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‘Sunlight on the Garden’ Summer Exhibition 2026

Returning by popular demand is our featured artist Mary Woodin. Mary studied at the Royal College of Art in London and immediately after graduation was commissioned to produce ceramic tile murals for South Kensington Underground Station. Mary has a great eye for detail. She excels when painting natural objects from her garden. Her beautiful watercolours have been commissioned for many international projects including Country Living magazine. We welcome her once more with a new collection of watercolours featuring flowers from her lovely garden.

'Iris Blue Rhythm'
‘Iris Blue Rhythm’

Tamsin Abbott’s stained glass panels are influenced by the natural world and its associated myths and legends. She tries to imbue her work with a sense of these magical qualities which connect humankind to the landscape while doing justice to the alchemical qualities of the glass itself.

The creative urge turned Rachel Ricketts from the conservation of antiquities and fine art to her studio with the intention of painting, but inspiration to sculpt came along with her newly acquired English Toy Terrier who became her first, very wriggly, subject. Her extensive training did not encompass sculpture, in this she is entirely self-taught, her experience with materials and techniques, including patination processes, have proved invaluable as Rachel seeks to integrate the visual disciplines she enjoys.

‘Puffer Person II’
‘Puffer Person II’

Like many glass artists Thomas Petit started his craft experience in the world of clay while at still at school and despite his determination to be the next Bernard Leach he was encouraged to try other artistic mediums to broaden his horizons.Remembering a childhood visit to the Dartington Crystal Factory to watch glassblowing, he set about searching for small courses and found one with Norman Stuart-Clarke in Cornwall. He was mesmerised with this new and exciting material, and clay was almost completely forgotten about.

 

Rachel Sumner is a mixed media artist working mainly with found objects such as driftwood and metal. She collects the materials for her pieces during the winter when there are storms and not so many people about, and assembles them during the summer in her shed, hand painting the details and finishing the assemblages with beeswax.

‘Chips the Seagull’
‘Chips the Seagull’

Frances St Clair Miller was born and educated in London, and was a student at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, from 1965 until 1969.

‘Swans at Bredwardine'
‘Swans at Bredwardine’

The emphasis is on traditional technique and the highest standards in printing, instilled at the Slade and strengthened through experience and which remains constant in her work. She is an artist and printmaker living and working in rural Herefordshire. All her work is produced in her own studio using traditional printmaking techniques with subject matter drawn primarily from landscape and architecture. She takes inspiration directly from nature, painting and drawing outdoors to achieve a greater immediacy and naturalism than is possible in purely studio-bound work. She exhibits work nationally and internationally.

Much loved ceramicist Hilke MacIntyre was born in Germany near the Danish border. She studied architecture at the College for Art & Design in Kiel and worked for various architects until she moved to Scotland in1995. Since then she has focused on printmaking, ceramics and painting, combining a simplified figurative style with bold shapes, strong colours and abstract patterns. Her work is widely exhibited in galleries throughout Britain and her linocuts and woodcuts have been used for numerous illustrations.

‘She Loves Orange’ Ceramic Relief
‘She Loves Orange’ Ceramic Relief

To compliment our Summer exhibition we have a new collection of gorgeous linen jackets, dresses and tunics by Terry Macey.

The gallery is open from Wednesday to Friday 11 – 4.30pm, Saturday 11 – 5pm and Sundays 12 – 4pm. Mondays and Tuesdays by prior appointment.

If you can’t make it to the gallery visit our website. For more information phone 01544 388 842 or email oldchapelgallery@googlemail.com or visit our web site www.oldchapelgallery.co.uk

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’Snapdragon Solstice’  Summer Exhibition opens on Saturday July 5th 2025

’Snapdragon Solstice’ 

Summer Exhibition opens on Saturday July 5th 2025

Returning by popular demand Lynda Jones’ mysterious canvases and drawings are mostly depictions of the Monmouthshire landscape, and its rolling wooded hills, that surrounds her. 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.

‘On the Way to the Mountains’
‘On the Way to the Mountains’

Sue Hayden‘s paintings are based on the relationship between texture, shape and light. Starting with observational drawings from life she uses bright acrylics and pastels on layered surfaces to add randomness and energy to her work. Particularly drawn to natural objects and landscapes her work emphasises a love of colour, texture and movement in what can be touched and what can be seen in the distance.

'Straggled Gorse' Acrylic and Collage
‘Straggled Gorse’ Acrylic and Collage

New to the gallery is artist Stuart Roper who was born in England and brought up in Scotland. Having spent many years as a commercial illustrator he is now based in the Welsh Marches, working in a variety of media, including watercolour, gouache, acrylics and oils. A colourist at heart, he says: “I enjoy painting from the natural landscape; my fascination with trees is prompted by the way the light changes their colours – purple trunks with dashes of pink, turquoise leaves against burgundy-coloured bark. As a painter, I am increasingly drawn to the astonishingly vivid colour in nature around me.” He builds his compositions through gestural marks, his impressionistic style depicting a dapple of light as it dances on the canvas. For him, the natural world proves an endless source of inspiration and delight.

'Hergest Croft Gardens'
‘Hergest Croft Gardens’

Much loved ceramicist Hilke MacIntyre was born in Germany near the Danish border. She studied architecture at the College for Art & Design in Kiel and worked for various architects until she moved to Scotland in1995. Since then she has focused on printmaking, ceramics and painting, combining a simplified figurative style with bold shapes, strong colours and abstract patterns. Her work is widely exhibited in galleries throughout Britain and her linocuts and woodcuts have been used for numerous illustrations.

'Coffee in the Summer House'

Distinguished stained glass artist Frans Wesselman grew up and trained in the Netherlands. He meticulously shapes glass panels that capture the essence of the human experience. These panels, thoughtfully combined into small installations, some on a plinth, serve as intimate reflections of the artist’s vision. People are central to his work, which is also based on the close observation of the natural world. Drawing inspiration largely from literary references and tales of travel, Fran’s natural eye for storytelling captures the warmth and character of relationships.

'Hen Keeper's Handbook' 
‘Hen Keeper’s Handbook’

Jeweller Tracey Birchwood graduated in 3-Dimensional Design at university where she majored in ceramics. Each delicate porcelain petal within her Petal collection is hand formed and then edged, spotted or striped in intricate patterns painted with a special ceramic ‘lustre’ glaze (the gold contains real gold and the silver coloured lustre contains real platinum). Once the lustres have been fired onto the petals, they are carefully linked together with sterling silver fittings to form earrings and necklaces. Tiny freshwater pearls are used to embellish the pieces.

Since retiring from teaching, James Gilchrist is painting full time, inspired by the countryside he lives in and his journeys around the world. His work includes evocative, atmospheric landscapes in soft and oil pastels, watercolours, and oil paintings, along with charcoal and pencil figurative drawings.

‘St Michael's Mount, Cornwall’
‘St Michael’s Mount, Cornwall’

 

To compliment our Summer exhibition we have a new collection of gorgeous linen jackets, dresses and tunics by Terry Macey.