Hi,
Welcome to the May blog for The Gallery!
This month we are excited preparing for the opening of our first 2011 exhibition, Tea and Sympathy. The show opens next Friday, and features a number of artists new to The Gallery. To get a little sneak-peek at what to expect, check out the artist profiles below.
For this exhibition, we were inspired by the North Yorkshire Open Studios 2011 theme of tea, and decided to expand on this, by inviting artists to create work not only about tea and teapots, but about how tea plays an important part in everyday life.
Many of the artists involved have explored the way tea is used to comfort as well as to socialise and relax, and have focused on the human relationships formed around a pot of tea…
Her are some of the artists involved in Tea and Sympathy.
Our first show this year features an eclectic group of artists from all over the country, many of whom have never exhibited in The Gallery before. The exhibition is all about tea, and runs alongside the North Yorkshire Open Studios I June, which shares the theme.
Tea and Sympathy will feature work by …
Priscilla Jones
Priscilla has been producing contemporary stitched mixed media pieces in 2D and 3D since completing her degree in Embroidery at Manchester Metropolitan University in 1997. As well as selling her work through galleries across the UK, she also teaches textiles workshops, and runs The Edge gallery in Lancaster.
Harriet Quilty
Harriet has recently graduated from Cambridge School of Art with a BA in Illustation, and now sells her quirky drawings through galleries and commissions. Harriet uses pencil, paint, collage and digital techniques to create her vivid illustations.
Vic Sayers
Vic is an artist and illustrator based in York. As well as figurative illustration, Vic also creates landscape paintings and block-prints. The pieces here were produced specially for this exhibition
‘Tea and sympathy’ speaks to me of human relations; the primal, hard-wired need to interact with one another and the etiquette and social boundaries that circumscribe that contact. Many of my drawings celebrate caring for each other. Others mourn for those that have to make do without tea and sympathy.’
Jennifer Mackie
Jennifer studied Illustration and printmaking at Jordanstone Collage of Art in Dundee. In 2001 Jennifer won the Sekalski prize for Printmaking.
Jennifer works in relief printmaking, carving into sheets of linoleum to create her designs.
‘Relief printmaking has always appealed to my temperament. I find I have an affinity with the straightforward, informal process involved…I work to communicate through my printmaking – aiming for a sense of warmth, joy and sometimes humour in my work.’
Rosie Scott-Massie
Rosie Studied Fine Art at Cumbria institute of the Arts, Carlisle, and has since exhibited her illustrative collages in galleries around the north.
Rosie’s work explores the sense of a place, rather than the place itself. Using objects which can often evoke feelings of nostalgia for past journeys or adventures, such as maps, stamps and postcards, Rosie uses intricate paper-cutting techniques and collage to recreate places as we remember them, depicting dreamlike landscapes punctuated with places of significance, rather than an accurate interpretation of the location itself.
Rosie lives and works in York.
Viv Smith
Viv originally trained as a potter, but became interested in making jewellery, and decided to study silversmithing. After pursuing a career in teaching for 34 years, Viv now produces her fun cupcake jewellery from silver and oxidised copper sheets and solder, in her studio.
Karen Turner
Karen is a designer/maker based in Northhamptonshire. Her main focus is ceramics and sculpture, both functional and decorative. For Tea and Sympathy, Karen explored the association between the teapot and the family.
‘The teapot is a universal domestic item that is very much associated with the family, but by taking away the objects functionality it becomes a piece of art, an object of beauty that contains within it a meaningful narrative. My past experiences working as both a nurse and carer, have led me to create a collection of fragile and deteriorating porcelain teapots that visually communicate the issues of ageing but in particular the issues faced by the elderly in care homes. My intention is for the teapots to reference function but to contain within them a sense of preciousness and vulnerability. These imperfect, dysfunctional objects suggest a ghostly presence and an imagined history. ‘
Tea and Sympathy update – Exhibition is now OPEN!
Just a quick note to update you on the progress of our first exhibition this year. Tea and Sympathy opened last Friday, and so far has attracted a lot of attention. Hanging it was an absolute joy, especially since many of the artists are new to The Gallery, so deciding how to display everything was a little more difficult than usual. But we love a challenge!
Our exhibition room has transformed into a deliciously summery space (I’m sure you’ll agree), and we’ve already had a few sales and lots of compliments about the new work.
If you fancy taking a look, remember that Tea and Sympathy finishes on June the 27th, so pop in ass soon as you can. In the meantime, enjoy the beautiful weather!
