‘A is for Alma’ is Katie Cuddon’s first solo show in Newcastle for 15 years and you can see it at the Hatton Gallery.

Katie Cuddon lives and works in Newcastle so it’s only natural that this long-awaited exhibition in being held in her home town. It sees her presenting work that was created since she gave birth to her daughter in 2018, and it seeks to explore the union between mother and child and the emerging dialogue between them. To that end, Cuddon is exhibiting a clay alphabet of hand-modelled letters (hence ‘A is for Alma’). These are different from the other sculptures in the show, which embody an intense emotional closeness. It should also be said that Cuddon sees clay as the perfect medium here, as it evokes early experiences of shaping matter as a child – Play-Doh, perhaps…

Katie Cuddon: A is for Alma, until 4 May, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle, hattongallery.org.uk