2006
Rita Nielson
With a degree in Graphic Design & Illustration already in her bag Rita came to the UK from Denmark to study BA in Fine Arts. She has lived and worked here ever since. The almost monumental feel to her work suggests deep engagement in observational and self-exploratory image making. Uncomfortable and disturbing and yet expressing something that we all sense as vaguely familiar, Rita hopes to involve the audience in a likewise searching journey into self, and above all the use of imagination.
Veronica Gosling
Masked by an eccentric sense of humour is a deep awareness of the human condition. No surprise when considering Veronica published five novels while rising five children. With the same determination she refuses to allow self doubt restrict her imagination, which results in sometimes seriously hilarious but always beautifully intimate and surprising assemblages. Her honesty becomes even more apparent in her skilful illustrations with commentary always touching on the obscurities & conundrums of our souls. With a lifelong passion and creative energy, Veronica opens her own House (Gallery 36) from time to time to visitors not only to show her own work but also to facilitate inventive collaborations with many other creators.
Dick Bixby
A bit of the old master in the bunch, decided to give us a taster of some work in colour to balance the record after his stunning monochrome outing with ‘Crypto’ back in April (see catalogue). Passionate as always, he loves to tease but is relentless in his execution of masterly skill. As a result of Dick’s long and sophisticated courier, his work can be found in many Museum collections abroad and in the UK.
Ray Malone
How is it that minimalist abstraction can give us this sense of eternal expansion?
With B.A.C.H.140 Prelude Ray has achieved this exquisite combination in not so simple charcoal. Interestingly and curiously Ray’s intellectual strength backed by intricate precision opens every possible desire for playfulness and interpretation to the viewer. His specific interest lies in the very particular relationship between the pictorial space of the painting and the real space in which the painting finds its ‘home’. With his latest experiment ‘dimensional painting’ he is pushing the boundaries even further. ‘Painting for me is above all else a mode of enquiry, a way of asking questions: about what there is to see and what there is to be seen.’
Ray continues to exhibit across the UK and has paintings in many private collections internationally.
Jo Joyce
Jo’s highly refined pencil & charcoal drawings, watercolours or portraits are just part of an artistic undertaking which flows easily from realism to abstraction and back again. Her inspiration always from ordinary daily encounters with her immediate surroundings, totally unpretentious - simply confirming her integrity as an artist and person. Jo’s warmth and intuitive gift is particularly admired in her portraits and
in recognition of this, her work more often then not finds a home in private collections before anybody else gets a chance to enjoy it.
Peter Gillies
Peter was hugely inspired by Venice during his two residencies at the Scuola Internationale di Grafica. The interwoven structure of his work combines painting with passages of writing which record the time spent under the pink skies of Venice.
‘It is both a city in peril and a city in decay, but its fragility only adds to the beauty. It offers a perfect metaphor for one’s own vulnerability.’
The publication ‘Passaggio’ accompanying his recent show at Art Terracina, follows the development of Peter’s work over the last three years through his poetry, painting, etching and photography. Many of his works are in collections around the world.
Isabel Merrick
Inspired by her environment, her journey through life, Isabel works intuitively to achieve this fresh, lively energy, involving the viewer in a ‘metaphorical conversation’. Accomplished as a potter and painter she never stands still. Always re-addressing her working methods to expand the possibilities of describing movement and depth, separating forms into various dimensions, creating other worlds. Canvas or ceramics she uses frequently primeval colours, both supported by a sophisticated mark making. Continually Isabel is being invited to exhibit her work in many Galleries around the UK and Japan.
Anna Keleher
Anna’s animation of ‘the pond’ is only a fragment of her current investigation into perception, creativity and process.
Addressing the question: ‘Where is my artistic practice located and how did I get there?’ she resorts to animation this time. Her practice however reaches wide and far. Anna creates collages of parallel worlds, installations and assemblages in Haldon Forest (CCANW), Rocombe Farm, Teignmouth Promenade (Hothouse), or University of Capetown, South Africa, exploring the intimate act of making Art and its exposure to the public.
Dave Sawyer
Dave is an internationally acclaimed sound sculptor, inventor and builder of unorthodox musical instruments, which are Art works in their own right. In a spontaneous collaboration, he is giving us a taster of his skill by improvising life to Anna’s (originally) silent animation.
Dave’s amazing musical creations can be found in many public places, activity parks and numerous schools around the country. It gives him great pleasure, that some of his instruments have proven to be particularly enjoyable and useful for children and adults with physical or mental disabilities.
Jenny Southam
Jenny is producing domestic-scale ceramic sculpture of an engaging quirkiness, which nevertheless shows a deeper understanding of the ‘human clay’. These larger pieces have an additional quality of a sense of majestic presence. Without loosing the frivolity the forms are precise and beautifully disproportioned. As always with Jenny’s work her glazing and graffiti accomplished and lively her sense of humour never to far away. Her work is shown throughout the country and is being collected intensely.
Louise Philips
Louise is a fresh new talent who we will see a lot more of. Some have seen – in her lively sense of line – a strange connection to the graphic work of Bruno Schultz. Nevertheless everything she produces has her unique stamp. Gifted and scatty her work touches the most critical persons in some way.
Robert Joyce
Robert flusters through – wondering what will stick. Always though he exhibits a child-like delight in the visual world, and - always off beat. His ‘through away’ notepad drawings are rarely surpassed by their simplicity and yet humanity. His use of colour (if it happens to be at hand) is extraordinary, beautiful always unique. Robert is influenced by everything but nobody. When on a roll, his work is always new, exciting, puzzling, random even. Originally a Yorkshire man, Robert rarely self-promotes yet his almost flippant but hugely accomplished skill recognised and loved by collectors, every time.
Robert also writes short stories and plays. Typically he comments on painting: ‘What more needs to be said about painting? Perhaps nothing. If something, then need one say anything? Formal qualities – line, shape, colour intuitive approach insuperability of narrative. Then this illustrative imperative survives despite all; despite the flight from it begun by Kandinsky, Malevich.’
Mike Nuth
Mikes paintings, drawings and assemblages are always spontaneous, earthy and tribal. His inspiration often led initially by discarded random items which he uses in his imaginatively delicate assemblages. The same intriguing mixture of raw and bold execution with intuitive observation and expression amounts to extraordinary strong work on canvas or paper. Please take a minute to enjoy his assembly of the four so expressively defined characters on the outside black wall.
Born in London, educated in Birmingham college of Art, Mike has had many solo and mixed shows around the country.
