Blandine Anderson
BOTH SIDES book launch and showcase
The Irresponsible Parent. Credit: Blandine Anderson.
Exhibition celebrating Blandine’s book launch and the brand-new collection inspired by the text.
Blandine’s twenty-acre smallholding is situated in northwest Devon approximately 6 miles from the sea and 8 miles from the nearest town. Managing the land for the benefit of nature has been her primary aim, strictly without the aid of artificial fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides.
As part of her land management they have planted over 4000 mainly indigenous trees, restored hedges, ancient hay meadows and Culm grassland, and created an orchard made up of local varieties of apple and cherry. The pasture and hay fields are maintained by sheep, and these, together with the growing of vegetables on a significant scale, have allowed her to become largely self-sufficient in fresh food.
It is Blandine’s intention that the farm provides a safe space for wildlife to thrive. The species that live on and visit the farm continue to increase year on year.
16 August - 18 October 2025
Riverside Gallery
Events
Saturday 16 August, 11am - 12pm: Book Signing with Blandine Anderson
Saturday 16 August 2 - 3.30pm: Both Sides - A Talk and Book Signing with Blandine Anderson
The book
Compared with children’s literature, most books for the adult reader are visually very dull, either plain and unadorned or broken up with a few illustrations or boring photographs. But why should children have all the fun?
BOTH SIDES is intended to be an exciting picture book for adults which at the same time works as a serious read-through narrative.
The theme of the book is twelve months on Blandine’s Devon smallholding, set around the shepherding year, which begins in November when the rams are introduced to the ewes. Inspired by the author’s personal experience and detailed observations of nature, the book tells the tale of the lives of wildlife and domestic animals on the holding from BOTH SIDES – looking at the highs and lows, good days and bad, times of feast and times of famine. For the sake of balance and authenticity it was essential to take a warts and all approach, some of the events related here might be hard to read but were equally difficult to write.
Each of the 26 original ceramic pieces which illustrate the book has two distinct sides, BOTH SIDES of which show a different aspect of the year-long experience.
SIGNED BY AUTHOR
Cover size approx. 22 x 22cm
Hardback
Inside the gallery
Buy from the exhibition
These exhibition pieces can be ordered online now, but please note they will not be posted (or available for collection) until the end of the exhibition (after 18 October).
About the exhibitor
Blandine Anderson | Devon
Blandine Anderson trained in Ceramics/Fine Art at Exeter College of Art and Design and then lectured for five years at Somerset College of Arts and Technology and at Bridgwater College.
She established her first fully professional studio in 1989, producing unique ‘one off’ pieces, individually hand-built in either porcelain or stoneware. Coming from a Fine Art /Sculpture background, she leans towards the more sculptural approach.
Her ceramic work depicts creatures in landscape but the driving forces behind her ideas are really composition and proportion.
While some pieces are designed as a whole, the base forms are often conceived before the overall piece is composed. The piece is then “populated” with creatures chosen to enhance the base-form e.g. hares and foxes for long fluid lines; sheep to punctuate; birds to break through the form. The base form may be completely altered by adding a creature, it may be enhanced or (visually) destroyed.
No repeat methods are used in the construction of the work. Colour and texture are created using porcelain slips which are stencilled, painted, stamped and incised. Oxides and glazes are added after biscuit firing and fired to Stoneware at 1245º. Blandine lives on and runs a remote smallholding in Northwest Devon.
Plan your visit
Open Tuesday - Saturday, 10am - 5pm.
Maker Member Show 2025: the best work by our Maker Members, celebrating 70 year of making.
Jubilee Gallery, 26 June - 1 November 2025
Maker Showcase - Carol Ballenger, Water Worlds: Photography
Print Room, 16 August - 1 November 2025
70 Years of Making: the story of The Devon Guild of Craftsmen
Riverside Gallery, 12 July - 18 October 2025