May 2013 - September 2013
Peter Vaillant is a London based artist who was chosen by the BBC from thousands of artists to make a mark on history and capture in his own style of the Queens Diamond Jubilee Pageant on Sunday the 3rd of June from the Millenium Bridge. Numerous preliminary drawings were created on the day to produce a larger artwork.
“Statements are for gathering evidence; Art is for gathering an audience”
I formulate a unique interpretations to my chosen subject, applying paint and other mixed medium to document my manipulated visual perception, shaping form and recording colour. I set the transformation of the painted image to depict the colour in its purest form creating texture, depth and emotion.
These paintings combine the exotic, sumptuous, richness of materials and colour in contrast to an everyday situation or ‘happening’. Inspiration comes from a normal act, event or place and I often use objects or textures within the painting to represent the feeling and atmosphere of that place. The colour often represents the emotion that I have experienced or felt, within the situation. The canvases are then dressed up to create something exciting and special, beyond the everyday.
The expressive and bright colour palette, I have developed since spending time and working in Asia, particularly India. I am inspired and fascinated by the Eastern use of colour, which feeds my heightened sense of colour and embrace the combination of placing strong hues together. Each one develops its own place and relationship within the narrative and sense of the painting.
Studied at Central St Martin’s College of Art & Design, London. Also at Facultat de Belles Artes, Barcelona and exhibited extensively in the UK & India.
A recurrent theme in Des Kilfeather’s art is the philosophical exploration of ethics, greed, power, ambition, jealousy, apathy and time. Counterbalanced with poetic narratives of love, optimism and humour.
Along with research, starkly and dramatically contrasting personal experiences inform Des’ work. These are the main source of inspiration for the expression of doubt and optimism in his paintings.
Working with oil, ink, watercolour, etched copper plate, camera, digital manipulation and metaphor at multiple levels Des believes that the medium is superseded by concept. Des studied photography at the University of Brighton, aesthetics, painting and drawing at the Edward James Trust’s West Dean College and Fine Art at the University of Portsmouth. His studio is in Chichester as part of Unity Art Studios and Unity Arts Trust and his work is held in collections in the UK and USA.
Kilfeather, winner of the 2010 UK National Open Art Competition, pictureframes.co.uk Endowment Prize, studied photography at the University of Brighton and aesthetics, painting and drawing at the Edward James Trust’s West Dean College and Fine Art at the University of Portsmouth.
Mike is a painter/printmaker who has exhibited widely, and has work in collections in Britain, Europe and America. Mike focuses his work upon questions of non-representation and the materiality of the medium and is committed to a studio-based practice. He has for many years been involved in art education, teaching both Fine Art practice (he was Course Leader for a degree course in visual art in Yorkshire for six years) and the history and philosophy of art, currently lecturing at the University of Kent and University of Chichester.
He has undertaken several collaborations, principally with the composer Bryn Harrison and their Music for a Light Room/Music for a Dark Room was shown and performed at the Pheonix Arts Centre, Exeter in 2006. Mike’s interest in various forms of painting extends to writing for other artists and he has recently produced catalogue texts for Angus Pryor, Richard Nott and Mark Howland.
My paintings are about landscape and memory. They are my response to being there and to not being there. They are as much about the weather and season as the place depicted, because these elements cannot be separated, and one place can be the source of many paintings.
My work is a response to standing in a place of great natural beauty and trying to capture and share the powerful impression that these places have had on me.
The paintings evolve from a collection of photographs both old and new, drawings, stones, driftwood, words, thoughts and memories. Armed with these stimuli each piece then takes a journey of its own within the studio.
The work hangs between the literal and abstract, creating a sense of place rather than an exact translation of the landscape.
Inspired by (and a little envious of) the creative talent behind West-End and Broadway stage productions and the New York depicted in Woody Allen movies, I have increasingly over the last 10 years stepped out of the office and my role as an entertainment lawyer, taking to the streets instead – camera in hand.
These days, I am fortunate to continue both pursuits. My day job affords me the opportunity to travel extensively and immerse myself in photography: a welcome reminder of the colour beyond a grey meeting room and black and white arguments.
My focus is street smart, seeking out a new angle or experience rather than a studied pose or over-worked construction: a new experience, a fresh perspective.
I exhibited for the first time in 2011 at the 30th anniversary of the Artists Open House in Brighton, which I presented as a travel diary: from Jerusalem to Vegas and the clashing cultures in between.
During the course of 2012 I showcased a new collection: “NEON” at various fairs and festivals in Brighton & Hove, as well as representing at the Artists Open House, our house scoring 4th out of some 288 houses, thanks to the public vote. “NEON”, named after the two cities where I spend most of my time: New York and Brighton, celebrated vibrance and diversity.
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, I felt compelled to launch a tribute collection entitled ”A Winter in New York”, donating a percentage of profits to the Hurricane Sandy Red Cross Appeal.
“He adored New York City…To him, no matter what the season was, this was still a town that existed in black and white and pulsated to the great tunes of George Gershwin”
– Woody Allen, Manhattan
‘Following college graduation 22 years ago, I briefly worked for a London toy design company sculpting their prototypes and product pattern making. I have been producing various ranges of my ‘Baroque Designs’ Gothic and Art Nouveau inspired home decorative sculptures since 1995, all the pieces are designed/sculpted/molded and manufactured in cold cast metals by me from my home based studio/workshop. In that time, well over 40,000 castings have been sold through galleries and interior decor retailers throughout the UK. Alongside the sculpture works, I’ve occasionally painted in oils, developing techniques with metal powders and mediums that imbue a dreamlike liquid quality to my work . Most of my inspiration and style is rooted in Symbolism and Surrealism, recording on canvas how my imagination prefers to visualise the world around me.’
Sarah Jones has been working as an illustrator for over 20 years, producing images for the design and advertising industries. Her clients include Nat West, John Lewis, Marks and Spencers, British Airways, Financial Times and The New Scientist. She studied graphic design at Brighton Polytechnic, and went on to teach at Brighton and Kingston Universities .Drawing on her illustration background she now produces limited edition fine art prints combining drawn and printed elements resulting in a vibrant contemporary style.
My Career has encompassed many aspects of art, from television where I worked on Blake 7 and Dr Who, into the advertising world, before creating a reputation as a sculptor. I studied at Medway College of art in the 70s and have a studio in Tonbridge.
I am known for my Dragons Den appearance , where I got Funding from 3 of the dragons in order to create my Pop icon collection , a collection now of more than 20 pieces. I will be showing a few of the large pieces at the Kings Hill Music festival. Some of the sculptures on show have been used at Wembley Stadium with U2 and Coldplay in the VIP areas , and the Isle of Wight festival.
The Pop Icon as a theme has been an interest to me over many years, the fusion of music, fashion ,art and politics gives me a lot to work with. The research is fascinating, and I like to include symbolic elements with in the piece sometimes only obvious to the connoisseur.
January 2013 - June 2013
I graduated from Leicester De Montfort University in 1984 with a BA (Hons) Degree in Fine Art Painting and went on to work as a mural artist, illustrator and screen printer.
I continue to pursue creative ideas experimenting with various materials through print making and sculpture, though painting is the most constant. I like to translate ideas from my sketch books and then work fairly intuitively with this information.
I mark in, block out, repeat and repair and absorb myself in this process allowing a kind of flow or rhythm to develop until I feel the overall canvas takes on a sense of its own.
As an attempt to undermine the viewer’s reliance upon convention and meaning, I produce work that isn’t an exact representation of the initial object, this often results in the object not being legible to the viewer at all. My aim is for people to be absorbed in what the finished image might be but it is important for my work to have an opening outcome, something for the viewer to decide.
Recently I began experimenting with new materials that have now been incorporated into my practice. As well as using what can be found in an art shop, I use materials such as boot polish, metal paint and crushed brick. The qualities of marks they make are brutal yet quite delicate. The practice of ‘playing’ contributes greatly to my work, both in the materials I use and how I add them to the painting.
When I draw, I look at the object, not the paper, which aids the initial abstraction of the image. I work quickly, creating a sense of the unknown, of what the final image might contain. This also applies to my process of painting; there is a shopping list quality to my work. I am rapidly attempting to communicate an abstracted structure, which contains balance and weight, mediated between expediency and substantially.
The image I draw can be varied, some are shapes taken and developed from photography, first hand observations or drawing from artists’ books. I draw forms that embrace a new identity from its original object. I consider myself to be developing a body of work that is at once gestural and abstract whilst paying attention to the demands of a playful art practice.
Clive Soord lives in Canterbury, Kent, in the south of England. When he’s not creating stuff from metal or clay in his workshops at home, he’s probably passing on his extensive experience to others at Canterbury College.
Clive works extensively in clay and makes incredible ceramic jugs and urns, bowls, teapots, and mugs. But it’s his creation of an endless variety of richly detailed dragons, creatures and gargoyles, together with his lifelong interest in fantasy, magic and mythology, which led one newspaper reviewer to lend him the title ‘Master of the Dragons’.
Lost wax casting is an ancient art form and one for which Clive has a deep passion. He casts in bronze, aluminium and glass, performing the entire process himself from start to finish, using a variety of traditional and modern tools and kilns. His finished pieces, which range from mythical and real beasts to a giant chess set and life portraits, are truly labours of love.
Born in Birmingham in 1959, Mills studied 3-Dimensional Design BA (Hons) at Wolverhampton, where his father, grandfathers and various ancestors had all plied their trades in a broad range of metalworking disciplines. Factory premises and jewellers workshops were a common place to be as a child. He was the recipient of a Crafts Council setting up grant in 1982 and started producing speculative exhibition work for a variety of outlets.
After moving to Brighton in 1985, he formed links with London-based galleries, the most well known being Ron Arad’s One-off. His affiliation with the Crafts Council continued and over the years his work has be featured in some of their major touring exhibitions, including The New Spirit in 1987 and An Industry of One in 2001. His work has been shown extensively in Great Britain as well as in the USA, Europe and Japan. Jon Mills produces metalwork of all shapes and sizes, from hand-held objects to large civic statements; but whether it be a functional local authority commission (such as a bridge or a chandelier), a piece of sculpture or an automaton, his witty personable style is immediately apparent.
‘Mills makes metal do surprising things by using traditional techniques in unorthodox ways. In spite of being forged and hammered, welded and riveted, his work has a surprising, spontaneous quality as if it had been blown together by a particularly strong gust of wind’.*– *quotation from the essay Jon Mills © Rosemary Hill for Hartlepool Museum. Mills is very much a hands-on maker, preferring to produce one-off designs. Occasionally clients have ordered repeats on a similar theme, but Mills has tended to resist mass or batch production, opting instead for a more spontaneous approach – the evolving of ideas through the making process, be it cupboard or bridge. He has undertaken numerous residencies in schools, normally in conjunction with a specific commission, often incorporating elements of the childrens’ work into the finished piece.
