Contemporary Fine Art and Crafts in Herefordshire
I’ve been thinking that it’s time for a new gallery logo so this has been designed by MK Design, graphic designer who happens to live locally.
It will be used on many gallery promotions in the future including the Hay Festival Digital Sponsors page.
Although we’re unable to welcome customers through our doors, we’re still fulfilling orders made online, by email or by phone. We’ve been pleased to be able to post beautiful pieces to those in need of something handmade to lift the heart, so don’t hesitate to get in touch and we will do our best to help you. If an item has lingered in the memory, but cannot be found on the website, we can try to locate it and even supply an image. If you are relatively local, collection of boxed purchases can be made by pre-arranged appointment, with social distancing firmly in place. Do keep an eye on our social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) for developments and diversions. We are upgrading our website to provide us with an exhibition landing platform, as we will be showing online only for the time being, due to current restrictions. Many have found increased leisure for handwritten communication, so we have added a new category for cards.
Our artists and makers are taking the opportunity to experiment with new ideas and your continued custom is warmly appreciated as it enables us to continue to support their efforts. As the traffic at the end of the garden has quietened and the swallows can be heard twittering overhead, our new tulips, planted in the sticky earth of the late autumn, are opening in the sun and the new Alliums are rising beneath their galvanised counterparts. We’re sorry that you’re unable to admire them in person, but look forward to seeing you again when circumstances allow.
at Old Chapel Gallery, Pembridge, to run during Hay Festival Digital 2020 will open on Sunday May 17 and continue to the end of June. We will feature the work of talented British artists and makers from far and near.
Heading the line up will be a tempting collection of stained glass from ever popular artist Tamsin Abbott whose work is influenced by our ancient land and how we are connected to it: the hills, the woods, the plants, birds and animals that live alongside us and the world of myths and fairytales that we have spun around it.
Artist Sue Hayden will be featuring a glorious collection of landscapes painted whilst on location in Pembrokeshire and several recent paintings of nudes. Sue is excited by the relationship between texture, shape, light and space in landscapes and paints with acrylics and pastels on paper that have been layered up beforehand with paint and paper creating a collage effect. This adds energy, randomness and interest to the subject. Her work is created from sketches and notes based on her impressions of what she is looking at and feeling. She rarely refer to photographs.
“I paint the texture, colour and light I see in landscapes, seascapes and the human form. I’m particularly drawn to the Welsh Coast and the forests and hills around Worcestershire, drawing and making detailed notes outside then painting in my tiny studio. I use acrylics, pastels and collage on Saunders Waterford 640 gsm paper for most of my paintings and my Giclee Prints are printed on Fine Museum Paper”
Ceramicist Kirsti Brown currently produces hand built vessels and bottles in a variety of stoneware clays in sumptuously summery colours reminding us of days by the sea. The slab built bottles are created using thinly rolled clay to create finished pieces which are light and elegant. Coiled bottles are spherical in form, but each one is completely different due to the nature of the construction method.
The bottles made are reminiscent of human forms having defined shoulders and narrow necks. The glazes and decorations are then added to evoke landscapes, seascapes and marks found in the landscape. The coiled forms are reminiscent of washed and worn beach pebbles. She uses a dry turquoise glaze as well as impressed marks highlighted with copper carbonate and over glazed with a satin white glaze. Using a variety of clays, the glaze is altered from a vivid turquoise to a washed out blue.
Kathryn O’Kell has been carving wood reliefs for more than 30 years and it is wonderful to introduce her work here for the first time. Using English Lime wood and traditional hand carving techniques she depicts mainly birds, her favourite subjects since childhood. Kathryn only needs to look out of her shed window when working and her inspiration is flying past, circling overhead or resting on the woodshed. Kathryn says: “I’m never entirely sure what I want to make until it is made. The initial idea may be : species of bird, its’ landscape, a colour and the resulting carving develops organically from there.”
Jewellery maker/designer Lesley Strickland is always a firm favourite with Hay Festival goers so we are happy to have a range of her jewellery in cellulose acetate to compliment your summer wardrobe.
The work of Sculptor Sallie Wakley comes from her life long passion for animals and nature. Each piece is as individual as the animals she portrays, starting with the clay and glazes that she makes from her own recipes to the creature itself which she hand builds over a number of days. The huge diversity of animals gives her an ever growing abundance of inspiration although she regularly returns to her own favourites the fox and the hare which we are showing at the gallery.
