The summer exhibition at the Hippodrome features a new body of work by Denbighshire based artist Katie Scarlett Howard. The Herring Girls will feature over 20 pieces of powerful clay figures together with photographs and documentation of the herring trade.
The work exhibited is a result of two years work and research looking at the British herring industry in the early to mid twentieth century and particularly that of the fisherwomen from Scotland, who travelled down the North East coast of Britain each year to ‘follow the Herring’.
These women were known as ‘The Herring Lassies’ or ‘The Herring Girls’. They worked long arduous days, gutting and packing fish into wooden barrels in harbours and Port towns and played a significant part in making Britain the biggest fishery in the world.
The work in Stoneware fired clay has an experimental colour palette inspired by the locations visited by the artist. The greys and blues of the sea and the earthy brown tones of the wooden packing barrels also feature, with cracks, drips and mottling on the figures.
By using a rough textured, grainy clay and oxide stains the artist hopes to convey the hard working nature and tough life of the herring girls.
The exhibition runs throughout July including the week of the 2015 Herring Queen Festival.