‘Sunlight on the Garden’ Summer Exhibition 2022

The Summer Exhibition ‘Sunlight on the Garden’ at Old Chapel Gallery, due to run through the summer of 2022, will open on Saturday July 9. Online and in the gallery.

This exhibition will feature an exciting collection of new work from talented British artists and makers from far and near and promises, once again, to inspire and entice collectors and appreciators of fine art and quality craft. 

Tamsin Abbott Stained Glass

Tamsin’s work is influenced by the Herefordshire countryside, the orchards, the hills, the woods and all the plants, birds and animals that grow and live. She works on mainly British made mouth blown glass, in  fabulous colours. She  completely covers the glass with a special black glass paint which is  totally opaque. When the paint is dry Tamsin then scrapes back into it using a variety of simple tools. She uses the paint like a scraper board which is working in the negative to achieve an effect rather like a woodcut.

Mary Griffin Artist

We welcome artist Mary Griffin to the gallery for her debut exhibition here. Although Mary works in all media, because of their immediacy, she finds pastels are ideal. She combines pastels with acrylics, or watercolours to provide interesting surface contrasts and atmospheric effects. These are especially suited to figure and interior compositions which is a recurring theme to her work. Apart from the never-ending challenge of drawing people, Mary finds the whole aspect of body language fascinating. Many of her paintings are a glimpse of a moment in time. Her chief concern is to make a statement about life which most people will relate to from their own experience, but everyone’s interpretation will be different. Narratives are left to be interpreted by the viewer.

Jo Verity Decoupage

Also new to the gallery is Jo Verity who has developed her traditional decoupage techniques into a small unique niche business where everything is individually designed and handmade. These techniques are applied to ‘found’ and vintage objects and then combined with mixed media and/or taxidermy.

Clair Murphy Rush Weaving

Another new comer to the gallery is basket maker Clair Murphy. Working from her studio in the Welsh Marches Clair makes beautiful and useful baskets from English rush and other natural material. Rush is a perfect weaving material – it will plait, weave and coil into almost any shape, it can be sewn or woven, become dense or airy and create soft or hard forms.  She has been working with rush for nearly 10 years and continues to explore its versatility. 

Jemima Jameson Painted Wood

Jemima works mainly in acrylics preferring to paint onto wooden panels, bowls and furniture as it suits her style. 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. 

Kathryn O’Kell Carved Wood

Kathryn carved relief panels in English lime make use of traditional hand-carving techniques, coloured with watered down acrylic paints, layered and rubbed back. She occasionally depicts other wildlife but birds are clearly her passion and are beautifully observed. Often images are cropped and only glimpses of the bird are seen, as if in passing.