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PRESS RELEASE
‘Contemporary Art for Christmas, 2008’
Exhibition runs from Tuesday 2nd December 2008 to Saturday 11th January 2009.
Closed Christmas Day and New Years Day
Open Tuesday to Saturday, 10am–4.30pm.
Please note, the gallery will answer all enquiries, for purchases or for making appointments, on Sundays and Mondays.
Direct Tel: 44 01934 623449.
enquiries@thelloydgillgallery.com
The Lloyd Gill Gallery is building on the success of last year’s Christmas Exhibition by continuing the succession of Christmas exhibitions. This year’s Christmas Exhibition will showcase local artists from Somerset and South Wales. These Artists have been selected for their ability to combine contemporary practice with a clear commercial appeal. It is the Gallery’s intention to show work which is both exciting to view and affordable to purchase. It is the Gallery’s responsibility to promote local talent through excellent publications such as Area magazine.
Chris Abbott
Chris Abbott has enjoyed photography for some 25 years now. Over the last ten of those it has developed into a passion that fills time between the demands of a career and a family life.
He thanks his Father for getting him started. A keen photographer himself he supplied a steady stream of cameras and inspirational photographic books, magazines and lots of encouragement.
A little later on there was more encouragement from Chris's wife whose gift of a night school course proved to be the perfect birthday present. Studying at Bridgwater College, Chris picked up darkroom skills that he now describes as invaluable. His portfolio for the first City & Guilds unit won a distinction and he has not looked back since.
With a balanced understanding of the arguments for silver halide chemistry, over sensors and computers, it has been the practicalities of the digital world that has won the day. Chris believes that the end result is much more important than the technique or equipment used. Believing it is important not to get distracted by the unnecessary bells and whistles; his post camera work does not stray far from duplicating the effects practiced in the dark room.
Chris's career and his passion for photography are closely intertwined. His first degree is in Biology from Durham University where his final dissertation involved a great deal of photo microscopy. His second degree, in water management from London University, launched a career in environmental work. His love for water and the environment is apparent in much of his work.
In the early years he could be opportunistic with his landscape photography whilst working outdoors and at all hours, now though, the shoots are more carefully planned. This has forced greater care in selecting subjects and how best to approach them. With a philosophy that the more effort and practice you put in the better you're going to get, Chris is very keen to keep on learning. He puts his success down to paying careful attention to learning from his own mistakes and from the experiences of others.
His work also extends into portraiture and commissions that include outdoor interpretation boards and even a photo shoot of a very athletic tortoise. Chris is clearly drawn to black and white landscape photography. Chris invites his audience to recognise familiar scenes reframed, to make a second look irresistible. If you enjoy the images here at the Lloyd Gill Gallery please visit Chris' online gallery: HYPERLINK "http://www.chrisabbottphotography.com" www.chrisabbottphotography.com
Paula Lundy
The artist Paula Lundy, who is local to Weston, has produced a vast range of provocative paintings. Her depictions of Bristol, including the trademark ‘Isambard Kingdom Brunel Suspension Bridge’, are heavily sought after. The Gallery is very pleased to be showcasing her large paintings.
The South West of England has many different styles of architecture which inspire Paula and she is particularly fascinated by the aura of the moon and the way it illuminates the night and highlights features of English Architecture.
During her teenage years Paula was intrigued by the occult and esotericism, the teaching that there is another world behind, or underlying, our physical world. It is an idea Paula can relate to while creating her art, adding layer upon layer, and then, in one moment, it all comes together to produce an image that was once in her imagination, as a physical reality.
Having always been intrigued by the folklore surrounding the moon, the moon has now become a very prominent focal point in many of Paula’s paintings. Ancient civilizations believed the moon to be made of silver and to be associated with dreams and the imagination. It is for this reason that Paula always uses real silver to create the moons in her pictures. She often dreams about the next scene she is going to paint. As it is now scientifically proven that the moon affects our moods and creativity, Paula wonder’s if it too has power to influence our dreams.
Paula loves to combine heavy texture with a strong visual metallic, experimenting with an ever expanding array of materials, such as: acrylics, lead, silver, plaster, clay, inks, resins, glass, metallic pigments, bitumen, rubber and sand. The colours she uses are the black, white and grey monotones typical of a moonlit scene but with a twist of silver and pewter. Paula continues to use the same impasto style in all of her work.
Angela Ferreira
Portuguese born Angela produces paintings which are surreal and dreamlike, reflecting her interest in fairy-tales and fables. They contain an enigmatic narrative quality, translating the fairy-tales into depictions in a mix of oil paint and gold leaf.
Angela gained a BA Fine Art (Hons) – in 2008 at UWIC Cardiff School of Art & Design, Cardiff, Wales, UK. Also in 2008, a Level 3 certificate, Introduction to Youth Work – National Open College and in 2000 BA Art Practice, University of Glamorgan, Trefforest, Wales, UK (2 Yrs).
In June 2008 – she was involved at the Youth Work Art Project, Mural making and Arts & Crafts, Grangetown Youth Club, and between 2005-2008 she was at Creatives Biz, Bringing Art to Business. ( HYPERLINK "http://www.art2biz.co.uk" http://www.art2biz.co.uk)
She has also carried out commissioned works, has taught and participated in exhibitions, events and art gatherings.
Her latest include July 2008 – Lush Shop Window Display and Workshop Demo, where she was invited to paint in a live demonstration outside Lush shop window to attract interest in communion to South Wales Artists and the hand made cosmetics shop.
In Oct 2007 to June 2008- Volunteer Youth Worker at Buzz Youth Club, Grangetown – Mural Project, Art & Craft sessions, supervising and other youth worker responsibilities.
Jan – June 2007 - St Cuthbert’s R.C Primary School, Cardiff – experience within a local Primary School, teaching art sessions to children, interior mural making and school decorating.