My abstract works are executed in acrylic and a variety of media including oil, collage, pastel and pencil.
Many of the canvases are completed by returning to the painting process, building the layers of colour and mark- making. The results are predominantly non-figurative abstractions of landscape, still life and three dimensional form.
A graduate of Camberwell School of Art and Goldsmiths University, I live on the north Kent coast.
I have also been an Art teacher for twenty years.
I trained at Goldsmiths School of Art, London and then went into teaching and lecturing. Since 1997 I have been free lance, working from my studio in Chichester, with the emphasis is on exhibiting and working to commission.
I stitch directly and intensely onto painter’s canvas using a wide range of rayon, metallic, woollen and cotton threads. This causes natural undulations which I leave in as part of the creative process. Drawing freely with the sewing machine needle provides the marks a paintbrush or pencil would make, allowing my ideas to unfold as I work, and the richly coloured threads offer a wide and exciting palette.
My work is about the exploration of surface and mark making. Textures, colour and shadows with contrasting shafts of light are explored through these heavily stitched surfaces that undergo subtle changes depending on the onlooker’s point of view.
I look, I draw, I select and I translate. Inspiration comes from two sources. Personal experiences and observations provide the source materials, whilst the works of specific artists such as Dufy or Klee have informed my use of colour and line. Other influences include the poetry of both Thomas Hardy and Robert Frost, and in some works I have explored nature, land and light with their works in mind. I have had several solo shows as well as contributing to many other exhibitions across the UK and abroad. Recent exhibitions include the prestigious show SOFA in Santa Fe and Chicago USA. . My work is widely represented in corporate, public and private Collections.
The work has been produced in a variety of media, from screen printing and woodblock prints to combining print with painting. The current collection of work has been inspired by the temporary qualities of natural forms and our desire to document and to preserve. Organic matter has been scattered or arranged and used as a direct stencil for the prints, retaining a sense of the actual objects. The original material in many cases has disintegrated leaving only the print, a way of capturing an imprint of a moment in time.
I was born in Belfast in the 70’s. I completed Foundation studies in Art and Design at the University of Ulster, a degree in Fine Art Printmaking at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee and a Post Graduate Diploma in Advanced Printmaking at Central St Martins. I live and work in London.
I always loved to draw and to make things as child. However, following an art school training, I went on to a career in commercial interior design which rather lead me away from any kind of ‘hands-on’ crafted type of art practice. When I gave up my career to have a family I found I had both the time and inclination to begin again to draw, paint and to experiment with other crafts such as jewellery making and printmaking. I found in printmaking a process that allowed me to experiment with colour in a loose and liberating way.
I find colour exhilarating and powerful: it has the ability to evoke strong feelings in the observer that are hard to capture in words. By using abstraction in my paintings and placing colour in the context of pattern and texture alone and isolating it from the forms that it usually adorns in the world of recognisable objects, I aim to explore this capacity that colour has to move us.
My work sets out to develop personal mythologies through drawing, utilising repetition and variation. I explore themes combining experience with observation. I start with drawing as a means of establishing some fixed point around which the work can develop. My subject matter comes from assorted eras as the mood takes me. I strive for a ‘pancronicity’, troubled not so much with the now, as with all time.
I seek the universal in the particular, rather than the general. This displays itself in my use of the human figure which often takes the form of semi-portraiture, as opposed to unfocused crowd. Around this person-centred tableau, I introduce the familiar in unexpected combination as a means to hint at narratives and symbols. My method is to behave as if I am writing a familiar language with established rules, playing this off against our era’s uncertain eclecticism. Paradoxically my work is very eclectic in its use of objects and material, frequently taking the form of whimsical contraption.
‘In my art I love invoking a strong desire that talks to you and gets you to change, feel passionate and inspired in your own life. My art is nourishment for your Soul.’
The diversity of sources from which Iaysha takes inspiration is reflected in the spectrum of her subject matter; which extends from pure abstraction through to landscape and figurative work. The impulse to put brush to canvas can be triggered by a song or poem, by the sky, or by the colour of a stranger’s dress as they stroll by. The sights, smells, colours and culture of places that Iaysha has visited on her extensive travels have proven to be a constant source of artistic stimulation. Iaysha has lived in Australia and Thailand and has also travelled to Peru and Arizona. Her works are not a topographical study of the locations she has visited; instead they capture the essence of the place. She seeks to convey more to the viewer than simply what is present; to give an internal and spiritual insight into the magic of nature, creating an intensified vision rather than a naturalistic description. The works are not painted en plein air, but considered over time and painted in the studio; guaranteeing that the landscape produced is inspired by the spirit of the place rather than its geographic details. In the words of Chekhov, ‘the subject must pass through the sieve of my memory so that alone which is important remains’.
In Iaysha’s gift as a colourist we can see the influence of several artists whom she admires. Her abstract and landscape work is certainly reminiscent of the late great Donald Hamilton Fraser RA, and her layering and washes of colour surely owes a debt to another Scottish artist, Barbara Rae RA. When questioned to name the artist who has had the greatest impact on her work Iaysha does not hesitate, ‘Turner’ is the immediate reply. ‘His impressionistic studies of the sky fascinate me, his use of light to create an almost mystical atmosphere is beautiful to behold. Sometimes I think I could just stare at the sky all day! I also love Peter Lanyon’s early work, they convey such emotional intensity’. Perhaps the conveyance of emotion is what draws Iaysha to pure abstraction; her work is about atmosphere, imagination and feeling: universal themes that defy the boundaries of figurative subject matter. ‘I love to create landscapes and figurative work too- I feel no restrictions as an artist. But my abstract work definitely comes from a deeper place.’
Born in rural Sussex in 1960 Clare grew up in the deep countryside, and the wild beauty of nature has been her inspiration ever since.
Her work leans towards the abstract. The work is contemporary, atmospheric and evocative. It immediately draws the viewer in with its emotional appeal and movement that invites exploration. With the wide use of a variety of techniques, drawn from long experience as a printmaker and painter, Clare builds up layers of colour and texture by using oils on a waxed board.
The work evolves from memories of walks and places experienced. Typically she uses mixed media and a rich, yet subtle, palette of colours to create pieces which vividly convey a sense of place.
September 2012 - January 2013
Exhibiting throughout the UK and selling to an International market, Sophie works from her studio in Brighton. Her prolific exploration of the British seaside, through the layering of vivid flourescent colours and energetic mark-making continues to be a vital source of inspiration. Sophies paintings are a response to a place in time and explore the dual aspect of the natural and the man made. Her colours, often to optical effect, focus on the interplay of space versus intense areas of solid forms, mark making and motifs. The abstract nature of Sophie’s paintings allow the viewer to escape within the image. She is fascinated by the landscape that surrounds her and strives to capture the essence of this in her playful and atmospheric paintings.
Robert Koenig was born in Manchester in 1951. A contemporary of Anthony Gormley at the prestigious Slade School of Art in London, he has exhibited widely over the past 30 years both in the UK and internationally. He has worked on numerous public sculpture commissions around the UK. He is an Associate Member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors. His monumental woodcarving exhibition “Odyssey” has been touring continuously since 1997 visiting major venues in the Ukraine, Poland, Jersey and the UK.
“I am interested in the culture of wood. As a student I enjoyed looking at the large carved wood reclining figures of Henry Moore, the sculpture of Henri Gaudier Brzeska, Brancusi and Michelangelo and also the renaissance woodcarvers of Central Europe. They were all inspirational people but did not directly influence my work. I found my own way, decided what my personal concerns were and developed an inherited facility with working wood to make my statements. I have carved, assembled, constructed, painted and used tree trunks, planks and sawdust to tell my stories.”
My most recent paintings are drawn from media coverage of the flooding in Pakistan, using aerial photographs of the inundated areas and news images as references, exploring what images can become when viewed out of context. There is a contrast between the on-going devastation and the inherent visual charm of the drowned scenery. The original photos, when taken out of the context of ‘trauma’, become surreal and disarming; this gulf between event and object further widened by developing and transforming these images through the act of painting. It is this duality that informs my work.
Gosia graduated from State Art Secondary School in Naleczow and Gdansk Academy of Fine Arts.
During her studies the artist chose oil painting as a way to express herself. Years of designer’s work however have influenced strongly her idea of creation. Her oil painting process aims towards a two-dimensional piece of applied art. The artist’s works are neither telling stories nor manifesting any social or political point of view. Despite her openness when painting she remains silent in a particular way.
A dialog between the viewer and the work takes place at the level of emotions induced by associations.
She concentrates on technical issues, colour composition and aesthetics of the picture.
May 2012 - September 2012
David Armitage is a successful abstract artist of great originality. He is a Tasmanian who trained in Melbourne and spent much of his life in New Zealand. He painted and ran the City Art Gallery programme in Auckland before coming to East Sussex to live in 1973. He has, above all, a splendid sense of colour and form and his work clearly shows a nostalgia for the strong light and surroundings of his early life near the southern Pacific Ocean. One senses he is a beachcomber who loves wandering along the edge of the sea picking up dried pieces of wood or examining sea life in the sand pools or underwater. These are his main imagery sources which he manipulates into magical but strange shapes on both his large and quite small canvases.
“I am interested in expressing the emotions that I experience in landscape. What I record in drawing is not what I know to be there intellectually or exactly what I see with my eyes. What I record is what my senses were engaging with physically and my imagination was caught by. I can retrace the same path repeatedly and each drawing would be different. My experience of landscape is about the sensation of movement.”
I am interested in creating space and movement through the use of colour and shapes. Sometimes I start purely from marks and washes of colour as I search for a paintscape that allows colour to find an identity and structure. Often the space becomes ambiguous as I challenge my ideas of paint-created space. Composition is another focus; how to create a composition that holds the meanings of the colours, and at the same time is the colour.
My photographic practice is concerned with the poetry of the everyday. I am interested in the landscape in which the epic of domestic drama unfolds and the detail around which this endless cycle is played out.
I am in pursuit of an unresolved narrative told through the crystallization of time, meditative glances at the spaces in between and that which takes place at the intersection of concrete reality and
subjective perception.
Gosia graduated from State Art Secondary School in Naleczow and Gdansk Academy of Fine Arts.
During her studies the artist chose oil painting as a way to express herself. Years of designer’s work however have influenced strongly her idea of creation. Her oil painting process aims towards a two-dimensional piece of applied art. The artist’s works are neither telling stories nor manifesting any social or political point of view. Despite her openness when painting she remains silent in a particular way.
