‘When Soft was the Sun’ Autumn Exhibition 2020

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 entitled ‘When Soft was the Sun’ promoting the work of talented British artists and makers from far and near. This exhibition will be online even though our doors are open again.  We hope you enjoy!

Jenny Jones Artist

Jenny returns for her second exhibition with us. She was a huge success last year.  She paints mainly in watercolours and oils, usually of characterful domestic scenes and the farming community around her home. Jenny studied part time in Florence followed by a foundation course at Shrewsbury Art School, and a degree course at Farnham, graduating in 1976.

View Jenny’s painting here

Tamsin Abbott Stained Glass Artist

We are always delighted to show new stained glass panels by Herefordshire artist 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. 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.

View Tamsin’s stained glass panels here and Tamsin’s prints here

Eleanor Bartleman Ceramic Artist

We welcome ceramic artist Eleanor Bartleman who makes intriguing figures based on animal and human forms. Each piece is individually hand built and modelled in porcelain clay.

Her ideas are drawn from many sources – mostly from various areas of mythology, the main theme being the beast epic of Reynard the Fox. A recent development is the making of wall pieces – where she has been able to explore the more illustrative side of her imagery.

View Eleanor’s ceramics here.

Sarah Noël Ceramic Artist

Sarah Noël is new to the gallery and we are delighted to be showing her most recent collection  of Raku fired ceramics. Sarah makes figurative, stylised three-dimensional ceramic sculptures, wall pieces and panels. Sarah’s work expresses the human condition through a simple spirituality. She has been influenced by medieval art forms, and European and American folk art. Sarah works alongside her sister Anna in their tiny shared studio. She studied ceramics at Bristol Polytechnic gaining a BA Degree in 1983 before setting up the present studio with her sister. Sarah prefers to work mostly in two dimensions. Although most of her pieces have a back and a front, they are largely pictorial in character combining references to the old Staffordshire flatbacks with elements as diverse as Islamic art and Indian shadow puppets.

View Sarah’s ceramics here

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.

View Jemima’s art here

Rachel Bailey Jewellery

Rachel has been a jeweller for over 20 years. She studied at Portsmouth College of Art in the late ’80’s and then went on to West Surrey College of Art and Design in the early ’90’s taking a degree in three dimensional design – specialising in metals.

Rachel’s work 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.

View Rachel’s jewellery here