‘Making Waves’ Summer Exhibition 2020
‘Making Waves’ Virtual Summer Exhibition at Old Chapel Gallery, Pembridge, to run through the summer 2020 will open on Sunday July 12 and continue to the end of August. As we appear to be slowly coming out of lockdown, this exhibition will remain online even though our doors will be open again physically for short periods on selected days. We will feature the work of talented British artists and makers from far and near. We hope you enjoy!
Karen Pearce
‘The paintings in this exhibition show the interest I have in creating compositions with rocks and water, and the love I have for the West Wales coastline. Using colour and light, a sense of the weather and a love of the materials, I work from notes and sketches made outside, from photographs as well as from memory, trying to recreate the feelings and the mood that a landscape evokes for me. All aspects of painting water excite me – the affinity it has with some layering and glazing techniques, and the way it can have a unifying effect on a composition as it reflects the sky. The light from the water’s surface, it’s colour, and the suggestions of depth are ways to transmit the feelings I associate with a place.
You can view more of Karen’s paintings here
Rachel Wright
Rachel Wright studied fashion and textiles at university, undertaking both a B.A and an M.A course before graduating in 1994. She has exhibited with The 62 group of Textile Artists, The Independent Textile Makers and The Society of designer Craftsmen. She has also shown her work at prestigious events such as Art in Action and Artisan @ The Edinburgh festival. She exhibits annually as part of Bucks Open studios.
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.
The embroideries enable Rachel to draw and paint through fabric and stitch. The fabrics provide a rich source of colour, texture and pattern forming 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.
You can view more textile art by Rachel here
Helen Martino
Helen is fascinated by body language and how it communicates. In her ceramic sculptures the exaggerated and stylised movements of the silent movies has seemed a natural way to portray communication and narrative as the sculptures depict moments in the everyday life of people.
She has been looking at Mogul and Persian miniatures and how they tell a story within a single image. Often they show significant events within the life span of a person or a family. Her sculptures are intimate in size and like the miniatures tell of a single moment or event and yet they infer a past and future story to be filled in by the viewer.
Helen works in a series of pieces within a single narrative, each successive sculpture expressing the story in a different way through a change in scale, movement, composition or colour.
Influences have come from contemporary potters such as Gordon Baldwin and particularly John Maltby who showed her at the right moment in her life, that pottery can be sculptural and above all a means of communication and expression as well as being things of beauty.
View more of Helen’s ceramic sculpture here
Rachael Blakeway
One man’s trash is Another man’s treasure……
Rachael enjoys both the freedom and the challenge of up-cycling and recycling everyday materials and found-objects into mixed media pictures and decorations. A certain shape, texture or colour will spark off an idea of how she can give something that has been discarded a new lease of life.
Each piece of work has a story behind it as to where its materials origins began, making it quite unique.
The inspiration for her characters and scenes are based on her everyday observations of people and her surroundings in Rhayader, Mid-Wales and further afield, along with a hint of nostalgia. She loves using colour and likes to think her pieces have a sense of humour, giving a feel-good factor which is much needed now and again.
Rachael uses paper pulp and layers up other materials to create a 3d effect collage, so the viewer feels they can step into a scene and become part of it.
“My early years of watching Blue Peter – and later on when I was an art student in Exeter scouting fruitful skips for cheap art materials – have influenced my style of working today minus the tetanus jabs and sticky-back plastic (which we never had at home). I have plenty of imagination and with a bit of TLC I believe “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”
View more of Rachael’s ‘treasures’ here
Kate Findlay
Currently Kate is interested in depicting the British countryside and wildlife, particularly in the South of England. Starting with white fabric, her work uses hand dyed and hand printed textiles, which are collaged and stitched to build up a rich surface. The effects of light and shadow are important in Kate’s work, as is subtle use of colour and texture. She enjoys using the randomly marked fabric to create accidental texture and tonal variations. The work is finished with free motion embroidery. A large stash of fabric is needed to have every tone and colour instantly available!
View more textile art by Kate here
Mia Sarosi
“I am interested in the relationship between art and craft in the ordinary vessels we use every day. My ceramics are not intended as gallery pieces but as useable art. My past influences such as delftware and country pottery combine in freely and loosely expressed form and decoration. I love my medium of porcelain for its beautiful white colour and durability, the best ground to show my brushwork decoration in all its forms.”
Porcelain is named after its resemblance to polished shells. It used to be known as ‘white gold’ because the secret of its beautiful white colour made it scarcer and more precious than gold.
Mia uses a porcelain clay made by Valentines Clay in Stoke-on-Trent. Her ceramics have a high degree of translucency, and despite their fine appearance they are very strong and durable. They are designed with function and practicality in mind, and are perfect for daily use. They can be placed in the dishwasher if required.
Mia hand makes each ceramic by throwing on the potter’s wheel and painting each one individually with freehand brushwork. There are no moulds or transfers used, simply skilful hand making. As a result each piece is unique, with its own tiny quirks and imperfections – the record of its time consuming journey through over a dozen processes.
You can view more of Mia’s porcelain here
Kathie Barrs
For many years Kathie was a primary school teacher and although she loved her work and has written several books for teachers, that period of her life has passed and she is now obsessed with ‘fluff’ ! She loves felting!
Felt is one of the oldest fabrics in existence. It’s incredibly versatile and can be as delicate as a cobweb or as strong as a yurt. Kathie loves the felting process: the whole activity is a never-ending exploration of colour and texture, with each project defining it’s own possibilities and directions. It’s a dynamic process…..rolling, beating, scrubbing, throwing, sculpting, stretching, soaping, dripping….the felt maker’s mantra!
Felt is a non-woven textile that is made by shrinking or matting fibres together to make an impenetrable fabric, that can be cut without fraying or degrading the edges.Felt can be made from all wool fibres and other animal fibres such as alpaca, cashmere, angora and even buffalo. The formula for felt making is animal hair + moisture + heat + friction = felt!
You can view more of Kathie’s textiles here
Wanda Sowry
Wanda started making wooden automata in 1998, during her final year at University, while studying craft and design. Her automata designs are quite simple and light-hearted. She is happy to make any piece to commission for big birthdays and anniversaries for example.
She keeps the mechanisms simple and doesn’t paint or varnish the wood but uses different natural colours of wood instead. Wanda can work from photos of individuals, their kitchens, workshops, offices or own items to make the details personal.