A dialog between the viewer and the work takes place at the level of emotions induced by associations.
She concentrates on technical issues, colour composition and aesthetics of the picture.
Giuseppe D’Innella is an Italian artist who lived around the world before settling in Wimbledon. He started mainly as a landscape painter, using acrylics on canvas, and working rapidly in the open air for many years in Australia, South America and Italy. From 2007 he joined Wimbledon Art Studios and has developed many abstract themes and techniques, based on his own landscapes, most of them sketched in Southern Italy in summer.
His colours are luminous and warm, reflecting his Italian roots and Australian experience. Lately he has discovered screenprinting, which has become his passion and full-time activity.
W.M.Hudson (Bill) attended KIAD at Canterbury. Specialised in sculpture, undertaking a residency at Canterbury Cathedral’s stone restoration department, on graduation in 1995 he undertook residencies in The Young European Sculpture Park, Czech Republic and was selected for Stour Valley Arts, exchange in the town of Arque, France.
He specializes in wood carving, construction and casting in bronze and iron and a crucial part of his practices is drawing. Recurring themes in his work are found in the city/ human-made and found objects, urban and rural landscapes. As he explore shape and form, sometimes making an uneasy alliances or tension between material. His gallery based work compliments his public works and allows him to extend the themes in his work.
He has undertaken private/public sculpture commissions throughout the UK and Europe, worked on education projects for schools, and museums, including the Geffrye Museum, V&A, Tower of London, National Trust, and London Transport Museum.
My art reflects the universal desire to make sense of the world around us and our place within it. I feel compelled to grapple with the unconscious forces within and to manifest them in abstract forms. In that manner, I see art as a mirror reflecting from the inside out. Having originally trained and worked internationally as an instructor in dance, tai chi and yoga, I draw upon my understanding of movement to inform my practice and am fascinated by the challenge to bring matter to life.
I am attracted to architectural structures of modern life as much as being inspired by the power and flow of organic forms in nature.
This dynamic combination of precision and fluidity expresses itself in my most recent sculptures.
Earlier works sit between primitive symbolism and the experimental element found in minimalism.
My hope is to offer viewers the opportunity to recognise and connect to a deeper aspect of themselves.
I have a studio in Brighton and use a variety of materials such as stone, wood, metal, and clay.
I am a member of Surrey Sculpture Society and exhibits and takes private commissions. Recent exhibitions include RHS Wisley, Sunbury Walled Garden, and Brighton Open Houses. My works are in private collections in various countries including Holland, Switzerland, UK and Israel.
‘Serious sculpture with a smile’
I am fascinated by drawing and the ability to create an image from lines and marks on paper. I like to experiment with paper and cardboard exploring scale and form, which are translated into more permanent media like ceramic, bronze, steel and wood – enjoying the variety of materials employed in my sculpture like hard metal and soft clay I can realise the sometimes surreal world from within. For me being an artist is a form of constant play and enquiry in many forms on many levels……my work is born from the bonding of internal and external experiences and the conclusion of a piece is the point at which it exists by its self with the artist the link in a process of creation.
Paul has developed some unique ‘rapid prototyping’ techniques which enables him to explore full scale ideas quickly. His inventive use of material is born out of his strong desire to create objects that have a physical relationship with the world around them. His selection of materials is made by the decision that they must be freely available. One of his favourite materials to use is disused packaging, cardboard and bubble rap. This unassuming mundane material is so abundant in todays society, it has given him the freedom to play and explore. By cutting forming and manipulating it with his hands glueing and sticking it he can create very complex shapes allowing him to create any form he wishes. The forms can be polychromed with resin worked with clay or cast into bronze to create permanent works that can be placed outside. This process can also be applied to metal fabrication.
For me, the creative process is about developing a conversation with nature and her forces, and starting to listen to her with my heart. Although my sculpture is non-representational it is strongly related to human questions of encounter, relationship, the space in between, the centre and the inner life.
I am inspired by stone, especially the slate of North Wales with its dark, deep purple/black tones and soft forms. I also enjoy using found materials, often wood, which has already been worked by nature to which I add further transformation (sometimes a lot, sometime a little) to enhance its beauty and give it meaning. Often I use mixed materials to create a dialogue between the various components of the form and so add a higher level of complexity to the work.
Since 2000 I have been a member of Surrey Sculpture Society and exhibited with them at many prestigious venues. I also exhibit regularly with the South East Open Studios programme and at other venues in SE England.
My work can be found in many private and company collections. I am a co-director and tutor at the Hoathly Hill Sculpture Studios, West Sussex. I am also a state registered Art Therapist (STRATh) with a private practice and using the healing properties of sculpture and painting.
Physicality is ever present within my objects. I am interested in the nature of receptiveness and physical connection through representational, almost symbolic, and intuitive approaches. In relation to this my practice more specifically investigates the possibility of a portable objects ability to respond, interact or connect to its space/environment. Despite their scale all works are determinedly portable objects – they represent themselves as being in-flux with regard to place (often with wheels, G-clamps or handles) occasionally through a questioning of the plinth due to it‘s intermediate place between work and space. I believe to get to the very root of sense, physical experience and interaction the work has to refuse to relate to a specific place and in it’s own self-contained way indicate itself as being pliable, penetrable, absorbing, exploring or similar.
The works I make vary from simply responding to universal forces such as gravity to liberally investigating the use of funnels, which have an innate ‘receiving’ attribute, orifices and vents (or even the holes in knits determine a work as being penetrable and so capable of interaction). The investigation is continued with the use of viscous syrup occassionally smeared over the forms, with this I am attempting to evaluate the role that viscous liquids may have – I suspect viscous liquids can have a ‘conduit’ function in that they form a more physical connection acting as a fluid extension of the form serving as mediator. I pursue greater understanding and to make increasingly inventive representations in relation to these issues.
More recently I have been concerned with utilizing a slightly different language and fixing hazard beacon lights to my sculptures. This has been done as an exploration and extension of a sculptures ability to announce its own presence, I have tried to extend this natural aspect of sculpture with the use of the beacons so that the work more actively communicates with its surroundings, a beacon also in marking the sculptures space shares some merit with plinths and so there have become a number of related concerns which have founded an interest in the flashing lights and which I propose to further pursue in future work.
January 2012 - April 2012
I was born and brought up in Tbilisi, Georgia and studied at the I. Nikoladze Art College and the Academy of FIne Arts.
I have lived in UK for several years and am based in Wimbledon.
My work is abstract and influenced partially by the colours of nature and the shapes of natural formations such as mountains and forests though there are many other influences which can stimulate my imagination.
I work mainly in oil and mixed media and like to explore the multiple and varied textures, depths and richness which can be created in this way.
I have exhibited in Georgia, Russia, France, Qatar and London, and my work is held by private collectors in Denmark, Switzerland, UK, USA, France and Spain.
Kathy Shadwell did a post-graduate diploma in ceramics at Goldsmiths College, London for which she received a commendation. Following this she set up her own studio and worked and taught pottery until 1994. In 2001 she was elected as a Professional Member of the Craft Potters Association. She has taken part in international workshops in Japan and Germany. She has work in private collections in America, Spain, France, Germany and New Zealand.
In 1998 she was commissioned by South East Arts for three 5 ft figures which were exhibited in Petworth House in Sussex. She was also selected for the Discerning Eye exhibition in the Mall Gallery, London and the Fisher Award in New Zealand. As a member of the Surrey Sculpture Society she exhibits regularly at RHS Gardens, Wisley, Loseley and Vivartis and also in Craft Council galleries.
She works in clay including T Material and coloured porcelain. Each piece is hand-built and unique. They are fired in a gas kiln to 1260 ˚C. Her work is mainly abstract / figurative and is based on ideas about solitude and the interaction between people. She is happy to accept commissions.
My work always has the starting point about some aspect of how we are: strengths, fragility, memories, etc.
In recent works I elaborate on the continuum of rhythm and pattern, concerning myself with geometry, natural cycles and the interconnection of all living things.
I work with green wood which is a by-product of tree surgery or commercial felling and which otherwise would be burnt or chipped. I always begin with the qualities of the piece I have found, and rarely plan. I simplify by gradually removing mass with gouges and rasps. It is a slow process and my output is quite small. The joy is to uncover the special character of the wood: its colour, texture, sound, smell, form and grain; the forces of life it contains; its transformation by decay. I have become increasingly interested in texture and have explored smooth, gouged and in some pieces shotblasted surfaces along with natural textures such as weathered bark and cracking. My finished pieces are best experienced in natural light and through sight, touch and with some woods, smell.
I still find the whole process of working with this medium very enjoyable, getting quite excited by the prospect of it’s potential.
I paint abstracts in oil on canvas, based on ‘things seen’: formerly still life, now mostly landscape, in which I aim to evoke time and place, using colour and light. I paint in thin layers, laying paint over paint to exploit its transparency, a technique of which Turner and Titian were both masters.
My formative influences included Georgio Morandi, Paul Cézanne, Georges Braque, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, and Clyfford Still. Morandi is remembered for pointing out that “There is nothing more abstract than the visible world”. I in my own way set out to make abstract compositions out of things I have seen, and been moved by: “A world observed and translated – a world created from the natural and the man-made: ‘still life’ a still life both drawn and felt, as one would admire and caress a well-loved jug, or wonder at the light on the water of the Thames on a calm spring morning” – was how I put it myself some years ago, and it still holds true.
I moved to Canterbury in 2000 to start my career in the art world by engaging in a BA (hons) Fine Art degree at the University for the Creative Arts, specialising in sculpture. Since then I have concentrated on stone carving as my artistic medium and have completed several commissions. I have been able to marry this with teaching and freelance art and education projects. I curate the Canterbury Art Fair and the Landmark Art Gallery in Teddington and have worked with many differing arts organisations in London and Kent.
My work follows a similar aesthetic of creating abstract drapery. It deals with issues surrounding the figure but also uses drapery to illustrate the lack of a figurative form. The shapes evolve from a trueness to the stone with only a suggestion by the artist as to what form the finished piece shall take. I am interested in curatorial theory and ideas of existentialism and present my pieces as ‘art objects’. I am influenced by artists such as Henry Moore and baroque and renaissance work in terms of aesthetics and the ideas surrounding the creation and presentation of Alberto Giacometti’s work and other post war artists. I experiment with the nature of the material trying to push it to its capable limits, often with destructive results. I aim to represent or imitate a light material in a heavy one but retain the visual aspect of both by attempting to manipulate the stone into what I am depicting whilst allowing the form and material to act and influence me. Using the size and scale of the pieces of stone available, I often carve fragments of the figure using the negative spaces between or surrounding the form to suggest the lack of discernable limns and features. This often brings about tension and with the use of plinths often using steel or oak which both ground and elevates the stone with their own weight and form they separate the viewing plane with aims to engage the viewer and the space into a sense of conversation with the pieces.
