A new exhibition of ceramics by acclaimed artist Emilie Taylor will open at the National Civil War Centre, Newark, this March.

Launching the day after International Women’s Day, on Thursday 9th March, the display, Tubthumping, will blend the 16th to 18th Centuries with the present day, looking at how women’s roles have been impacted and the challenges they still face.

Funded by Arts Council England, the exhibition is the result of a year-long collaboration between the centre’s exhibitions and collections manager Glyn Hughes and Sheffield ceramicist Emilie.

Her works draw upon the museum’s collections and will feature alongside objects chosen from them by Emilie, including birthing stools as well as a scold’s bridle (a form of public punishment administered to ‘misbehaving’ women during the 16th and 17th Centuries) and a tract of a woman’s account of wearing it.

Emilie’s pieces marry the traditional with the contemporary, using the heritage craft process of decorative slipware to tell updated stories of women in realistic modern settings, including backdrops of council flats.

The stories she tells on her richly decorated pots range from modern female Morris dance troupe Boss Morris and their movement to reconnect with the land, to public protests and young mothers coping with the rising cost of living.

Coun Rhona Holloway, portfolio holder for Economic Development and Visitors at Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “Emilie’s works are both fascinating and visually arresting, shedding light on the important stories and struggles of women today while using a painstaking and beautiful traditional platform. I am hugely looking forward to seeing them displayed here in Newark among the National Civil War Centre’s fantastic collections”.

The exhibition, with text written by Dr Sara Read, of Loughborough University, will be open from Thursday, 9th March until Saturday, 3rd June. Find out more at www.nationalcivilwarcentre.com or by following the National Civil War Centre on Facebook.

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