Emma Taylor
Emma is enthusiastic about her art, both the practical side as well as the theory behind it. She would call herself a mixed media artist, but more recently she has been concerned with textile installation work using lighting and has also acquired a strong passion for photography since she completed her degree, gaining a BA Honours in Fine Art at the University of Lincoln.
Emma says that to her nature is a path through which many artists have travelled. “For years the natural environment has been an inspiration and subject for artists, but what is it that we find so fascinating?”
Through her practice she explores innovative ways of creating three-dimensional forms which act as models from which she creates her photographic work. She is enchanted by the structural potential of the textile world and it’s her hope that her images capture the beauty of the natural world.
Throughout the creation of handmade silk papers and with the use of dissolvable fabric, Emma’s work begins to explore different ways of manipulation. The models which she constructs are created using fishing wire which enables her to create spatial drawings.These help to evoke the feelings of beauty and purity in relation to the natural world. The projection of light onto these models creates the drama of shadow and light, which emphasizes the structure and helps to re-define the space; she feels this can be clearly seen through her photographic work.
The use of natural materials allows the forms created to be delicate and fragile and combined with the natural objects she collects; her work has a very organic quality. This quality is essential to her work as it accents the radiant beauty which the textile surface holds.
These interests go back to her childhood, when she used to roam beaches and fields in search of what she would call ‘interesting objects’. She was brought up and has always lived within the Lincolnshire countryside, going on many holidays to the Lake District, Wales and Cornwall. She has always collected objects that attracted her, gradually accumulating a collection of both objects and photographs. It is from these that she has acquired the inspiration for her work.
She explores the delicacy, flow and fragility of these objects. She tries to evoke the feelings that nature gives us within her work. The images aim to be delicate and fragile, yet very striking. She concerns herself with the intricate forms and unusual shapes, textures and colours, found within these organic objects and then goes deeper and scrutinizes them, as if with a microscope; rather than looking at the natural world as a whole. She feels that these aspects often go unnoticed or cannot even be seen by the naked eye. It is often the unseeable which she feels is the most intriguing and the most interesting.
Emma believes we live in a society today where the world which surrounds us is often neglected and the environment as we know it is constantly changing, but, despite this, nature still manages to survive. It is fascinating how this can be possible and at the same time it can be diverse, incredibly beautiful, unique and so precisely formed. But what is the reason for nature’s richness of pattern? Is it all a function of adaptation to the environment and of the struggle for survival? Nature goes deeper than functional evolution, genetics, microbiology or adaptive behaviour. There is a strong feeling that this is how we are supposed to look at the world, if only because we find it so deeply satisfying. Nature opens up access not only to individual forms but also to a whole new understanding of form. What is apparent is that nature is by no means a simple concept.
Edward Crumpton
The artist Edward Crumpton has a BA First Class (Hons) in FINE ART at the University of Lincoln. (Sep2005-2008)
His recent exhibitions include the Exhibition by young artists of North Devon (Elizabeth Finn Care and Macmillan Cancer Support): Bideford, Devon, UK (October 2008), West Buckland School’s 150th Anniversary Exhibition at West Buckland, Devon, UK (Sept 2008) and The Viking Way Exhibition at The Usher Gallery, Lincoln, UK (April 2008)
He has always found nature and the landscape fascinating and the nature of his work is always evolving yet still concerned with the memory of the brief moment as if it was the past. In recent times he has wanted to explore how this idea could be captured in the form of a visual diary, beginning with some simple sketch drawings in locations around Lincoln which had intriguing view points of the city; with a sense of the light decaying.
The word decay introduced him into painting the evening sky, where the light was sparse and an artificial glow was forming from the street lamps. Not only was the sky changing rapidly, so was the land. There was a sense of transition in the city; a movement of people on foot or vehicle from their professions to their homes. This ‘transitional period’ is an idea with which he has experimented; the oil and ink studies trying to represent a personal view on the landscape.
Alice Rolfe
Alice Rolfe’s work arises from her intense involvement with stories, objects and events from her past. She explores themes of memory, the construction of identities, absence, death and loss. Often using everyday objects and real documents such as photos and newspaper clippings, she arranges them in an order where the viewer is invited to construct a narrative, extracting new meaning from the artist’s possible real or fictional family history.
She employs methods such as intricate repetition and obsessive documentation to create work that demands the viewers’ time and emotional attention. In ‘Fear of Forgetting’ (2007), Alice documents memories of her deceased father offered by friends. In other works she had repeatedly drawn the same subject. ‘Cobwebs’ is an example, where 30 different webs were drawn onto carbon paper and displayed in a precise and reparative fashion suggesting these drawings could be just part of an almost infinite archive and offer the ultimate anonymity of death.
Difficult subjects such as death and memory being the driving thoughts behind her work, she is able to present uncomfortable and painful issues with calm composure creating thoughtful and reflective art works.
Ben Mecklenburgh
Exploring the Lulworth gunnery ranges in Dorset, Ben’s images are documents of a land under limited access by regulation of ‘section 28’ of the military byelaws. The objects in this restricted landscape are artefacts and traces of the military activity there; they raise questions about their use and place, in a landscape of treasured beauty. The absurd nature of these landscapes show the history of this restricted area of the Jurassic coast, one which is generally overlooked and blocked off to the general public. The banal objects themselves hold their own narrative and with this “late” photography the trace and history is what is experienced.
The Lloyd Gill Gallery
Lee House Beaconsfield road |Weston - Super - Mare | BS23 1YE| UK
TEL: +44 (0) 1934 623449
enquires@thelloydgillgallery.com
www.thelloydgillgallery.com
Open Tue-Sunday, Noon-3pm All other times are appointment only
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