I am a textile artist working in contemporary textiles, specialising in batik, printing and machine embroidery.
My greatest love is colour, and I usually work on a large scale and enjoy working on designs, especially when I’m experimenting with techniques, materials and colours.
I trained at Southwark College in art and design before doing various short textile course and then a 4 year City & Guilds Creative Embroidery course. I completed the Advanced Certificate in Education (Post-Compulsory) at Canterbury Christchurch University in 2006.
I currently teach a variety of textile based courses for (mainly) Adult Education in Kent. I regularly exhibit in galleries throughout kent and South East England.
My work stems from various sources which include personal travels, Kentish landscape, current affairs, childhood memories and textile designs.
I don’t like to limit myself to one discipline, instead preferring to use a wide range of materials and to draw on a wide variety of sources. However, I often initially explore ideas using collage, as I find this a useful process in realising more finished pieces of work or in translating ideas using paint.
My work is often open ended in terms of impact. I like the viewer to bring something of themselves to the piece, rather than having meaning imposed by the maker.
In that respect, I like work to be loose and to have a meaning which is beyond intention, that is the piece in a sense answers back to both the viewer and the maker.
My artistic influences are wide and include Sandra Blow, Ian McKeever, Emil Nolde, Chaim Soutine, Nicola Hicks, Joan Eardley and Peter Lanyon.
Born in london in 1941, I trained as an actor in the early sixties and worked for 30 years as an actor, theatre director and television producer. Since 1996 I have been Director/Senior Tutor at the London Academy of music and Dramatic Art. I have drawn and sketched for over 30 years without any formal training but only started painting in 2000.
There is no particular philosophy to my work but I love line and colour and space and am fascinated by the human face. I also have a passion for Shakespeare, which is where it all begins…
My paintings, like so many things in life, usually start as doodles, scribbled in and around rehearsals or performances of plays I have directed over time. I rarely start with a finished idea , the characters just grow out of the scribbles and assume an identity.
I am not proud and will borrow from whatever is around me, rather like an actor does. And, just as the actor assumes an identity as he enters the space, I take up my characters as though they were simply waiting in the wings.
I love playing with colour and having no formal technique in place allows me a terrific freedom to play. The paintings are unashamedly theatrical – understandably given my 40 years of directing. I am not attempting to record any particular performance, just ideas that come out of the circumstances of the plays and the rehearsal process or even, sometimes, a tube journey. Life and the theatre are so inextricably intertwined.
Plays are about people wandering into space and wondering how to make the best of things, as in life. What is everlasting for me is not the outcome but the journey and the marks the journey leaves behind.
Equally I am absorbed by the landscape of the face. In a similar way faces also reflect journeys. As rooms have ghosts, so too do faces, There is always somewhere in a human face the residue of a bewildering chaos that reflects sadness, lost dreams, or occasionally, joy!
I am currently studying for a PhD at the University of Brighton, researching into Proximity and Absence: Photography and the Aesthetics of Memory. I have an MA in Photography – Distinction (University of Brighton, 2010) and a BA(Hons) in Photographic Studies (University of Derby, 1987). I have many years of industry experience, both as a photographer, and in managing large photographic, design and marketing projects. I live in London and currently divide my time between pursuing my own photographic practice/research and lecturing.
‘I photographed my first wedding professionally at 14-years-old, and was so harrowed by the experience that it took me nearly 20 years before I rediscovered my love for portraiture. No longer an awkward teenager, I have had the opportunity to be involved in a number of projects and photographic experiences that have given me the confidence to know how to produce a successful shoot. What I value the most from the experience is putting a smile on the face of my clients when they receive the final piece.’
Chris is an award-winning portrait photographer, also showcasing landscape images representing both local and international areas. Chris provides promotional and publicity materials for two local charities.
Leigh Dyer is an independently minded sculptor his favourite medium being metal, he has been working prolifically in metal since 1998 and has experience designing metal art sculptures in the following fields, community art spaces, theatrical services, lighting, private commissions, abstract creations, installations, decorative interiors & furniture. He is a designer and maker, primarily.
September 2011 - January 2012
Julia’s work explores the physicality of painting, the use of colour to give an illusion of space within the work and the application of mark almost as a ‘beat’ within the pieces. The work is abstract, sometimes alluding to interiors or landscapes but is essentially about colour relationships and improvisations, the process of the painting revealing the image through time. “I am interested in creating paintings which act like soundtracks to a particular moment or memory, images that mimic the rhythms and space that occur in music.
“The paintings are acrylic paint and crayon on paper worked in many thin layers to achieve the richness of colour. The crisply masked edge ‘contains’ the sometimes elusive imagery and the addition of crayon drawing adds a broken textural line.
Julia has been a practicing artist since 1983. She has exhibited widely in Britain and Europe. She lives in Worthing and is Fine Art Pathway Leader on the Art Foundation Course at City College Brighton and Hove.
Gavin studied Fine Art and graduated with a BA (Hons). He concentrated on Printmaking and Photography, the latter providing source material and inspiration for his etchings and lithographs.
As a post graduate Gavin exhibited throughout the North East as a young artist supported by Northern Arts. He was commissioned by Northern Arts to create an etching for a poem written by Andrew Motion who later became Poet Laureate. Subsequent to leaving the North East for London Gavin chose to use his talents to concentrate on a career in the design and production of multi-media content for live staged events. Gavin has now decided to return to his roots and concentrate his talents on producing fine art limited editions in photography and printmaking. Since returning to being a full time artist Gavin has exhibited in both the UK and Europe and is regularly commissioned to produce one-off art works for private clients.
As well as his fine art work Gavin is involved in project work in the third sector and corporate sector focusing on the issue of corporate social responsibility. His latest project is an ongoing photographic record of the effect that energy exploration is having in West Africa and the benefits of CSR investment to the people in the region He is permanently based at Wimbledon Art Studios.
‘I want to capture the spirit that exists in the lost, the forgotten, the momentary and the disposable. I want my images to have a quality and uniqueness that champion the provenance of abandoned entities. The images are intended to be visual landscapes aimed at animating the inanimate and drawing out the abstract beauty and tactile qualities that exist in this ‘found’ miscellany.
I hope to create a texture and depth to each of images that transcend the impression of looking at a photograph. Focus, Colour and Scale are balanced in a way that will draw you into the composition as much as the organic nature of painting, printmaking or sculpture would do.
Sculpture in welded metal
“The measured external geometry of the pieces echoes my need for order but the contrasting textures of steels and other materials express the chaos within”
Idun was born & brought up in Norway. Her interest in art started at a very young age & she painted her first oil painting at the age of 13. Since moving to the UK, she has trained in many & varied fields of art including painting, printmaking, life drawing, photography, graphics, illustration & textiles. She has a BA Hons. Fine Art, Painting, from the University of Surrey and has trained withPaul Newland (NEAC) & Francis Bowyer (P Pres RWS & NEAC). In her recent work, all painted in oil, she features the semi-abstract still life and landscape.
Idun’s work shows simplicity, serenity and calm, with an infusion of light, which she attributes to the South West part of Norway where she grew up. A great contribution to her paintings is her sketchbook, in which she captures moments in time.These may be quick sketches, sometimes just a few lines, but they may contribute to future paintings. When painting, and although right handed, she also frequently works with her left hand & occasionally includes drawing as a linear part of her paintings in the form of graphite or charcoal.
Idun finds this creates immediacy in her work.
You may find abstract & semi abstract elements of the Norwegian landscape in her work, such as boats, mountain scenes, memories & evocative scents from childhood, simply depicted in colour & form. Idun also lectures in Life drawing & Oil Painting in Ealing, West London. Her work can be found in private collections in the UK & Norway. She works from her studio at Wimbledon Art Studios and in 2010 took part in 5 group shows, including the AAF, represented by the Red Gallery.
My most recent paintings explore the image of a female figure with multiple arms who first appeared in my work earlier this year. This image is part symbol, part representational woman. I enjoy elements that teeter between worlds and don’t fit easily into categories.
The figure first appeared when I was thinking about the tension between the restraints of the physical body and the incorporeality of spirit, imagination, stories, myth and memory, all of which feed into my paintings. There is an inherent tension in the relationship, as with music and dance. Painting lends itself as a metaphor for this process because of the struggle to manifest something imaginary and intangible through the materiality of paint.
I paint in layers because this seems most appropriate to the subject. I see time and memory as fickle, multi-layered and manifesting themselves in unexpected ways. The figures move back and forth, become part of each other and sometimes bleed through from one layer to the next. Wiping and scraping and building colour on colour allows the figures to appear to float, fixed in the imagination rather than in a physical location.
I graduated from Kingston Polytechnic Art School in 1991, I also studied life drawing at Chelsea School of Art. I am still painting and am now also learning the art of direct carving in stone and wood, with Pure Form in Canterbury. I am from the first generation of artists for whom the landscape of our visual horizons started with the world changing Apollo mission photographs of the earth from space. The possibility of seeing that which is normally beyond the naked-eye influences my approach to what the world and art might look like.
My paintings represent a visceral response to the world around me, often after dark. I paint skies; looming presences under a quarter moon; silhouettes of black against darkness; moonlit mackerel clouds against the backdrop of the Milky Way. Stepping outside at night in a rural landscape sets my senses fizzing. Horizons are hinted at if not always visible and sometimes the paintings become pure studies in light and colour. Colour takes a lead role in much of my work and 2011 appears to be bringing more colour.
My inspiration starts with the rich depth of the pastel colours of Odilon Redon (1840-1916), the complex subtleties of Marc Rothko (1903-1970). I also love the dreamscape quality of their work. Technically I am influenced by the wet-on-wet techniques of Frankenthaler (1928-on) and Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) for releasing painting from the paintbrush. I am a great fan of James Turrell and his work with light and sky. I love the photography of Irving Penn and Sebasiao Salgado both of whom have a way of showing detail to illuminate the whole and letting the overview reveal the detail. All these artists are a great inspiration to me and I only hope to catch a glimmer of their gifts.
I’ve been a practising sculptor for about 35 years. People usually imagine sculptors chipping away at a block of wood or marble. But I’m a modeller rather than a carver; that’s to say, I build up my piece of work from scratch rather than subtracting from a large piece of material, although I do use ‘reducing’ techniques from time to time. My pieces, ‘Fling’ and ‘Stretch’ have both been abstracted from a figurative piece. The reverse side of the figures has been worked to make them appear to have been carved out of wood.
