‘Winter Curiosities’ Christmas Exhibition 2021

The Winter Exhibition 2021 at Old Chapel Gallery, Pembridge entitled ‘Winter Curiosities’ opens on Saturday November 6 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. Enjoy a truly delightful shopping experience. 

Jackie Morris Artist

NEW: Signed Limited Edition Giclée Print with hand applied ‘gold’ leaf. Edition of 95

View more of Jackie’s artwork here

Victoria Keeble Printmaker

Victoria originally trained as a textile designer at Falmouth School of Art and went on to work in the textile industry.  In the 1980’s she studied printmaking at Hereford College of Art and more recently at West Dean College and the Sidney Nolan Trust.

Since becoming a printmaker her work has become more illustrative, incorporating her  love of pattern and texture, stylisation and fluidity of line, which have always been important elements in her designs.  Her subject matter is often influenced by classic legends, sometimes sparked by a line in a poem, a fairy tale, a chance remark or just ‘out of the blue’; and still featuring natural forms including animals, birds and mythical beasts.

View more of Victoria’s artwork here

Rachel Wright Textile Artist

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  pieces of fabric.

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.

View more of Rachel’s textiles here

Jemima Jameson Artist

Jemima lives with her husband in a beautiful valley set in the Shropshire hills, between the site of an ancient hill-fort and a steep, densely wooded oak forest. She derives much of her inspiration from the surrounding countryside and its wealth of fauna and flora.  Jemima feels compelled to paint and draw every day, her paintings are a celebration of the natural world around us. 

She works mainly in acrylics which suits her illustrative style and the piece is then varnished. Acrylics are a quick drying and versatile medium which suits her illustrative style. Her panels, boxes and cabinets, which are becoming our heirlooms of the future, have a peaceful air about them and her animals look at ease with themselves, happy in their natural surroundings. Jemima’s highly detailed, inspirational designs on furniture, gesso and oak panels are a joyous celebration of our natural world.

View more of Jemima’s artwork here

Valerie Wall Artist

Artist Valerie Wall, was born in Scotland and now lives in the South West of the UK. Valerie studied art at school in Vancouver, Canada.  After finishing her schooling she studied history of fashion and fashion design at the Glasgow Royal Academy. She then relocated to London and established her own business designing haute couture and wedding dresses. Leaving the fashion world she went back to art, which is her greatest passion. Valerie paints in various forms, ranging from landscapes to detailed botanical and marine life. She also worked with an interior designer, painting frescoes, as well as designs on floors, walls and furniture.

Shirley Vauvelle Mixed Media Sculpture

Shirley  worked for 10 years as a professional designer/ maker after graduating from Leicester Polytechnic in 1989.  Taking time out to raise her three boys she is now re discovering texture and colour in the form of ceramics and painting.

She creates wall hung or free-standing sculptures, using white earthenware to hand build flower components, small creatures , birds and fish. Texture is embossed into the surface. Under glazes and oxides are applied to give layers of colour. These are then assembled together with driftwood, wire, reclaimed maps, vintage magazines and other interesting finds from the local beaches.

Her inspiration comes from her continually evolving garden, her love of the coast, country walks with her dog and the fun of creating objects that are a little bit different and quirky. Influences emerge from Scandinavian art and design and naïve art.  She likes the idea of layering texture and colour to create pieces that are totally individual, each has a little tale to tell.

View more of Shirley’s ceramic and driftwood Sculpture here

Shaun Hall Raku Fired Ceramics

Shaun Hall has been working in Raku since 1998. He has developed a personal style of wheel thrown and sculptural slab built Raku based on the vessel form, inspired by archaic objects and tools, and modernist style sculpture and architecture.  He is best known for using the Copper Matte fuming technique as well as lustrous copper glazes in reduction firings. Each work is hand made and unique and unrepeatable.

View more of Shaun’s work here

Tamsin Abbott Stained Glass

We are expecting a new collection of stained glass panels towards the end of November…watch this space! So for the time being it will be Tamsin’s limited edition prints that are available.

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.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 more of Tamsin’s artwork here