Artist Jackie Morris will be showing a new range of premium limited edition prints enhanced with gold and silver leaf. New paintings from Jackie will be on our website as and when they become available. Jackie is well known for her illustrations in children books and more recently for the award-winning ‘The Lost Words’, in which she collaborated with Robert McFarlane, a collection of ‘spells’ with words from the natural world that the junior Oxford Dictionary had removed…Jackie studied at Hereford College of Arts and at Bath Academy.
On going is an ever-changing collection of unique garden sculptures to enhance your outdoor space in a variety of media such as stoneware, forged iron, stainless steel, glass and more including the work of several sculptors new to the gallery.
Garden Sculpture Exhibition 2020: As the rigours of winter weather fade in the memory and the traffic quietens, allowing us to hear the swallows twittering overhead, the welcome warmth of the sun promises longer days, balmy evenings and summer around the corner. The lockdown has prompted renewed interest in our gardens and the solace and rewards that they provide, many will have had the opportunity to make longed for improvements, an ideal time to consider a piece of garden art. With this in mind, Old Chapel Gallery, Pembridge opens its annual garden sculpture exhibition ‘Long Shadows’, showing the work of talented British designer/makers in a variety of media, all British made and some unique one offs. Each piece of garden sculpture is designed to give hours of pleasure to enhance time spent in the garden.
Showing online only for the time being due to current restrictions, from Sunday May 3rd 2020. The exhibition will run throughout the year. If you would like to ‘click and collect’ from the gallery please ring me on 01544 388842
Visit the gallery FaceBook page Garden Sculpture 2020 photo album where you will see more images being added over the coming days and weeks.
New to the gallery, we’re pleased to introduce Shropshire stone carver Chris Lawrence, who has been inspired by the current pandemic to carve an angel’s wing. He hopes to donate one to the NHS, in appreciation of their work. He attended art college in Shrewsbury and then in Wolverhampton followed by an in-house masonry apprenticeship with mason Rob Maxfield Stone in Shropshire. He is currently working on a large project at Hampton Court in Herefordshire. Exhibiting here for the first time last year, Andrew Roache, retired veterinary surgeon, has a keen eye to animal anatomy. Most of his work is life-size or larger, being intended for outdoor display. He favours iron resin because it lends itself well to animal subjects and each cast matures in an interesting and individual way. Artist Paul Bearman has created a collection of lively animal pieces for the garden in rugged cement fondue with a copper paint finish. Paul was born in London and studied sculpture at the City and Guilds of London Art School. Ann Campbell’s ceramic sculpture reflects her lifelong interest in animals. Without sentimentality but with acute observation based on empathy she represents her subjects as archetypes of themselves. The sheep, birds, baboons, zebras and horses formed in Ann’s studio have a presence of playful solemnity, a gravitas and grace that derives from her experience and love of animals. Toff Milway throws salt glazed garden pots. He has developed his own pottery style and an increasing diversity of salt-glaze techniques which include dipping, pouring and trailing liquid clay slips, with scraffito and roulette decoration on to a very fine ball clay based body. Herefordshire sculptor David England carves enigmatic pieces with a graceful solidity in Portland and Forest Of Dean stone. His collection of original work will include the ever favourite Green Man design, hares – another of his preoccupations – and a Celtic Horse. Finally, long established sculptor Helen Sinclair produces limited edition and unique contemporary pieces of slender elegance in stone resin.
Several artist blacksmiths will be showing a collection of their latest work in forged iron and stainless steel, where the visitor will discover green men, poppies, ferns, sheep, herons, owls, kingfisher, humming birds as well as abstract pieces, those with a practical bent will find garden furniture, garden arches, bird baths and plant supports. Some will be galvanised to protect them from the weather and some will feature hand blown glass.
Collection of purchased pieces will be by pre-arranged appointment from the gallery garden with social distancing rules firmly in place. We have a range of work in stock, but some pieces will be made to order, particularly in the case of metalworkers, as we are unsure at the present time when the galvanisers will reopen. Waiting times will vary depending upon each maker/sculptor.
Encompassing a unique collection of hand picked, desirable, contemporary British fine art and craft including stained glass, acrylics, textile art, ceramics, recycled 3D art, painted wood and silver jewellery. Each piece inspired by nature, we hope this latest exhibition strikes a heartening mood of optimism after a wet and windy start to the year.
Heading the line up by popular demand is Tamsin Abbott. Her work is influenced by the Herefordshire countryside, the orchards, the hills, the woods and all the plants, birds and animals that grow and live. Tamsin works on mainly British made mouth blown glass, in fabulous colours.
