NEW ART IN NEWBRIDGE

Newbridge Hotel

Kerry Punton and Kim Saxton

Eastville, just down the road from Newbridge, is known and admired by many people, for it’s there, at her farm studio off the beaten track, that Kerry Punton holds popular painting and ceramics workshops. At Arts Trail time, we entice Kerry out of the studio, to show off her work in the lovely old Newbridge Hotel, where the food is good and the hospitality even better. This year Kerry is joined by ceramicist Kim Saxton, giving you a lovely reason to linger a little longer in one of Loddon’s favourite pubs.

Kerry Punton The process of working with clay is as enlivening to Kerry now as it was when she graduated with a degree in ceramics in the late 1980s. A true maker at heart, Kerry is happiest when her hands are busy, and sustaining a personal art practice, while working in education, facilitating public art projects and keeping a functioning farm ticking over has kept her very busy indeed! For 30 years the surface of Kerry’s pots served as the canvas for her creative expression but when she eventually transitioned to painting on traditional canvas the evolution was natural. Her local landscape, fauna, and still-life paintings vibrate with colour and pattern, at times evoking the sensation of dappling light through swaying gums. Kerry runs regular ceramics workshops for small groups out of the unique studio space she has crafted from recycled materials at her farm in Eastville. 

Kim Saxton's foray into ceramics was sparked in 2024 when she did her first workshop at Kerry Punton's studio in Eastville, where she continues to develop her love of the medium. She also works to create her pots from home in a room that overlooks the garden she has created and continues to finds quiet enjoyment from. Kim's hand built, one off pots and vases bring together this love of her garden and the various wildlife visitors that come and go.