the work of Charles Brown explores the immediacy of clay, embracing the marks of the maker and the spontaneity of process. Drawing on medieval and post-medieval English pottery traditions, his pieces are both grounded and vital—rooted in history yet alive with contemporary energy.
Romanian born, Cosmin Ciofirdel brings a meditative approach to ceramics, creating forms that balance structure with intuition. His work reflects a search for harmony between opposing qualities—weight and lightness, strength and fragility—inviting viewers into a quiet, contemplative dialogue with material.
Finally, Brian Holland creates figures and groups, alongside the making of vessels. These vessels have been formed using a range of techniques, including coiling, slab-building, and throwing. They have often been wood-fired in anagama kilns, as well as fired in electric kilns, with some pieces produced using the Raku process.
Together, these artists present a rich and varied exploration of ceramics and material practice—where history, landscape, and human touch converge in objects that are at once timeless and distinctly contemporary.
About
Studio Eleven is a gallery, studio and workshop space. We offer specialist studio space for ceramicists and a shared workshop for membership. Events include artists talks, performances, workshops, hire of the studio space and a rolling programme of exhibitions featuring contemporary ceramics and painting. The gallery at number 12 comprises of a main space for wall-based and plinth mounted work, and six display cases. The workshop space is situated on the first floor which also consists of a large, shared studio space with potters wheels and equipment.
Studio Eleven was a Hull City of Culture 2017 partner. A strategic partner in developing the bid and the wider promotion of Hull as a Culture City with interventions exhibited in London and beyond by Adele Howitt. During 2017 we delivered a contemporary exhibition programme with events, workshops, and special performances by Hull Time Based Arts.
Since it was established in 2009, Studio Eleven has continually pioneered the cause of Hull’s cultural quarter in the Fruit Market area, particularly Humber Street. The gallery and workshop now resides at no; 12 on Humber Street since March 2017. Eleven is in a prime visitor location, close to Hull Marina, The Deep, Hull Museums and the newly refurbished Ferens Art Gallery. Eleven was the first creative business on Humber Street have recently been joined by the new Humber Street Gallery.
Studio Eleven workshop and gallery was established in 2009 by artists. Founder & Owner, Adele Howitt continues to direct the enterprise,with a voluntary team of artists and potters who use the studio space .
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