Layers
18 October to 9 November 2025
Steve Manning - reduction linocuts
Mark Fielding - painting
Charlie Salaman - ceramics
Steve Manning
Linocut
I am an Exeter based printmaker.
I began my printmaking journey over ten years ago with Double Elephant Print Workshop where I experimented with a wide range of printmaking techniques before settling on lino cut as my chosen medium.
I have adapted a medium usually associated with bold blocks of colour to capture fleeting cloudscapes and the ephemeral nature of light. My prints are produced using the reduction print technique whereby the lino block is gradually destroyed with each stage of the print process.
Each print can have up to 12 colours applied which represent twelve different stages of the print process. Each edition is kept deliberately small.
I am inspired by the landscapes of the West Country from the Somerset Levels to the Exe Estuary. My images expertly convey an immersive sense of space combined with a tangible sense of calm. For this reason, many of my prints have been enlarged and used to decorate the walls of departments in Torbay and Bath hospitals.
My work has been exhibited at the RWA Bristol, RAMM Exeter and Falmouth Gallery and I regularly exhibit at, and run workshops for ACE Arts in Somerton.
I am a member of Make South West (formerly the Devon Guild of Craftsmen) where I recently curated an exhibition bringing together makers inspired by the Exe Estuary.
Instagram: @stevemanningprints
Web: www.stevemanningprints.co.uk
Mark Fielding
This exhibition brings together recent work which charts my journey through Devon and Cornwall over the past 40 years.
It begins with the Exe estuary. I lived in Lympstone in the early 1980s and I regard it as the start of my painting life. Two paintings explore the complexity of colour and shape found at low tide.
From the estuary, we head out to sea and head for the south Cornwall coast where I have been captivated by the local fishermen in their small boats. I am particularly drawn to the red sails catching the light.
When I returned to the West Country in the 1990s, I swapped the Exe for the Tamar river. I regularly explore the river near my home, close to Cotehele House. The river is still tidal on this stretch and the wetlands at Calstock are ever changing and dynamic, which is one of the attractions for me.
Finally, we head home to our garden which we have been working on for the past four years. This year we have felt a marked return for all our hard work. I have finally found a way of depicting the intricate detail of the plant world and explored the way the sunlight illuminates the secrets of plant design. The paintings of artichokes and fennel were conceived and painted in the past two months and were inspired by the simple act of watering the beds in the hot weather and observing their beauty in growing fascination.
