Monday, 17 September 2012

Review of Basingstoke Art Club exhibition at Fairfields Arts Centre

REVIEW: Basingstoke Art Club exhibition, Fairfields Arts Centre, until September 29

Those who doubt the talent of our town should attend this exhibition, given that it’s a feast of fantastic art from Basingstoke’s own. 

Basingstoke Art Club has organised art classes for its members for an unbelievable 60 years, and they meet in Fairfields, so it is appropriate that they have finally been given the two gallery spaces to display their undeniably accomplished work.

Sandy Kendall’s gorgeous florals burst with colour on the facing wall of gallery one, which also hosts pieces by the renowned Cicely Drewe, three by Brenda Perkins and Sherry Edmondson’s fascinating multilayer monoprints. Texture plays a key role in the work of Ivan Bellchambers, whose Web of Life is a fascinating circular watercolour.   

I quite fancied living in the gorgeous cottage captured by Lindsay J Berry’s The Springfield Sundial watercolour, and having a debate with the wary Liz Smith in Character sketch by Anita Leatherby!

Jim Blackford’s fired clay animals are resplendent in the cabinet before you’ll move to admire Arti Chauhan’s work, and feel drawn in by Ron Turrell’s Gossip, in which a young woman peers from behind net curtains, looking at the gathered figures in the street outside. Ron’s oil piece Memories is a charming coastal scene, complete with colourful beach hits and a little red kite.   

I was also fascinated by the detail in Pauline A Hall’s Shells and Seaweed, in contrast to Shirley Kirsopp’s Reflections 1 and 2, and the paintings and drawings of Ros Morton and Rolland Q Parris, which wonderfully capture the seasons.
 
And it’s all brought to a stunning conclusion with Bethany Milam’s trio of pieces featuring the agonies and ecstasies of competing gymnasts, their tears, their prayers and their smiles.

It is impossible to view this collection and not be impressed. Well done to all involved for their fantastic demonstration of another element of what cultural Basingstoke has to offer.

Thursday, 13 September 2012

More Than Sparrows

Lately I have been working on a sculpture of two sparrows made out of hair. 
 
The idea came from a sermon on Matthew 10 where it talks about the hairs on your head being counted, the Salvation Army Officer expanded on this surmising  that if God knew how many hairs are on your head he would know how many you left in your hairbrush that morning and how many lay on the hairdresser's floor.  This intrigued me and I began to look into using hair as a modelling material mixing it with glue and forming shapes.  I think this image was also partly inspired by a childhood memory of a poster with two sparrows on that had a paraphrase version of Matthew 10:31 on which I learnt by heart.

My hairdresser thinks I am mad having asked to keep my hair for the last two haircuts.  I was a little worried that I wouldn't have enough to finish both sparrows so had my hair cut a little shorter than I would have otherwise!   I also had a very odd parcel through the post containing some of a friend's black hair, which I used for the eyes.

For a lot of my work I use unusual or 'difficult materials' in a time consuming and intricate way.  I hope that this comes across in the delicacy of the final work.

sticking on legs and wings

testing his legs

 The finished sculpture

 ...and some close-up's

Tuesday, 11 September 2012

Olympic Portraits

Well it is all over but you can continue to relive the Olympic rollercoaster with these emotive portraits.

Three of my portraits of Olympic gymnasts are now on exhibition at Fairfield's Art Centre. Selected by Andrew Buchanan as part of the Basingstoke Art Club exhibition. The show is open until Saturday 29th September 2012.

Gallery Opening Hours:

From Thurs 6th Sept to Thurs 20th Sept: Mons, Tues, Weds and Thurs 9.30am – 4.45pm.
From Mon 24th Sept: Mons, Tues, and Thurs 9.30am – 8.00pm. Weds 9.30am - 6.00pm.


Fri by appointment.

Sat 29th Sept 9.30am - 1.00pm.
Closed Bank Holidays.


Admission Free


 
Victoria; Individual All-Around
Mixed Media
2012

 
Hannah; Vault
Mixed Media
2012

 
Alexandra; Beam
Mixed Media
2012