New to the gallery is artist Jane Winton who has a great love of antique American folk art. She is fascinated by the symbolism and simplicity of the work and the overall naive charm they convey. Her work often encompasses a range of decorative media, including cloth, wood and paper.
Artist Jemima Jameson paints in acrylics on both gessoed and oak or olive wood panels and also enjoys painting cabinets and boxes which have a practical purpose. Her desire to paint and draw has been part of her whole life and is quite simply a celebration of the natural world that she is compelled to describe. She is particularly influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement and medieval illuminated manuscripts and this comes through in her paintings.
Hannah Willow artist and jeweller creates gorgeous hand crafted silver jewellery, combining semi-precious stones with mythical tales of nature. We will also be showing some of Hannah’s captivatingly original artwork, some of which will be hand embellished with Gold Leaf. Hannah lives surrounded by hills and ancient places, carved white hill horses and rings of standing stones. Her inspiration comes from the land, wild and free places, stories and folklore, poetry, myth and legend.
Rachael Blakeway creates 3D art from recycled and found objects. She enjoys both the freedom and challenge of up-cycling and recycling everyday materials and found objects into quirky mixed media pictures. A used scouring pad can be hair or smoke for a chimney and sweet wrappers become curtains or head scarves. The unwanted and discarded has a new lease of life.
Textile artist and felt maker, Kathie Barrs has been busy creating new delights for Old Chapel Gallery, including scarves and bags in lambs wool and Nuno felted merino wool with silk fibres and some new framed landscape pictures.
Finally two potters complete the line up. Potter Martin Everson Davis has a fascination with the power of fire on clay and when clay, heat and smoke interact, the effects can be dramatic. The surfaces of his burnished pots don’t wear a coat hiding the clay from view, but, instead, feel warm and soft to the touch, yielding their true nature and character. Paul Taylor creates contemporary smoke fired ceramics uses thin slabs of textured terracotta to create vessels with interesting configurations, surfaces and textures. His aim is to transform very simple materials into pottery that has its own distinctive characteristic – a classical and timeless quality.
We have also just taken delivery of a fantastic new collection of Premium limited edition prints by Jackie Morris. Hand finished with either ‘silver’ or ‘gold’ leaf.
The Winter Exhibition 2019 at Old Chapel Gallery, Pembridge entitled ‘Burning Bright’ opens on Saturday November 9 with a dazzling collection of hand picked, hand made delights! Give the High Street a miss this Christmas and shop for unique British made presents in the calm and tranquil atmosphere of the gallery.
Artist Seren Bell makes detailed drawings in crayon, pen and ink. Of her favourite subject, sheep, she says ’it’s not just the soft colours of the fleece and the warm bulk of them, but the ancient bony heads and the look in the eye that exert a hold on me. New to the gallery is artist Linda Edwards who paints richly detailed watercolours of birds and animals set in jewel like colours with inscribed gold leaf, evoking a paradise garden. ‘My work has a timeless quality that is rooted in ancient art yet is very contemporary.’
Returning by popular demand is artist Shan Egerton who trained at the Byam Shaw School of Art 1966-70. Working mainly in pastels, she has exhibited regularly in the U.K. including the Royal Academy, New English Art Club, West of England Academy, Pastel Society, Wildlife Society, and London Contemporary Art Fair.
Textile artist Rachel Wright will be showing 3 new machine embroidery pictures. Rachel takes her inspiration from many sources including landscapes and seascapes, wildlife, harbour towns, boats, lighthouses and windmills. These subject matter are then translated in machine embroidered fabric collages, using vibrant threads, worked onto carefully cut and pieced fabrics.
Lisa Ellul creates carefully constructed ceramic vessels which are impressed with natural designs and tinted with washes of oxides, gold leaf lending a sense of luminosity and luxury. Potter, printmaker and photographer Ruth Gibson combines these three disciplines to present imaginative pieces for the wall and table some of which include metallic glazes. Potter Jennifer Hall uses very traditional making techniques to create contemporary slip decorated earthenware for oven and table use. Her aim is to enhance the daily rituals of refreshment and mealtimes. As a maker of domestic ware, she doesn’t want her pots to challenge, but to sit comfortably in the hand and feel soft on the lips.
Ceramacist Rosemarie Barr graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 2012 with a First Class BA in Design (ceramics) Her main interest is the depiction of animals, birds and humans as vessels. Her quirky jugs and vases are Influenced by prehistoric art, indigenous art, and in particular the historical and contemporary art of South America.
Jeweller Alison Varley specialises in techniques of metal inlay. She works primarily in silver and gold with an emphasis on exploring many different characteristics that can be found within the metals and their juxtaposition. The use of strong lines and contrasting textures being a feature of her work.
