The Winter Exhibition 2024 at Old Chapel Gallery, Pembridge entitled ‘Winter Curiosities’ opens on Saturday November 2nd 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.
Our festive line up features stained glass panels by Tamsin Abbott. 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.
Artist Hilke MacIntyre grew up in North Germany where she studied at the College of Art & Architecture in Kiel. In 1996 she moved to Scotland where she divides her time between painting, printmaking and producing ceramic reliefs. Hilke’s work uses a simplified figurative style with strong abstract pattern. Influences include ‘primitive’ art, early 20th Century European art and contemporary design. You may have seen her linocut motifs adorning the packaging of Doves Farm flour.
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. Even when working on a larger scale, a tiny detail, such as a soaring kite, will intrigue and draw the viewer in.
Textile artist Rachel Wright will be showing three new machine embroidery pictures. Studies of the landscapes and seascapes that inspire her are painstakingly translated into carefully cut and pieced fabric collages, lively and swirling with movement, overlaid with vibrant threads used like a fine paintbrush to fill in the details, enabling Rachel to draw and paint through fabric and stitch.
Back by popular demand is Helen Martino, who describes her own work as ‘serious, posh and frivolous’. Fascinated by body language, her ceramic sculptures embody a sense of narrative, where a still gesture captures a moment which suggests a past and a future story. She uses a hand building technique, manipulating soft and flexible sheets of clay. The surfaces are painted with slips, underglaze pigments and resists, often glinting with silver and gold lustres.
John Exton’s works in pen and ink illustrate a private world of myth and legend. He sees the work as ‘A Bestiary For our Times’. He uses a plethora of stimuli to produce his illustrations, including the Medieval world, dreams, journeys into the subconscious and Magic, Mystery and Folklore.
Elaine Peto, renowned for her ceramic animal sculptures, combines a rigorous anatomical approach with conveying the essence of the creature. These powerful pieces realistically recreate the muscularity, movement and bones of the animal whilst revelling in the textures and creative possibilities of the stoneware clay, into which she impresses pieces of fabric, shells, and netting.
Jemima Jameson works mainly in acrylics, preferring to paint onto wooden panels, bowls and furniture. Her desire to paint and draw has been part of her whole life and is quite simply a celebration of the natural world that she is compelled to describe. Her wooden boxes and cabinets often serve as treasure chests for cherished keepsakes.
Ceramicist Lyn Harrison in creates lively, robust pieces, both narrative and domestic, in stoneware crank clay, a strong, gritty clay which has a grainy, rustic appearance. She uses hand building methods, mainly coiling and slab work and finishes the pieces with slips and glazes with a wood ash finish.
To keep out the winter chill there will be a ‘must have’ collection of scarves, wraps, collars and bags in luxurious wools and silks, all desirable accessories for any wardrobe! Our wide range of textiles includes jackets, hats, gloves, cushions and throws. We will have new collections of jewellery by Rachel Bailey, Elizabeth Terzza, Leoma Drew, Alison Varley, Nicola Lillie, Gail Klevan and Rozie Keogh who will also be showing a magnificent suspended angel in wire with sequins. Gift wrapping service available.
