‘When Soft was the Sun’ Autumn Exhibition 2022
As the evenings start to draw in, our thoughts turn to home and a good fire in the hearth. To set the scene we mark the beauty of the changes of the season, and introduce our special Autumn Exhibition combined with h.Art entitled ‘When Soft was the Sun’ which opens on Saturday September 3 at Old Chapel Gallery, Pembridge, promoting the work of talented British artists and makers from around the county and beyond.
Our line up this year will feature artists Lynda Jones, Karen Pearce, Sue Hayden, Rachel Wright and Jemima Jameson.
Heading the line up is artist Lynda Jones. Formerly from Sunderland, she settled in Monmouth in the early 1980’s, where she has lived ever since. She studied Art Foundation at Newport College of Art & Design, followed by a degree in Visual Art at The University of Wales, Aberystwyth.
Her canvases and drawings are mostly depictions of landscapes in the Monmouth area – the final image often bears little relation to the original subject but all have a common starting point – the memory of a place she knows well.
Karen Pearce paints mainly in acrylics on canvas. Her latest works reflect her interest in rocks and water, her experimentation with different media and her love of the coastline in West Wales amongst certain other locations. Aspects of painting water excites her, such as the affinity it has with paint layering and glazing techniques and the way it can have a unifying effect on a composition as it reflects the sky.
By popular demand Jemima Jameson returns with a beautifully executed collection of painted 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.
Artist Sue Hayden is excited by the relationship between texture, shape, light and space in landscapes and employs acrylics and pastels on paper that has been layered up beforehand with paint and paper creating a collage effect. This adds energy, randomness and interest to the subject. Glorious Pembrokeshire forms her main preoccupation.
Rachel Wright is inspired by many subjects, including landscapes, seascapes, wildlife, harbour towns, boats, lighthouses and windmills. These themes are then translated into machine embroidered fabric collages, using vibrant threads, worked onto carefully cut pieces of fabric. This enables Rachel to draw and paint through fabric and stitch, providing a rich source of colour, texture and pattern which forms her ‘palette’ and the threads are used like a fine paintbrush to fill in the details. Rachel’s trademark is her use of striking, rich colour, which captivates and draws the viewer in. Her aim is simply to delight the eye.
Karin Celestine, fibre artist, writer and illustrator from Monmouthshire, has created a delightful collection of needle felted creatures from hares to badgers and mice, each one with its own charm, character and mischief. She can happily turn her hand to making all creatures great and small, mythical and real.
Rachel Bailey’s jewellery explores her love of wild creatures, our native animals and birds and magical realms. The semi precious stones she uses are an integral part of her inspiration as they suggest landscapes in which the creatures inhabit. Each piece is individually made and therefore unique, in sterling silver and Hallmarked in Sheffield.
‘Severn Valley: Glimpse of Bewdley’ 
‘A Full Moon in Autumn’ 
‘Cwm Rheidol Falls’ 
‘An Evening on the Rheidol’