I am self-taught and started as a child making miniature soldiers out of plasticene. The size of my pieces now ranges from the miniature to the very large. I’ve recently made one of my biggest pieces yet, ‘In Flight’ which stands 20 foot high at the entrance to Herm Harbour in the Channels Islands. This piece, constructed with stainless steel and marble resin, is representative of the direction my abstract pieces have taken in the past few years. (A smaller version of ‘In Flight’ is on display at King’s Hill.) In this and other recent works, such as ‘Budburst’, ‘Vol au Vent’ and ‘Earthdance’, I’ve tried to illustrate the natural vitality in humans and other living forms.
I’ve had numerous private and public commissions during my career. One of my public commissions was for Tonbridge town centre. This abstract piece, ‘On the Map’ depicts the route of the two rivers which run through the town. Though I did manage to include some little figures in there too!
Jeanne started her creative endeavours at age 16 with a foundation course at Hastings School of Art. As well as drawing and painting, it was textiles, embroidery and collage that were her main interests. In 1981 she started making sculpture, studying modelling, carving and mould-making with the late Trevor Collis in Guildford. In 1994 she was one of the founder-members of the Surrey Sculpture Society and was Chairman between 1999 and 2002
She is inspired by landscape, by plants, seeds, shells and other natural organisms. The craftsmanship of making the moulds and casting editions of her work are part of her creative process and she prefers natural materials such as cement for her finished sculptures.
Much of the sculptural work is large and designed to be seen in gardens and the landscape. She has exhibited outdoor work at RHS Wisley; Savill Gardens; Painshill Park; Borde Hill Gardens; Vivartis at King Edward’s School; Nymans; Polesden Lacey and The Harold Hillier Arboretum. Her smaller works and maquettes have been included in many galleries and indoor exhibitions in Surrey and the surrounding counties.
‘My inspiration comes mainly from my garden and from remembrances of a childhood in rural Sussex. For the last few years I have been planning and planting a new garden. The propagation of many plants from cuttings and seeds has given me the opportunity to observe developing forms during germination and growth… Some of the structures provide initial ideas to be enlarged and developed into sculptural forms. Plants are great subjects for drawing. The landscape of the garden is also my starting point for paintings and prints’
June 2011 - September 2011
I hope to create a sense of timelessness in my work and for each painting to convey a feeling of its own reality: a felt or imagined space, to which the viewer may respond.
Animals, perhaps, symbolise life’s deepest energies: instinctual life. In my work, the momentary glimpse of a horse and rider, a deer standing motionless, the movement of a horse, dog or bird in flight, are taken, through the process of painting, into an arena of day-dream, memory, or reverie, or perhaps what Freud described as a ‘free-floating attention.’
Energy, movement and stillness are important elements, which I aim to reflect in a similar vein to that of a piece of music or a dance, through the rather ethereal and dreamlike figures and images.
Elizabeth Jardine is a Brighton-based artist making paintings and papier-mache sculptures. After graduating from Falmouth College of Art in 2003 she has steadily been building up a career in the South East, setting up Crescent Studios with a colleague and winning the MADE Art Prize in 2009. Her delightful sculptures playfully explore space, while her paintings radiate an unfolding, ethereal transcendence rooted in an earthy reality. There is a sense of timelessness, of being drawn in, and surrounded by growing things, light, and depth.
Jean-Luc was never really that interested in photographing trees, that is until one night he illuminated one, then everything changed…
He began seeking out interesting trees that he could photograph and soon found himself drawn to the man made environments of parklands and country estates. In these controlled areas where trees were often planted for their aesthetic or pictorial qualities, Jean-Luc used a combination of artificial and natural light to portray the tree in a similarly controlled manner.
With night providing a darkened and subdued background, the use of artificial lighting removes the tree from its context within the wider landscape and accentuates its individual characteristics and appearance. The colours of the tree appear more vivid, the shape more defined. The scale of the tree can appear altered; sometimes its size seems diminished, almost as if it has been miniaturised to become a model or toy tree.
These trees, the ancestors of those we now see alongside motorways or protruding from the openings in the surface of a car park, have been altered by the process of lighting & photography.
They are the real yet slightly unnatural features placed in an environment shaped and controlled by man, which due to the passage of time, we now perceive as being a totally natural landscape.
Letitia is a printmaker whose work explores the emotional significance of landscape.
Using Monoprint she repeatedly reworks the surface of the print revealing layers of colour and markmaking to record that which the eye cannot see in order to evoke a sense of place.
The compilation, elimination and layering processes have suggestions of a natural process and allow a personal interpretation of meaning.
I have lived in London for over two thirds of my life. The rugged Welsh landscape I remember from my childhood as been destroyed, renovated and transformed throughout my lifetime. Memory is a place that I often visit. Working in isolation my studio that stores drawings, maps, bric-a-brac and stones that I have gathered over the years, many found in places, that inspired the paintings, and are used to connect the past with the present. I want to create an image, which brings together different aspects of the landscape. I work from notes, sketches, sometimes from photographs as well as from memory. The paintings do not seek to be a representation; the image is drawn from the inconsistency of memory and the limits of my imagination.
Generated by a sense of place, my heart generates the emotional response, and a desire to evoke a recognition in the viewer The paintings recreate moments and record processes; many layers are added and removed, marks are hidden and rediscovered. The paintings develop intuitively and with degrees of struggle when working on the compositional possibilities, they are informed by memories of atmosphere, light and weather and like the land, they become surfaces that contain time and memory, surfaces with their own history. This is an elusive world where time is understood not as a linear narrative, but rather where the familiar and the unreal merge in sensory perception
My paintings are devoid of human presence the space, the images suggest are of a welcome seclusion rather than lonely isolation and absence. The way we view that past depends on where we are and what we are doing now. Through my work I am putting my own mark down, claiming this time as mine.
My recent work has become concentrated on love and Mathematical structure, refining the surface and form further to create beautiful pieces often from discarded materials that yearn to be caressed. The main focus of my current work seems to have become opportunities to combine my carpentry/craft skills with contemporary interventions. I am also concerned with the waste culture that we currently live in and source my materials from diseased or fallen trees which I process myself with a small saw mill and occasionally use the odd bit of industrial waste to create assemblages. I have also begun to get to grips with stone carving having recently attended a course tutored by Peter Randall-Page and Simon Thomas who have helped demystify the stone carving process for me and shown the correct application of tools , I would like the opportunity to pursue this further in public art situations where the general public are able to provide input and benefit directly from the process and the work produced.
My work ranges from architectural structures, with traditional materials and techniques, to purely sculptural form and furniture designed with CAD technologies. I now integrate the craft process and the contemporary areas of my work into large scale projects that may be interpreted in a variety of ways from functional structures to purely aesthetic features allowing the viewer to be involved by actively interacting with the artwork or as with some cases the work has integrated with its surroundings so much that it is not at first noticed. My smaller work seems to be more concerned with form, texture and light alongside emotional concepts of love, interdependence and protection, as I feel an early function of art was to convey these and other concepts through the use of totems and idols, which collective and personal ideas and feelings about the world and each other can be expressed.
January 2011 - May 2011
“What I am trying to do through my photography is very simple. While much of photography today presents an over-intellectualised, dystopian view of the world, I want to provoke positive emotions in the viewer. Wonder, intrigue, perhaps just a smile. I hope the images invite you to jump in and experience this world for yourself.”
A lot of my work so far has been commissioned by small companies, galleries and individuals who saw work at an exhibition. Some commissions came from friends and family. Regardless of the relation, the nature of any commission is such that my creativity is influenced and galvanised by what others want. This interaction invariably produces exciting and innovative results through the use of unexpected or less familiar materials and methods. It gets me out of my ‘comfort zone’ and I learn new skills and techniques. Commissions can, for the same reasons, be challenging but I have come to love the research, investigation and negotiations needed for a successful piece of work. It also makes me produce more substantial and ambitious pieces. So, feel free to approach me if you are interested in having something made for specific place or person. The process is much easier than you think.
When it comes to working for ‘myself’ things seem to work very differently. My work is generally informed by what is around me in terms of material as well as my surroundings. I never seem to need to ‘look for inspiration’ and for a good number of pieces I simply waited for a piece of stone to ‘tell’ me what it wants to be. It may sound a bit silly but I find that this is the case particularly with carving. Once I see an object – either a figure or animal – within the form it is easy to carve around it to expose its surface. Some people are naturally more inclined to carving – ‘taking away’ and I do love working that way but I also enjoy making objects – by adding or ‘putting on’- Two very different approaches to sculpture, both equally important and valid.
I also throw in some painting and drawing for good measure!… Perhaps one day I will concentrate on just one discipline but as it is I don’t feel I have to.
I started painting as a hobby, after training and working as an haematological technician,and raising a family of three boys. I had good instruction in Adult Education, and have continued to paint ever since.
I am drawn to colour and form, used in an abstract way. It seems natural to me to try to find the essence of a place, still life, or figure in this way, working from a series of sketches. I use a variety of media in most of my work, and have started working in watercolour and ink on canvas.
I have exhibited at The Royal Academy, The Mall Galleries, and The Open Exhibition of The Royal Watercolour Society, where I won “The Saunders Waterford Award” with a painting of Australia. I have had several one man shows,and taken part in numerous group exhibitions.
I work mainly in my studio in Saltdean close to the Downs. In my search for subject matter, I sketch, photograph and often work directly from the Sussex Downs and the seashores of the south coast and along the South Coast Walk to Cornwall and latterly in the mountains of Southern Spain.
The sea, with its rich source of movement, colour and mood and the Downs, reflecting the changing light and atmosphere of the Sussex chalk lands, are the main inspirations for my work. The rich variety of weather, the seasons and times of day provide me with challenges of capturing the qualities and moods across land and sea. Walking in Cornwall has inspired me with its darker, more richly tonal land and brilliantly lit seascape.
I also work in three dimensions. I make hand-built ceramic vessels, bowls and pots in mainly stoneware. My clay surfaces reflect the cracked and pitted nature of erosion on forms and structures exposed to the elements and evoke too, the colours of land, sea and sky. I use oxides and glazes to highlight these qualities. My ceramic pieces relate closely in feel to my 2D work, but focus in more abstract ways on the corrosive and weathering effects of the elements upon the natural and man-made.
Life drawing is an essential element of my work. I work from the life model mainly in charcoal and conte. I also work from life to create clay figure sculptures in stoneware.
I trained in Fine Art, first in Croydon and then Brighton. I exhibit and sell my work in different galleries and venues in the South East. I also participate in the Brighton Festival Artists Open Houses, exhibiting and selling my work.
