In Our Element: Encounters with the Coast
Exhibition: 30th June - 12th August, 2023
Preview: Thursday 29th June, 5-7.30pm
Ruth Bond, Lost in Thought, Dunstanburgh Castle, 30 x 40 inches
This group exhibition brings together artworks from eight artists, celebrating the beauty and awe of the English Coastline. Artists include Ruth Bond, Andrew Cheetham, Melvyn Evans, Crispian Heath, Maria Laffey, Sarah Ross-Thompson, Kelly Stewart & Nicola Young.
We all hold personal memories of these wild and windswept encounters with the coast, weekend jaunts to Bamburgh, staring out to see. Through paint, print and glass, these artists work from imagination and observation to create wonderfully poetic and atmospheric images of these dramatic, iconic, and familiar landscapes. This is a show that hopes to encapsulate these memorable encounters and the feeling of being by the sea.
WORK FOR SALE
Artist Biography’s
Ruth Bond
Born in Zambia, Ruth trained in fashion and built an award-winning interior design business in Newcastle. Having worked and travelled in many countries across the globe, she now works happily in her studio in Newcastle Arts Centre, painting in oils, always from experience of the countryside she loves – the Northumbrian coast, and the very special Outer Hebrides.
Andrew Cheetham
Born in Heywood, Manchester, and based in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, Andrew Cheetham produces paintings and drawings of seascapes and landscapes. Until recently, he was based in a baiting shed on Scarborough harbour from where he documented the declining Fishing Industry. His work is held in Public Galleries and private collections.
Melvyn Evans
Melvyn Evans references British Modernism of the 1950s, whilst bringing a contemporary illustrative twist. He seeks to capture a human relationship with the varied landscapes of the British Isles. Initially trained as a marine engineer, he studied illustration at Exeter College of Art and Design and Goldsmiths, and drawing at the Royal College of Art. He became a professional artist, printmaker and illustrator in 1992. His work has been widely exhibited throughout the UK, including at the Royal Academy, the Royal College of Art and Somerset House.
Crispian Heath
Based in North Shields, Crispian Heath is a glass artist whose inspiration stems from a passion for exploring the cliffs and geological sites of Britain. Simultaneously rugged and highly polished, his glass works refract and reflect light, changing throughout the day. He has had work exhibited at the National Glass Centre, Sunderland; Ovengevornd Glas, Netherlands; and the British Glass Biennale, as well as participating in shows in London, Glasgow, York, Newcastle and more. His work is held in private collections across the UK and USA.
Maria Laffey
Maria Laffey, born in Hartlepool, is a painter working in oils and watercolour. She often works outdoors ‘en plein air’ in all weathers immersed in the landscape. Her studio is based in rural Southwest Northumberland and she also paints from a studio in a static caravan situated in the Scottish Borders on the Berwickshire coast. She has exhibited with the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) at the Mall Galleries London. Maria is also a co founder of Plein Air North East, a convivial collective of outdoor painters who meet regularly to paint together in the North East landscape.
Sarah Ross-Thompson
Sarah Ross-Thompson is a Fine Art Printmaker based on the Southwest Coast of Scotland looking out over the Irish Sea towards Belfast. She specialises in hand-inked, collagraph prints, constructed using materials such as string, salt, corrugated card, porridge oats and lichen. Having lived in some of the most beautiful parts of Britain, she draws inspiration from the breath-taking scenery surrounding her.
Kelly Stewart
Kelly Stewart is an illustrator and printmaker, born in Australia and based in Edinburgh. In 2001 she joined Edinburgh Printmakers Workshop and began to translate the drawings of architecture into screenprint. For Kelly, screen-printing offers endless possibilities through overlaying images, mark making, handwritten text, texture and found imagery, creating images that otherwise wouldn’t be possible with traditional painting materials such as acrylic and watercolour.
Nicola Young
Based in Cullercoats, Nicola Young’s paintings capture the essence of the coastline and its ever-changing beauty. Painting primarily abstract, non-objective works, each is an exploration of the balance between chaos and order, the unpredictable and the rhythmic and the relationship between the natural world and the man-made. Her work reflects a blending of imagination and emotion with memories and real-life experiences. After a successful career in Marketing, Nicola returned to painting ten years ago. Her work has been exhibited at the Royal Academy, London and the Mall Galleries.
Open Tuesday to Friday 10.30am – 5.00pm
Saturday 11.00am – 4.00pm
Closed Sunday, Monday and Bank Holidays