Our festive line up will also include stained glass panels by Tamsin Abbott, hand blown glass bottles and vases by Stuart Akroyd in vibrant colours and sinuous shapes, carved wood original pieces by John Mainwaring and small sparkly assemblages by Amanda Rawlings.
To keep out the winter chill there will be a ‘must have’ collection of scarves, wraps, collars and bags in lambs wool and Nuno felted merino wool with silk fibres , all desirable accessories for any ladies wardrobe!
Our wide range of textiles to include jackets, hats, scarves, gloves, cushions and throws. We will have new collections of jewellery by Rachel Bailey, Hannah Dunne, Elizabeth Terrza, Leoma Drew, Shirley Smith, Gail Klevan and Rozie Keogh, who will also be showing a magnificent angel in wire with sequins.
Gift wrapping service available.
Christmas at Old Chapel Gallery
Our Winter Exhibition opens on Saturday November 9 ‘Burning Bright’
We will be featuring a cornucopia of wonderful Christmas present ideas from the best of British artists and makers, many from Herefordshire and beyond – something for everyone! Including handmade cards, candles and soaps, Christmas tree decorations in copper, brass, glass and porcelain, jewellery in silver, acrylic, pearls and semi-precious stones, studio glass and stained glass, ceramics – functional and decorative, ironwork – including pokers, tongs, chestnut roasters and candle holders, bronzes, sculpture – both for inside and the garden, original paintings, prints, including limited edition etchings and photographs, a wide range of textiles to include jackets, hats, scarves, gloves, cushions and throws. To keep out the winter chill there will be a ‘must have’ collection of scarves, wraps, collars and bags in lambs wool and Nuno felted merino wool with silk fibres , all desirable accessories for any ladies wardrobe!
There will also be chunky sweaters for men in lambs wool and silk, felted lambs wool jackets in a fabulous collection of colours for women and new winter collections from our regular British designer/makers including a new collection of lambswool cardi’s and sweaters, hats and gloves, all made in Scotland.
Don’t delay your visit, you won’t be disappointed!
As the first cool nights and the fluting of robins signal the flight of summer, we mark the beauty of the changes of the season, looking ahead to the cosy comforts of the home, and introduce our special combined h.Art and Autumn exhibition entitled ‘Quiet Birds in Circled Flight’ which opens on Saturday September 7 at Old Chapel Gallery, Pembridge, promoting the work of talented British artists and makers from around the county and beyond.
Our h.Art line up this year will feature artists Jenny Jones, Jemima Jameson and Jackie Morris.
Jenny paints mainly in watercolours and oils, usually of characterful domestic scenes and the farming community around her home. Originally from Norfolk, Jenny studied part time in Florence followed by a foundation course at Shrewsbury Art School, and finally a degree course at Farnham, graduating in 1976. This is Jenny’s first exhibition at Old Chapel Gallery.
Jackie, whose fame has travelled world wide through the Lost Words book, will show original works in pencil and Sumi inks alongside her Lino cuts and a series of limited edition prints, some embellished with gold foil.
By popular demand Jemima returns with a beautifully executed collection of painted olive and oak wood panels alongside useful boxes and cabinets. Hares, foxes, kingfishers are just some of nature’s beautiful creatures that Jemima captures in acrylic paints as she creates these heirloom pieces.
Machine embroiderer Rachel Wright will be showing more of her exquisite textile pictures, mainly on the theme of birds, always in flight.
New to the gallery is silversmith Hannah Dunne who designs contemporary jewellery and silverware. Taking inspiration from her travels Hannah’s work is inspired by vast landscapes and natures tiny details. Hannah completed her degree in 2009 and has won awards from The Goldsmiths’ Company and The Festival of Silver. The form and textural finish of each piece are developed with careful thought and great consideration is given to balance, composition and pattern.
Ceramacist Rosemarie Barr graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 2012 with a First Class BA in Ceramic Design. Her ‘lady’ vases and ’bird’ jugs are quirky, unusual and influenced by prehistoric and indigenous art, and in particular the historical and contemporary art of South America.
Shirley Vauvelle graduated from Leicester Polytechnic in 1989 with a degree in Surface Decoration. She creates wall hung and freestanding sculptures, using white earthenware to hand build flower components, small creatures , birds and fish. These are then assembled together with driftwood, wire, reclaimed maps, and other interesting finds from the local beaches. Her work is inspired by moments in time either in her garden or her local beach.
