A celebration of the mastery of using clay as an art form will take place at an island-based gallery during March and April.

Several of the island’s finest ceramicists are to have their work displayed at Isle Gallery this weekend at an exhibition entitled ’Clay Masters: A celebration of Clay’, which opens on Sunday, March 4, from 2pm.

The exhibition will include work from local artists Faye Christian, Anna Clucas, Vici Blackburn, Marta Ludwig-Looney, Erica Kermode, Colleen Corlett, Natalie Norton, Colette Gambell and Jackie Van Toor, and will include examples of wheel thrown pottery and functional ware, animal forms, decorative products and quirky sculpted characters.

The exhibition is being held in support of the ’Clay Collective’, a newly formed group which aims to help people who want to try using ceramics and pottery.

The exhibition is to be followed with a series of workshops with a guest ceramicist from the UK, whose work has been extensively featured on television.

Richard J Parker will join Anna Clucas and Faye Christian for the ’Great Manx Build Up and Throw Down’, a three-day workshop, held between Monday 16 to Wednesday 18 April at the Isle Gallery, where they will help teach adults, beginners, improvers and enthusiasts to throw and build pots.

Richard was one of the finalists of the BBC2 programme The Great British Throw Down, in 2017, where his eccentric approach and creative his style of medieval-influenced pottery led him to be dubbed ’the Doctor Who of pottery’ by one of the show judges.

Spaces for the workshops are limited, and can be reserved by following the links on the Isle Gallery Facebook page or through the gallery website, artreachiom.com