HOLMFIRTH-based ceramicist Sue Jenkins has mounted an entertaining show in the foyer of the Lawrence Batley Theatre.

She has been known for her rather comic productions for Holmfirth Artweek, but now there is a new range of fascinating characters, like the bevy of penguins, in assorted shapes and sizes, the walruses with their expressive faces, the beaming seals.

Also raising a smile is an array of swimmers in old-fashioned costumes, and two comic female nudes, with bizarre hairstyles, who Sue has named Large Myrtle and Small Mavis.

“I have been meaning to do figures for a while and when Chris Goodswen (a fellow exhibitor) gave me a picture of two fat ladies sitting on a bench, this gave me inspiration. I really like Beryl Cook’s work, too,” said Sue.

She has enjoyed producing brightly-coloured glazes for pieces like her swimmers balanced on balls. “What inspired the swimmers was last year I got my students to do an exhibition based on the Olympics,” Sue explains.

She has been working in clay since 1974, when she helped to run informal pottery workshops with children in Liverpool.

“Later, I discovered cranked stoneware clay and loved its coarse, sandy textures and suitability for larger outside work. I have always made sheep and farmyard animals, so it was natural to continue. The birds and animals have grown in size, character and variety, and have been joined by a variety of planters and one-off sculptures, still based on natural patterns, organic shapes and themes.”

r CHRIS Goodswen’s sailing ships, also on view in the foyer of the LBT, are wonderfully atmospheric paintings. The pictures arise from a visit to Mystic sea port in America, on a five degrees below zero freezing, brilliant, sunlit day.

“The old whaling port was empty, and as the sun started to go down, it glowed in the empty masts and across the water. Mystical is what it was, as your breath turned to vapour, your fingers turned to ice, but you still did not want to leave.”

Kings and Cabbages are the other two themes in Chris’s exhibition. “We are all kings continuing internal dialogues and having most private thoughts,” said Chris. She adds that the point to these pictures of humans is to wonder what they are thinking, what the artist was thinking and to examine one’s own thoughts in the process.

Cabbages shows people in different positions and locations. Most of the work is an adaptation of an experience, the artist explains, rather than an actual place. Some of the pictures are prime studies in pastels or watercolour, and some re-created with computer programmes.

The shows run until May 10.

r KEITH Mountain, of Huddersfield, has been named Artist of the Year at the South Yorkshire Open Exhibition at the Cooper Gallery, Barnsley.

Keith, who was runner-up last year, was selected from 300 entrants for the top award, open to people who have lived or worked in South Yorkshire.

His winning painting, Regatta, was one of a number of boating scenes inspired by a visit to Spain. Back in 2000 he was joint winner of the Yorkshire Artist of the Year Award and was invited to the Contemporary School of Art, about half an hour north of Barcelona.

“My work altered in light, colour and texture when I got back from Spain,” said the artist. “It was good to go there and get away from pressure, and I met some very nice people.”

Keith’s work tends towards the abstract, but there is often a figurative base. “Most of my paintings are based on natural forms which I see while I’m out.”

The artists, now 65, has been painting since he left Batley Art College, where he did a degree course. He worked in advertising agencies and set up a training course for companies on presentation and display.

“I have been fortunate in always having been able to use my artistic abilities in my work,” he said.

In an expansion of his art, Keith has made some sandstone and limestone sculpture carvings.

Along with Geoff Harrop, from Lupton Square Gallery, he has recently completed a 10-week course at the West Yorkshire Print Workshop, Mirfield, which has led to some excellent etchings and prints.

An exhibition of the prints is planned at the gallery, to run in conjunction with Holmfirth Artweek.

Meanwhile, Keith is submitting an etching and a painting for the prestigious Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, where he has been successful on three previous occasions.

The Barnsley exhibition runs until May 20.