I studied painting and theatre design at Birmingham College of Arts and Craft; worked freelance as a book illustrator; taught various disciplines of art to all ages and abilities; studied printmaking part time at Brighton University; full time and part time at Northbrook College. I have exhibited extensively including the annual Art Festivals of Arundel, Brighton and Oxford. Recently, I have been experimenting with ceramics, taking my enjoyment of linear qualities into a 3D format. I always carry a sketchbook to scribble down whatever has grabbed my attention and then try to recreate that special moment, when I get back to my studio. The medium I chose for the follow-up work, will be dictated by the subject and the atmosphere it generated.
I live in the Downs and am fascinated by the rolling hills and ancient trackways. The surrounding countryside is a recurring theme in my work.
I enjoy colour and use colour like music with cords and dissonants, layering colour and textures as history is layered upon the landscape.
Email: alisonm-g@hotmail.co.uk
Al Johnson is a sculptor and printmaker. Her work has been widely exhibited, and is held in both public and private collections. Al’s sculpture and installations explore the concept of the collective memory, and consider the ways in which the past remains embedded in the present. She works in thematic series, undertaking the majority of the technical processes required for each work, utilising a range of contrasting materials; textiles, forged steel, plaster, copper, and timber, to create works which are sensual, paradoxical, and challenging.
In addition to her studio practice she lectures and leads workshops in major museums and galleries in the UK, including the National Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the British Museum. Curriculum Vitae: Lectures and Residencies
The natural landscape has always been the primary focus of my work, inspired by the vast panoramas of the Americas, Spain and the Swiss Alps.
Whilst my work is based upon the places I have seen, I have no interest in simply recreating existing landscapes. I like to use photographs and memories as reference to create new and imagined scenes.
The way in which light falls upon objects is of great interest to me. When broken down to just two tones (black and white- the part upon which light falls and that which is cast in shadow), the shape of an object can be suggested, giving as clear an idea of its form as a photographic image.
Ingrid Sixsmith has been working as a tapestry/textile artist since 1984. Based in the East End of London she has undertaken some major commissions, including two pairs of large tapestries for the reception decks of cruise ships and further ones for hospitals, including Homerton A & E Dept and clients including Allen & Overy, Linklaters and Roche.
Her tapestries are saturated with colour, often depicting theatrical landscapes full of symbolism populated with stylised figures and buildings usually exploring a spiritual language.
“My latest works derive influence from nature, sky and water combined with imagery from local photographic material or figurative gesture I am also exploring politically satirical paintings and tapestries.
I am committed to the promotion of ethereal and also stimulating work in order to either aid recovery and still retain a sense of belonging, or create a work which resonates the ethos of the company, public space.
Enhancing the environment is my key concern in alleviating stress and promoting a relaxing sense of well being – My MA thesis Art in Architecture probed Art in Health Care”
August 2010 - December 2010
Though currently making one – off pieces my work draws heavily on my training as a textile designer. I use dyes to colour fine Chinese calligraphy papers and tissue paper. Folding and dying produces fascinating random textures once the papers dry. These can be used immediately or new layers of pattern created with batik wax and more dying. The papers are then cut or torn and collaged together, using wax to adhere them. Other materials are sometimes incorporated, such as silk fibres, fine glitter or gold leaf.
Inspiration comes from many sources. Ritual, and mystic, transient moments in nature, folk art, mythology….
I am interested in cultures that call upon unseen forces to help them. Such beliefs can result, I imagine in some enchanting moments, though sometimes make connections with powerful or frightening elements.
The aim is not to make literal interpretations, but to capture the spirit of a special place or magical moment.
Originally made as an installation for the Nowhere festival (Burning Man) Spain 2010, The Slavic Firebird, or “pheonix” as a symbol of freedom, it is the object of a difficult quest. The finding of which and captivation is both a blessing and a bringer of eventual doom to its captor.
Steve takes on private commissions. Including furniture for the garden or home, sculpture, curtain poles, lighting, etc.
He also runs forge workshops for the beginner and intermediate.
I am excited by all sorts of subjects from landscape to the human figure but am less interested in accurate representation than in playing with the drama of colour and energy. My first love was drawing. Elements of this remain in an interest in structure, manifest through a balance of line and mass. I use many different mediums, often combining oil paint and pastel, or charcoal and acrylic, in an attempt to maintain freshness and tension in the work.
Karen grew up in Kent and after a successful career as a textile designer has moved into full-time painting. The surrounding countryside of Kent, and gardens such as Great Dixter and the South East coast also have been her main inspiration as well as her own garden and personal objects. Her paintings are not necessarily representational but create a sense of space and calmness. Borrowing the vistas beyond the garden to meld with the blooms in the foreground, using sweeping strokes and colour just to imply form is an essential strand to her work. Working mainly in Acrylic on Canvas, board or paper.
After a 34 year flying career I decided that visual art was a better way to express myself. I obtained a Higher National Diploma in Fine Art at Hastings College in 1998, specializing in sculpture, mainly large wooden constructions which I have continued to make since then. In 2006 I completed another HND in Craft, specialising in ceramics.
At present my work includes painting, collage, sculpture and ceramic sculpture.
Linda’s work combines figurative and abstract elements. She paints men formally dressed in suits,shirts and ties. Their gestures are ambiguous and their expressions unclear or hidden, sometimes giving the paintings an unsettling or sinister atmosphere. The figures exist in inexplicable spaces – against a background of repeating floating emblems or in a landscape dominated by elemental forms.
Linda is a graduate of Edinburgh University and Wimbledon School of Art. She lives and works in London where her paintings are regularly on show.
June Frickleton is a Scottish artist based in Brighton. After graduating with a BA(Hons) from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, she won a Hungarian Government Scholarship to study for a year at the Academy of Fine Art in Budapest. She then completed an MA in European in Art in Barcelona and Winchester through Winchester College of Art before going on to complete a certificate in Arts Management at Sussex University and a City in Guild in Adult Education Teaching at City College, Brighton.
June uses a personal vocabulary to create sumptuous abstract paintings that deal with pure colour and form.The paintings have a strong visual impact that is heightened by the use of a reduced palatte.
As a Sculptor I trained at Central St.Martins in London and obtained a First Class Honours in Fine Art in 1991. I currently work in a whole variety of materials including carved reclaimed wood, willow, mosaic,wire and recycled materials. I currently run the Sculpture Course at Sussex Downs Eastbourne together with a number of other 3 dimensional courses for adults where I actively encourage students to use waste/ recycled materials to create sculpture.
May 2010 - August 2010
I have for several years now produced paintings that are concerned with our modern lifestyles, our obsession with appearance and consequently the toxic effect on the world around us. Like the story of Echo’s love of Narcissus we seem hopelessly intoxicated by the mirage of surface perfection, yet by neglecting the substance that real beauty relies upon, in our pursuit of these dreams we seem to poison all that we touch.
My recent series of works take the motif of a bunch of roses, a simple bowl of cherries, but undermine these notions of beauty and desirability by allowing the fruits presented to over-ripen to the beginnings of decay. The paintings allude to the tradition of still life, but also that of the perfect and sanitised world of advertising where every spoonful of dessert hints at the attainability of a utopian world.
My main interest lies in the representation of landscape and what meaning these representations have in respect to our perception of landscape.
I am especially interested in the way societies change the landscape to accommodate their needs and how different societies identify themselves (or are identified by others) through the way land is treated and perceived.
The questions that arise from researching, visiting and experiencing specific places are of a political, sociological and psychological nature. My work is created in response to these questions, not as an answer to them, but as an attempt to rephrase the situation and present it in a different context.
Though large format photography is at the centre of my practice, I also work with print, sculptural installation and film, especially Super 8mm.
SUSANNA HARRIS HUGHES was born in Folkestone, Kent and now lives near Guildford. She has a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from the West Surrey College of Art and Design, Farnham (now the University for the Creative Arts) and an MA in Printmaking from Wimbledon School of Art. She exhibits widely both nationally and internationally. In 2008 she was selected by Arts & Business for inclusion in their Visuals Catalogue and on-line Gallery.
Susanna makes work in direct response to places or events in her life and says of this series of ‘Inheritance’ prints:
“When my father died in 2004 we had to clear out his house – a house that had been lived in by his family for the past 70 years. It was a treasure trove of artefacts inherited through generations belonging to people whom I may or may not have met but whose lives had become intertwined not only through blood ties but also their possessions. The first series on ‘Empire’ involves my grandfather’s life in India. The second ‘Fames Twilight’ takes its name from a book he wrote. Tea sets, drinking vessels and wallpaper are also an emotive part of people’s lives so a third series is being based on these.
As I go on, my own ‘collections’ seem to be creeping in and a fourth series of found objects – ‘inherited’, so to speak from the garden has also been started.
The project as a whole is growing and becoming a kind of two-dimensional ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’. “
The ideas behind my sculptural work are often influenced by organic forms, material and the environment. I am interested in the geometric structures, patterns, symmetry and proportion found both in nature and the unfolding of numbers in space. Other pieces have an historical element to them, either on a personal level or as part of the commissioning process with the client. I work predominantly in stone and wood because they are durable, lovely to carve and have their own innate beauty. I see myself in the tradition of artist makers, carving original pieces either to commission or for exhibition.
Rachel’s work is a celebration of colour. She uses layer of hand dyed fabrics to create instinctive colour statements, which evoke perceptions of time, feeling and place.
Works often reference a specific location or experience and the artists’ own personal relationship with the encounter; capturing the moment. She is particularly fascinated by moments of revelation and transition – conscious understanding of a new way of seeing things – changing light; changing colour; changing reality.
The works all explore colour, pattern and change.
Hand-dyed translucent fabrics are layered to create richly coloured artworks. The crisp surface of the cloth is hand-cut with intricate geometric patterns, revealing the layers of colour beneath and engaging the viewer with a changing perspective. Small circles of coloured fabric are stitched, suspended, inside the cut-away shapes, like dancing pinpoints of hue.
Rachel originally trained in Surface Pattern Design and has taught textiles for several years. She is a member of the 62 Group of Textile Artists and the Prism exhibiting group. In 2009 Rachel was awarded the Crafts Council Development Award.
At first sight Julian Rowe’s work resembles a decaying collection retrieved from the depths of some long defunct museum, though on closer examination, the objects contained in the battered cases are enigmatic, and their labels illegible. There seems once to have been a story, but its thread is now lost, like the contents of a faltering memory … or perhaps this is all fakery, the invention of the artist. Memories can be invented too.
