August Exhibition Launch

Join us for the launch of our August exhibitions.

Where do we go and what do we draw from when direct observation is removed? There is no single answer to this question, but it is often an influence for artwork and artists that seek to be less representational and instead lean towards the abstract.

How much, or how little is needed in order to catch “The Spirit of the Mass”? (Ian Watson)

How can an exploration of the relationships between colour, surface texture, translucency and opacity create the intoxicating atmosphere of an engaging story? (Mark Jessett)

How is one influenced by the issues that have a strong meaning to them? (Jenny Smy)

How is a person’s connection to a place expressed as they experience it over changing time? (Sam Boughton & ashar)

And how do we pull together the pieces, things collected and held, as we create? (Lisa Parkyn)

These are works that whilst not necessarily representative of what the eye interprets at the surface level, are no less a way of seeing and experiencing the subject portrayed. And this is what these spaces offer: an alternative way of experiencing, a model for interpreting the world around us that is not limited or prescriptive, that invites us to see through innumerable lenses be they time, emotion, colour or energy.

Figure and Ground

Works of Ian Watson

"During the pandemic, I found myself trawling through my sketchbooks, and so began asking myself a question I had habitually asked before: When painting, how much, or how little, paint needs to be put on the canvas in order catch The Spirit in The Mass (David Bomberg)? So, I started, once again, to look at the pictorial conundrum of Figure and Ground. I made many drawings, trying to ‘essentialize’ the figure, often in the merest geometrical analysis. These images were developed as rapid sparse oil sketches or reversed using monotypes. Sometimes the ground became painted surface only, or was literally cut away, leaving the figure as collage material. Often patches of prepared ground, or canvas were left untouched. Occasionally an accidentally formed second figure suggested itself in the final image, the ghost of a minotaur perhaps…"

Memory and Emotion

Works of Mark Jessett, Jenny Smy, Lisa Parkyn and Sam Boughton.

Continuing our Bursary Programme, our August exhibition showcase, “Memory and Emotion”, welcomes artists working in abstraction, with works that reflect their individual responses to the world around them.

Myth and Moor

Works of ashar

Dartmoor is a part of me, or more accurately, I am a part of it. My soul sings when wandering about this mysterious place and being at one with the universe, and the moor. Winter is the most enigmatic time to be on the moor, but Autumn has the promise of Winter the colours capturing its essence. This latest body of works is about capturing moments on the moors.    “The longer one stays here the more does the spirit of the moor sink into one’s soul, its vastness, and also its grim charm.” AC Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles.