Elements, an exhibition of contemporary ceramics, painting and sculpture at the Life Room, Dundas Street in Edinburgh, features the work of four artists hailing from the Northeast and West of Scotland: Beth Bidwell, Jacqueline Shortland, Leonie Gordon and Sarah Gordon. The four women share an exploration of the elemental through their work, expressing their connection to the essence of these natural forces in contrasting and complementary ways, with work rich with colour, texture and medium.

Beth Bidwell recently moved back from Aberdeenshire, where this group met and exhibited together, to her birthplace on the Isle of Skye. Her principally hand-built work explores themes and inspirations provided by her surroundings and notably the seas and wild shores of her native Skye. 

Jacqueline Shortland’s sculpture is inspired by what it means to be human, but mostly how we connect and relate to ourselves in nature. She is motivated by the drama of the Cairngorms, and the defined seasons that surround her studio, driving her to attempt to reflect the contrasting emotions this evokes through her work. 

Leonie Gordon originally trained as a media lawyer and had a rich and varied career until she found her home as an artist. Her large-scale, layered and intuitive abstract paintings are evocative and expressive, in their essence meditative and exploratory.

Sarah Gordon was originally trained as a mechanical engineer. Inspired by ancient cooking and storage vessels, her large-scale sculptural vessels are all hand-built using the traditional coiling method. All pieces are decorated with smoke, having been fired either in her raku kiln or garden incinerator bin.