To compliment this exhibition there will be jewellery from several Herefordshire designers including Leoma Drew, Hilary Mee, Chrissie Nash, Lesley Strickland, Gail Klevan, Elizabeth Terzza, and more.
This exhibition will run till the end of October 2019
Our Summer Exhibition brings coastal seascapes to the Herefordshire countryside, ‘Sunlight on the Garden’’ opens on Sunday July 7 2019 and will feature an exciting collection of work by talented British contemporary artists and makers, some of which will be new to the gallery. “Sunlight on the Garden’’ opens on Sunday July 7th 2019 and will feature an exciting collection of work by talented British contemporary artists and makers, some of whom will be new to the gallery.
This exhibition promises, once again, to inspire and entice collectors and appreciators of fine art and quality craft.
Returning by popular demand will be artist Sue Hayden who will be showing a new collection of striking seascapes and landscapes in acrylic and charcoal. Excited by the relationship between texture, shape, light and space, she paints with acrylic and pastels in a layered technique, creating a collage effect, adding energy and randomness to her work.
New to the gallery is fine art printmaker Suzie Thompson who works with collagraph, drypoint & relief printing processes to create limited edition prints inspired by the accessible open countryside of her local surroundings, British wildlife and flora.
In his workshop on the Shropshire Borders, Ralph Jandrell makes a unique range of widely collectable handmade ceramics, decorated with his own designs inspired mainly by plant life. Each pot is either thrown or cast from a thrown original, and hand painted with liquid clay slips.
With a focus on simplicity in natural forms, each piece of Elizabeth Terzza’s jewellery is carefully hand-crafted in her Herefordshire studio. Her deft creations perfectly reflect the loveliness that inspires her. They are a refreshing and elegant mix of subtlety and statement: archetypal forms that celebrate the beauty of nature.
We will also be showing the last few limited edition etchings from artist Anna Ravenscroft before she moves on to explore new artistic directions…watch this space…
There will also be a new collection of Mary Rose Young ceramics which will bring joy to collectors of her work, with her customary exuberant roses and gleaming lustre.
Our aim from the beginning has been to promote the work of British contemporary artists and makers, some already well known in their field and many talented new comers. Now in our 30th year, this continues as strongly as ever. The exhibition will continue until the end of August 2019
Encompassing a unique collection of hand picked, desirable, contemporary British fine art and craft including watercolours, textile collage, ceramic sculpture, painted wood and silver jewellery. Each piece inspired by nature, we hope this latest exhibition strikes a heartening mood of optimism.
Heading the line up is self taught textile artist Barbara Shaw, who creates art using fabric like paint to construct her magnificent collage pictures. By hand-stitching or bonding many small pieces of fabric together in layers. She uses patterned and tactile materials in vibrant or subtle colours are useful as well as chiffon ribbons for shading, sparkly fabric for light, lace for intricate detail and tweed for texture all help to bring the artwork alive.
Northumberland-based artist, Mary Ann Rogers, paints vibrant watercolour paintings full of energy, from an in-depth knowledge of her subject matter. Her studio is surrounded by the wild hills of Northumberland, whose inhabitants, along with her own menagerie of birds, feature in her work. Mary Ann’s work is highly collectable and she was warded ‘Best selling published artist’ by the Fine Art Trade Guild in 2009.
Rhys Partridge Herefordshire painter and printmaker, gained his degree in Fine Arts at University College, Falmouth.
He finds inspiration from his local environment where he is firmly rooted. He focuses on nature, British birds and wildlife.
We will show a collection of hand printed linocuts, all executed with precision and attention to detail.
Jemima Jameson paints in acrylics on wood panels, mainly oak and olive wood and occasionally furniture. Her desire to paint and draw has been part of her whole life and is quite simply a celebration of the natural world that she is compelled to describe.
Karin Celestine, fibre artist, writer and illustrator from Monmouthshire, has created a delightful collection of needle felted creatures from hares to badgers to robins, each one with its own charm, character and mischief. She can happily turn her hand to making all creatures great and small, mythical as well as real.
Ceramic artist Elaine Peto graduated from Exeter College of Art & Design in 1985, where she studied animals via livestock markets and the abattoir, using the media of photography and drawing to record the structure of the carcass. Each animal is individually made by the process of slab building in clay, rolling out a sheet of clay and forming the body, then gradually adding slab by slab to form the whole animal. The details are then remodelled until the animal is complete. It is then biscuit fired, glazed and re-fired to stoneware.
Finally, no exhibition would be complete without a gorgeous range of jewellery and Hannah Willow has created her new collection of silver jewellery, combining semi-precious stones with mythical tales of nature.