The work shown here has been made during the past five years. The touchstones of the individual pieces are from such diverse sources as Wagner and Schubert, Conrad and Caspar David Friedrich. Rowe loves to rummage around in the cultural attic. His favourite part of the loft belongs to the Romantic period, though he makes forays into even dustier corners, and his plundering is not confined to the bric-a-brac of the visual arts but embraces the history of literature, music and ideas as well. Above all, though, he likes to conceal what he has found. There is a tension in Rowe’s work between brutish weightiness on the one hand, and sheer elusiveness on the other. He hides his treasures behind grimy glass, or in semi-darkness, so that the viewer is left trying to complete the story from their own imagination, or simply contemplating the poignancy of irretrievable loss.
Julian Rowe lives and works in Kent. An art school casualty, he worked in libraries and the Civil Service for many years while his creative life proceeded in fits and starts, until he summoned the wherewithal to devote himself to full time art practice in 1998. Since then he has exhibited frequently in the UK and elsewhere. He is currently studying for an MA in Fine Art at UCA Canterbury.
Recent sculpture by Dave Stephens has been typified by work that deals with the problem of surface. How we respond to the world being seen as a series of images that have been fragmented and reassembled. Whether the images are digramatic (as illustrated in the map sculptures) or representational, (as in the ones that use photography as a surface area), the viewer is constantly being asked to reassess their notions of reality and how they view and respond to it.
His work also extends into film where he deals with notions of reality and how the imagination can run alongside it.
Dave Stephens first came to public attention as a performance artist in the late 70’s and 80’s. He gained an international reputation as a performer who crossed the boundaries between high art and cabaret. He developed a unique brand of monologue which combined improvisation with highly imaginative insights into the human condition.
January 2010 - April 2010
I work in fabric and on paper, using a range of techniques and in a variety of sizes. Different types of printmaking, photography and processes using new media have featured in recent pieces. I trained as a fine artist in Canada and the UK and my work reflects these conventions by interpreting them in cloth. Travel and memory combine to influence my choice of subject matter. In 2010, I continue to collaborate with other artists and a writer and am exhibiting in the UK and abroad.
I graduated with a B.A (Hons) in fine art printmaking from the University of Brighton then studied further on a masters degree at Wimbledon School of Art.
I now work as a professional practising artist and am a member of
several London groups including United Artists and the Printmakers council.
My recent work has been investigating the relationship of inside and outside space, encompassing the experience of a place that is both physically and visually engaging, through structures found within plants, landscape and architecture.
Printmaking becomes a continuation from the process of drawing.
Looking and describing using the images to explore the dynamics of translating from one medium into woodcut and other printmaking techniques.
The initial aim is for the prints to have a sense of scale, drama and depict a heightened reality.
Paul is a self-taught painter who studied and worked as a designer before committing to painting full-time. Based at Wimbledon Art Studios in Earlsfield, South West London, Paul works from his own photography acquired whilst soaking up the culture and colour of city life. Painted very rapidly with vigorous strokes of oil paint and vivid colour, his work is characterised by unusual angles and ruthless cropping – the overall effect being that of a seductive, cinematic urgency.
Paul’s subject matter is inspired in part by the work of photographer William Eggleston and his ‘snap-shot aesthetic’. As such there is a distinctive voyeuristic impression in Paul’s work, reflecting, perhaps, contemporary obsessions with the hidden camera; his energetic painting technique embodies the sense of spontaneity and vibrancy of the scenarios depicted. “What interests me most,” he asserts, “is conveying atmosphere and mood rather than individual people or locations. I want the viewer to feel immersed in my paintings, to feel a sense of physical presence and to be left to imagine their own characters and narratives in what they’re seeing.”
Puckered and pinched, twisted and teased. Techniques taken from the gentle arts of origami and embroidery are applied to industrial materials such as roofing felt. Strange textures and complex shapes emerge resolving the startling paradox of form and material.
Ambiguous forms reminiscent of organic growth evolve into intriguing sculpture which exert their presence on the surroundings and invite a second look.
Carole Andrews is a Fellow of the Royal British Society of Sculptors, her work is exhibited around the country and in the USA. Commissions are welcome, do please contact her through the links below.
Since April 2008, Eastbourne landscape painter Julian Sutherland-Beatson has been producing a ‘daily painting’ of the Sussex countryside and coastline.
Having trained in printmaking and graphic design at Eastbourne Art College under Robert Tavener, Julian’s experience of working as a graphic designer for many years informs his current work.
“I enjoy the discipline of working for a specific time each day and letting my intuition, training and experience ‘kick in’. I’ve lived and worked in Sussex for over 25 years and it’s a treat to engage with the landscape and coastline on a daily basis”
In 2004 Julian had 2 paintings (Eastbourne Pier and De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill) purchased for the permanent collection at The House of Lords.
This was in response to a request for work in the style of 1930s travel posters to complement an original collection. He continued this project with a further 12 in similar style.
He also has work in private collections in this country and throughout the world.
Richard is a contemporary photographic artist, located in Brighton. Born in Basingstoke in 1974, he received a first class BA honours degree in photography at the University of Brighton in June 2006.
The work in this exhibition called Textures of Time looks at the exposed surfaces created through mineral extraction in various quarries in Sussex. Paying particular attention to the geology, archaeology and history of each site.
Richard has exhibited throughout the South East of England and in London and is also working for the Photographers Gallery on the Colliers Green Focus project, teaching Key stage 3 children to explore their environment through photography.
As a metal sculptor I enjoy creating work that has a strong emphasis on visual and textural aesthetics. The materials I use are robust, long lasting, and extremely low maintanance once finished.
Visual accessability is important in my work because I want people to interact with my pieces, either in observation, or through tactile investigation.
My intention is that people easily engage with my sculpture on an emotive level, which encompasses humour, endeerment, awe, and occasionally fear. I aspire to bring inanimate and found objects to life and give them characters, and emotions of their own.
July 2009 - December 2009
This body of work records objects that remain at his family home and are a direct response to the loss of his father. They are studies made in a particular place that he associates with his father and memories attached with him. When he became engaged in what was physically left behind he began to realise that the majority of items discovered began to reconstruct his memories and feelings about his father and their relationship.
Julian Ward studied an MA at University of the Arts in London and now lives in Brighton, UK and works as a freelance photographer. He has worked in various areas of photography including assistant to Magnum photographer Mark Power, picture editor in a photo library and teaching digital photography. His work has been published in Monocle magazine, 125 Magazine and used on book covers for Routledge and Picador. ‘Mecanno Car’ from this series of work was chosen for the ‘Magenta’ 2006 emerging UK photographers and included in the book and exhibition in Toronto, Canada.
These elegant and intriguing pieces of ‘alien nature’ are directly inspired by natural, organic forms. The shapes and textures of the tiny fruits and seeds of wild flowers is a theme Si continually explores, enlarging them to giant sizes to celebrate the beauty of these minute wonders of nature.
Si grew up surrounded by the woods and fields of southern England where he still lives and works. The woods provide the raw materials and often the inspiration for his distinctive sculpture. Carved from Oak, the most English of woods, Elm, Sweet Chestnut or Robinia, a dense, durable, exotic wood, the sculptures will continue to weather and evolve to a silver driftwood like colour over time.
A graduate of Camberwell College, London, he works from his studio on a farm in Kent where he uses mainly copper or steel. He is inspired by nature, the earth, the cosmos and the spirit, and he uses elements of these for symbolism, form and texture.
He has exhibited widely throughout the British mainland and in Guernsey, and his sculptures have been purchased by collectors from Europe, New Zealand and the USA. Public artworks include school projects and sculptures for the sensory garden at the Royal Brompton Hospital, London. BBC2’s ‘Gardeners World’, ITV’s ‘Carlton Country’ and ‘Artworks’, BBC Radio Scotland, The Financial Times, Gardens Illustrated, Country Life, Surrey Life, Kent Life, Country Life, Kent Messenger and The Sunday Express Colour Supplement have all featured my work.
His Organic Forms series are comprised of imaginative, futuristic copper heads on spiralling copper stems. They are inspired by nature, and many of the textures that he introduces into his work are derived from organic surfaces of stem, leaf or bark. They can be sited internally or outdoors in soil or in water, where the fine balance incorporated in the design allows for gentle movement in the wind.
Paula produces abstract sculptures, previous commissions also include: clocks, lights, signage, medals and trophies. Her medium of expression is mild and stainless steel and she uses as much reclaimed metal as she can in her work. On larger pieces this is often used on the majority of the maquettes, and is introduced as much as possible in the final work. She sources scrap locally or with relevance to the specific commission.
She has some signature details that echo throughout her work; Orbs – mirror polished, they reflect the surrounding and the spectator, Lettering – in more recent work having wording has been relevant for the project and she likes to incorporate this as a strong part of the identity. Cosmic – there is often a planetary feel about her work, Definition – highly polished and textured Primary forms – the circle, square and triangle.
The project theme and the metal she uses are the inspiration for each piece. Her water jet process also gives her the potential to introduce other materials, such as wood, glass and marble and she has previously worked in collaboration with other artists including a ceramicist and two textile artists. Over the years her work has increased in scale and she is receiving prestigious commissions from Medway Council, Science Organisations, architects and sculpture parks, as well as receiving the “Outstanding Achievement Award” at Medways Culture and Design Awards in November 2008.
Carol Anderson Knight has an honours degree in Fine Art from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa and is currently doing a masters degree in Painting at Wimbledon College of Art. She has a studio at The Wimbledon Art Studios where she paints on a full-time basis, and has exhibited in the United Kingdom, Australia and South Africa.
Working predominantly in oil on linen, the paint is built up from layers of glazing to create imagery that is suggestive and evocative hinting at figuration and at times moving towards complete abstraction. Being a colourist, the closest attention is given to paints of the highest quality on ensure maximum purity of hue. Exploring the limits and possibilities of oil paint as a substance is an ongoing challenge in developing her artistic practice and has become a lifelong commitment.
Bobby Boud’s work is inspired by transience; impermanence and the continual changes which are take place in the environment. Assimilation of all our surroundings is impossible, and it is often merely fragments of what is seen which are retained in the memory. It is these fragments which appear in his work as it is being created, in both drawing and printmaking. Our environment is multi-layered, and he employs this layering in his work. The medium of printmaking particularly lends itself to the process of layering allowing images to be placed over each other juxtaposing elements which can create a visual tension.
After completing a two year Printmaking diploma at Northbrook College in Sussex, he is currently in the fourth year of a Fine Art Degree at Farnham College for the Creative Arts.
Awarded a Fine Art degree in the early eighties, followed by research into paper and related media in Japan in the late eighties (Japan Foundation and the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust). She teaches textiles and visual arts at Adult Education and for schools and groups, and was resident artist for the Edward James Foundation, West Dean College in 2006 where she now runs regular courses. Guest artist at Quilt Art Lugano in Switzerland in 2007 and with Quilt Italia in Florence in 2008.
