UPSTAIRS AT THE ART SHOP, CROSS STREET & DOWNSTAIRS AT THE CHAPEL, MARKET STREET

A vibrant collection of paintings, drawings, mixed media, ceramics and jewellery, delighting in the joy and colours of Summer.

Please enquire if you would like to see more work by any of our artists.

Arts Council of Wales Collectorplan scheme available for the purchase of original art. More information via the link below.

 

TINA BALMER – ‘A Graduate of St Martins School of Art, my painting is both inspired by, and a celebration of the domestic and ordinary. The rituals of daily life are represented by everyday objects such as vases, jugs, tea pots and flowers. These are arranged creating patterns that are underpinned by a strong sense of design. Although figurative, I’m not concerned with getting an absolute likeness but with the painting itself. The paint, which is used in a relaxed way, the marks, the canvas, the colours, and the composition jostle with each other until the painting finds a life of its own.’

JAMES BURNETT STUART –  James trained at Harrow College, made ranges of tableware for The Conran Shop, Designer’s Guild and Egg. Pots from this period were featured in magazines like World of Interiors, Elle Decoration and Country Living. He has held solo shows of individual pieces at The Scottish Gallery (Edinburgh), Egg (London) and Charleston Farmhouse (E.Sussex) where he was also Artist-in-Residence. ‘All my pots are made from red earthenware clay which is slipped with a lighter colour and glazed. Many pots are thrown and often altered immediately – for example scalloped or fluted. Some are made free-hand or with simple wooden moulds. I like the way pots enter our lives stealthily, benignly, and exert their quiet influence. As companions, offering beauty, comfort, practical service, sensuous experience all in a modest almost subliminal way. Of all pots the cup is the one we have the most intimate relation with. We raise it to our lips, we cradle it, we wash it.  Daily, several times a day. We have favourites. We cast our eye over their shelved ranks.’

JULIE COOPER – After working with stained glass for about 10 years Julie returned to education to study Fine Art achieving a BA(Hons) from the University of Hertfordshire in 1997. Since that time she has been exhibiting paintings in the UK and has work in private collections in England, Scotland, the US, Germany and Australia. She has been living on the Welsh borders for the past 8 years. ‘Painting helps me make sense of the world and address my concerns. Often I start out drawing on canvas, gradually overlaying the figurative work with oil paint, oil bars, graphite and sometimes collage. Alternately I start with just colour and see what develops. It is always an exciting journey, often ending up in unexpected places.’

DANA FINCH  – ‘I have been painting all my life, and it is the art form that best expresses the way I see and experience the world. My work comes from remembered glimpses, sensations and observations as I travel through a landscape, whether that is a desert in a distant land or a walk through a lush garden close to home. I try to convey my sense of visual delight, rather than a straightforward representation. Colour and mood are a priority when it comes to composing an image, and I respond to what is on the canvas – each piece becomes a conversation between forms, colour, memory and intent. I have a restless nature and have lived in many different places, but for now I have come to rest in Cornwall and paint in a studio at the beautiful Trewidden Gardens near Penzance.’

GEORGIE RICHARDSON – ‘I paint to feel peace and play, it’s a place of absorption, a completely immersive activity. It starts with drawing, observation of the subject. This could take many forms from flowers that I have grown to heirloom spoons, or daily domestic objects.  The common factor has to be at first personal, familiar. A landscape has to have been seen, experienced. Old spoons or forks having fed my children, flowers so ephemeral that they deserve taking time to see. Moments of time held captive. Collective memories of place, weather, season, time, effects of light there of are summoned up in colour and shape. Georgie studied Fine Art at Winchester School Of Art finishing in 1996. She has shown in mixed exhibitions in various galleries in the U.K and Berlin and has work in private collections worldwide .

THOMASIN TOOHIE – Thomasin’s work is figurative and always employs a narrative. Her subject matters include Paris, Venice and 1960s comic books. She also states of her work ‘I am interested in the painted surface applied to a 3D object’. Thomasin was awarded Best Newcomer – Welsh Artist of the Year, 2005. Following her move to Wales and the completion of an MA in Fine Art, Thomasin exhibited her first solo show ‘South Wales Discovered’ with The Art Shop in 2006. Since then, Thomasin has exhibited in the National Eisteddfod, where the official bard wrote two poems about her work which were then published in Taliesin. She also took part in the touring show ’60 Years of the Welsh Group’, the first venue being the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.