LOTTE Inch Gallery, in Bootham, York, greets the new year with An Ode to The Humble Jug, a toast to the beauty found in the simpler things in life.

"The exhibition does exactly what it says on the tin, celebrating jugs of every size and shape in both paint, print and ceramic form," says Lotte. "It features work by painters Alexandra Leadbeater and Yorkshire artists Debbie George and Sarah Du Feu, all of whom are well known for their unique take on the still life and who have a great appreciation for the modest jug.

"We're also exhibiting a wide range of ceramic jugs by Sue Binns, Helen Faulkner, Emma Lacey, Isabel Denyer and Linda Bloomfield as well as some unique pieces we've sourced."

York Press:

Wagtail and Forget-me-nots, by Debbie George

Alexandra Leadbeater studied at Bath Academy of Art in Corsham, later gaining a BA(Hons) in Fine Art from Preston Polytechnic. Her first exhibition, selected by The Mersey Sound poet and painter Adrian Henri for the Serpentine Summer Show in London in 1981, sold out and her work is displayed across Britain.

Since moving to the coast, Alexandra has continued to create still life paintings alongside her landscape works. Her careful studies of objects use mixed media to suggest the history of each everyday item that she depicts, imbuing each image with its own physical landscape.

Debbie George’s work is inspired by the everyday items she finds in her life, seeing the beauty in the simplest of objects, from food to flowers and many things in between; no item is too benign for her creative process. Her use of perspective means her paintings celebrate their surroundings as much as the featured object and draw the viewer into her take on still life.

York Press:

Red Handled Jug, by Alex Leadbeater

George paints using the ancient technique of “gesso”, which involves mixing white paint with chalk, gypsum, pigment or any combination of these that she applies in layers and then scratches and scrapes to give her work depth and texture.

Artist and printmaker Sarah Du Feu draws inspiration from the landscapes of Yorkshire and the North Cornish coastline, her artwork recognising the constantly changing landscapes and the way the weather and sea can alter the scene daily.

A lecturer in print making at Leeds Beckett University, Sarah uses many different techniques, including print, painting, mono-printing with lino and stencils, etching, screen-printing, digital grounds and oil painting, and her still life work is focused largely on vases, jugs and bowls. Her distinguishing feature is her application of many layers to build the composition of her prints.

York Press:

Monochrome Etching I, by Sarah Du Feu

Sue Binns is a self-taught potter who worked under the guidance of Ian Godfrey at the Montem School in the 1980s. Her ceramics are marked out by the bold cobalt blue strips on her bowls, teapots, mugs and jugs, which are created by brushing dilute cobalt over the dolomite glaze before firing.

Sue is a self-confessed "stripe addict" with a fascination for making different combinations of stripes, and her work is prompted largely by the Rye Pottery that surrounded her when she was growing up, since when Mediterranean pottery and Japanese fabrics have influenced her too.

London potter Emma Lacey specialises in functional yet beautiful ceramics that have brought her collaborations with some of the most high-end shops and restaurants in the world. Her pieces are simple in their shapes and design and seek to accentuate the softness of the clay as is it thrown on the wheel, and she likes to applying different colours and both a matt and gloss glaze.

Craft Potters Association member Isabel Denyer studied on the Harrow Studio Pottery course under Mick Casson, Victor Margrie and Colin Pearson. Her thrown stoneware pots are reduction-fired in a gas kiln, and she uses quiet glazes so that the presentation of food has the full chance to "sing", she says.

York Press:

A trio of jugs by "stripes addict" Sue Binns

Her pots need to be used, she urges. "For me, that is when they become complete," reasons Isabel, whose work responds to lichen, ripples of water and a stonemason’s chisel marks on a Yorkshire barn. Now add the sea to that list as she experiments with porcelain and a new series of glazes.

Irish-born Helen Faulkner takes part in the Making It programme in Northern Ireland, an initiative to help craftspeople develop their skills and business knowledge to make a living from their talents. Her ceramics are designed to be functional and comforting and to "fit seamlessly into the way you cook", favouring bold, natural colours and simple glazes.

Linda Bloomfield designs tableware in thrown porcelain, with dimples and visible throwing lines showing the hand of the maker. She uses a tactile satin matt glaze on the outside and colour on the inside and makes her own range of glazes.

"I'm particularly interested in the translucent colours obtained using oxides rather than commercial stains, and I'm also concerned with functionality and detail," she says. "All my pots are made to be handled and used. I use porcelain for its strength, density and purity, and some larger pots are made with stoneware."

Delightful window display and all, An Ode To The Humble Jug will be on show at Lotte Inch Gallery, York, until February 24.