Her work has always been informed by personal experience, places visited, stories of my Romany grandmother, old and forgotten textiles. This new work proposes to examine cultural links between the Northern Indian art and decoration and my Romany heritage within a broader cultural context of land and people. She is interested in the shadows of marks made by man in the earth and reflections in water and flooded fields, the changes and impact on the flora and landscape. The use of land as a reference in art (floral patterns, colour and images); my concern is political, social, as well as climatic change. Her training is in Fine Art and works between two disciplines, painting and mixed media textiles. The stitched mark becomes a line of drawing. The dye becomes my paint. My base material is paper and fabric. The use of stitch is imperative to how the work holds together.
Stig Evans is intrigued by colour and how we perceive it. Trained as a painter, he combines conservation work with his artistic practice, often using historical paintings and their materials as starting points for new work. He is fascinated as much by the chemical make up of colour and its application, as the emotional impact of it.
“I want the paint to have a life of its own, so leave its application quite loose at times. Working primarily in oil I endeavour to escape the confines that total realism can impose, leaving more expression and less constraint.”
Bill Bate is based at Wimbledon Art Studios, London.
March 2009 - May 2009
His interest is to make paintings that have a strong physical reference to landscape and form, delivering a language that suggests a parallel companionship. The paintings do have a relationship to a place and a time but are not mimetic transcriptions; they do not depict life in a straightforward manner. The are pictorial equivalents of their subjects; objects in their own right, they should orchestrate a formal distance from their subjects.
‘I hope for accessibility of meaning and for work that uses description, ambiguity and symbolism in addressing paintings tradition’.
Much of her work emerges from the exploration of ideas through small sketches, whereby drawing can either be a part of the eventual composition or act merely as a starting point. However, the process of painting and printmaking involves issues concerning the actual quality of the surface whether it is flat or textured, or whether it is thin or thickly applied. The use of contrast becomes a major element in resolving these and compositional issues. Hazel has also undertaken a number of public art commissions in vitreous enamel and etched glass and developed a symbolic way of working using flat colour, line and collage elements. She has also been involved in creating images for texts. Her first book, To paint the portrait of a bird, was based on a poem by Jacques Prevert and published in 1994. She is currently working on a second book, At the limits of nature, for which she is creating a series of images based on twentieth century poems on the theme of liberty and the environment.
Steve Geliot is a sculptor and lives in Brighton. He loves the simplicity of carving and works in wood, stone and clay. When using clay he allows it to harden and then carves it, as the material keeps its shape better, rather than sagging and loosing its tension. His sculptures are often inspired by natural forms and the bio-physics of the way things grow. The tall piece, Cereus is based on a cactus, simplified, spines removed and reduced to its essential bio-geometry. The clay sculptures are based on microscopic organisms. The diatom (a microscopic water dwelling organism) was found on Brighton beach. It was coated in a fine layer of gold in a sputter coater, and then photographed on an electron microscope, from a number of angles, revealing its delicate inner structure.
Marcus Haydock lives and works in Brighton. He exhibits nationally and internationally; his practice blends the genres of landscape, still life and portrait to create a sense of place through everyday scenes and objects that are emotionally engaging. In 2006 he was selected for the North Kent photography commission ‘Vanishing Shore’. During eight months, Haydock researched and photographed the landscape and communities of North Kent, capturing images of the people, the natural and built environments. The resulting fourty one large format colour photographs do not present a romanticised view of the area but offer a new interpretation of what is there. A selection of these photographs are exhibited at 11 Tower View, loaned by North Kent Local Authorities Arts Partnership (NKLAAP) and The Faversham Society.
She was born 1960 in the Northern Norwegian town Tromso, far north of the Arctic Circle. She studied Fine Art at Andenes Art College, Norway (2002-2003) and graduated in Fine Art Painting, BA (Hons) Degree from Northbrook College/Brighton University, Worthing, West Sussex, in 2007. In 2007 she was shortlisted for the Jerwood Drawing Prize and won Anthony Amies Drawing Prize. She has exhibited widespread in England, Norway and Germany and had two solo shows in 2008 and been into 25 group exhibition the last 18 months. She is inspired by the environment and climate change and she has a special interest in the Artic and Antarctic climate. Maps form a core to most of her work. Her works consist of drawing, painting and sculpture.
Julie Taylor-Goodman lives and works in Dymchurch, Romney Marsh. She exhibits widely in the UK and mainland Europe; her most recent exhibitions include ‘Touching You, Touching Art’ at the Catmose Gallery in Oakland, Rutland and ‘Tactile’ at the Otter Gallery in Chichester, West Sussex. Her primary practice focuses on ceramic sculpture and much of her work is informed by the colour and forms of the Marsh landscape and coast. She often visualises the finished pieces set in the landscape that has inspired them.
Katie Welsford lives and works in Margate. She has exhibited throughout the UK and Europe in solo and group exhibitions. She has completed commissions for the NHS and Thanet Coastal Project; she has also won the ‘Sofa so Good’ national competition in Scotland. The inspiration for her current works is a fascination with landscape, in its detail and mass. Many of her mixed media pieces explore her enjoyment of combining materials and techniques to interpret the variety and texture found in nature.
Sara Wicks lives and works near Canterbury and she has been based in Kent for the past eighteen years. She has participated in numerous exhibitions in the UK and northern Europe, with work in many private and public collections. Narrative and story making are strong elements in her practice. Her current mixed media works have been inspired by the woodland close to her house and her recent fragile paper constructions often incorporate or work alongside found objects. Her seven year old twins are a source of inspiration, their role play and toys often feature in her imagery.
December 2008 - February 2008
Nicolette lives in Sandgate, Kent and has a studio in Folkestone’s Creative Quarter. She has a long track record of exhibiting and participating in residencies in the UK and abroad. She initially trained as a sculptor but her work in the last ten years has been far more diverse and has included drawing, sculpture, printmaking and video. Her materials have been as traditional as paint and as unconventional as Mars Bars, toys and mud. For the past six years Goff’s work has been based in the natural environment, with a predominant occupation of printmaking in the landscape. She works directly on the ground using her car as a printing press, driving over papers that have been soaked in ponds and streams. The prints, which are several meters across, show the gashes where root material has torn through and, in contrast, the delicate staining of flowers and berries. The paper is impregnated with the essence of the plant the traces of colour, structure and form that are compressed and embossed into the paper.
Joanna lives and works in Dover, Kent. After studying at Northwich and Byam Shaw Schools, Jones received her NDD in painting from Goldsmith’s College before going on to the Royal Academy Schools. She spent over 20 years in mainland Europe developing her practice, exhibiting internationally and lecturing extensively on her work, before returning to the UK in 1997. Jones’ work encompasses performance, photography, film and painting. She is a recipient of several professional awards including a scholarship from Kunstlerhaus Balmoral in 2000 and an Arts Council Year of the Artist Award for a work at Samphire Hoe, Kent in 2001. In 2006 the Pharos Trust brought out a major publication on her practice ‘Joanna Jones’ now available from www.cornerhouse.org/books
“My paintings are performed: a sensual act of painting and direct expression of being. In my work I am interested in both capture and transience, stillness and movement, dark and light”.
Nigel lives and works in Pett Level, East Sussex. In 2008 he completed a PhD in Arts and Communication at the University for the Creative Arts Maidstone, this followed an MA in Fine Art at the University of Brighton. Green exhibits widely in the UK and mainland Europe; current research focuses on reconstruction architecture in Picardy. Green’s work has been published by Photoworks in ‘Dungeness’ (2004), with essays by David Chandler and Jonathan Glancey and ‘Calais Vu Par’ (2001), published by the Museum of Fine Art, Calais. In 2008 a selection of Green’s Dungeness photographs were shown in ‘The Nuclear Dilemma’ at the International Red Cross Museum in Geneva. The work Green is showing for Kings Hill Art was made during two exchange projects in Northern France. The first centres on the urban landscape of Saint-Omer in Nord-Pas de Calais and the second is from an on-going project documenting the post-war reconstruction and space of Picardy. Both projects reflect Green’s long term interest in post war architecture and its relationship to the legacy of modernism. Revealing both the remnants of utopian aspiration and the melancholy weight of historic actuality such sites reflect the complex forces of 20th century modernity.
Guy graduated from a BA in Photography at London College of Communication in 2007, and has gone on to exhibit his photography internationally. He lives and works in London, and is regularly involved in joint projects and commissions both here and abroad. The work on display here is from the series Ethereal Land, a project that explores the everyday banality of places and objects. The photographs appear as uncanny resemblances of the real world, each with its own ethereal, almost celestial, atmosphere. Through this process he strives to question one’s assumptions of the apparently banal by showing the ordinary as both beautiful and mysterious. All of the images are based upon reality, employing no digital manipulation, yet they appear to sit somewhere in between the real and the fantastical. There is often an assumption of validity when considering the photographic image, and this is the core debate Guy’s work engages with.
Irene is a professional actress and completed her MA in fine Art Painting at the University of Brighton in 2007. Her work focuses on how the extraordinary is held in the ordinary; attempting to transform the apparent mundane. The ‘Becketesque’ landscapes are not obviously identifiable, as they are more of an ‘innerscape’ and the forms moving through the space are metaphors for the human condition.
Alan Rankle was born in Oldham in 1952. His recent series of paintings “Formal Concerns”, take as their subject the development of landscape art related to changes in attitudes to the environment. In some works he seems to treat the entire history of landscape painting almost as a found object; manipulating and cross-referencing styles from diverse periods and cultures, within a fusion of abstract, trompel’oeil and figurative imagery. As well as working in video, photography, and installation projects, he remains at the forefront of artists expanding the vocabulary of contemporary painting, and contributing to the enduring relevance of Landscape Art in the light of environmental issues of the day. Through an ongoing series of International exhibitions his work has elicited much public interest and critical response.
“Rankle’s depiction of Nature as luminous, tortured, polluted or damaged, conveyed in violent surges of paint, bold blocks of colour and diffused light make him a distinctive contemporary landscapist. “Jackie Wullschlager, Financial Times.
Christian tries to invest foliage with human emotion – “I strive to not rest on my Laurels, but animate forms using repeated gesture or shape. I am interested by the apparently universal appeal of the eternal and how religious expression is found in a secular society. Most of my work is situated out side where I hope the element of surprise will provoke an open minded response in the viewer.”
His time is divided between making sculptures and public and private commissions, that can be gates, railings, interactive water sculptures, seating or shelters. “It feels a controversial act to place an individually designed hand-crafted object into mass produced street furniture, chains and franchises. I think it can have the effect of adding confidence to the population, and a sense of belonging.”
http://www.christianfunnell.com/