Following the success of the opening solo exhibition of works by Peter Podmore – some 3,000 people will have visited the show when it closes on 30 November – the new Joseph Gibson Gallery brings you an exciting mixed show of works from eight accomplished artists.
7 December 2014 – 25 January 2015
at The Music Hall, The Square,
Shrewsbury SY1 1LH
Hannah Firmin is a graduate of the Chelsea School of Art and the Royal College of Art. Hannah always uses the relief print as her method of working, and uses lino, vinyl or wood as the engraving/cutting material; she often combines the print with paint and collage. In 2004 she won Best Book Cover of the Year at the British Book Awards for my cover of Alexander McCall Smith’s book ‘The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency’.
Veronica Gibson is drawn to the Welsh Landscape, for its rugged, untamed qualities; particularly for the colour and natural beauty of the mountains. Her plein air paintings are a spontaneous response to these surroundings and her work has been described as both expressive and poetic. Veronica, a keen gardener, finds allotments a stimulating environment that lends itself to finding a counterbalance between the abstract and figurative.
Sue Hiley Harris studied fine art at the Queensland College of Art in Australia. In 2013 Sue was awarded a Creative Wales Award by the Arts Council of Wales ‘to explore the possibility of making woven body sculpture’. As part of this exploration Sue has returned to drawing the figure from life; these studies, directly from the model, show immediacy and freedom as well as Sue’s interest in space, line and form.
Myriam Kavanagh’s work expresses her love of paint, of subject matter, and the process of painting in the Florentine manner. Having spent many years training academically, Myriam feels she can give her subjects the honour they deserve, whilst still having the freedom to paint the world as she sees it: “I feel very privileged to be in a perpetual state of endeavouring to depict my personal vision of the world through painting”.
Phillip Lake is working on several personal projects, with one of the first being botanical studies. “I choose to get in close, focusing in on the details, many images becoming semi-abstract and some completely. By studying the light and choosing different viewpoints the subjects can take on a organic, painterly quality while others manifest a strong architectural look”. This body of work led to his first solo exhibition of photographic art in 2004.
Sue Rae has always found a ‘sense of place’ provides inspiration for her work. She returns to places for their familiarity and permanence – a field, a stretch of coastline, or a mountain. A starting point can come from changing light or weather, or from a dramatic incident such as the rusting and twisted shipwreck, ‘the Demetrios’, off Prawle Point, Devon. Sketches, notes and memory influence choice of colour, shapes and textures of the paintings.
Alice Robinson’s work takes advantage of the visual codes of photography that the eye alone would not achieve, such as its ability to fix the fleeting moment or its capacity to reveal the intense detail obtained through macro photography. For Alice however, the photograph alone is not enough – but instead is a vital part of the process and production of the work, in her desire to marry photographic truthfulness with the signs of the artist hand.
Angela Scott is keen to explore the watercolour medium to see how far she can take it, and also emphasises that drawing and sketching is vitally important to her work. Creating vibrant paintings using richly layered watercolour washes, she builds up a contemporary rhythmical landscape or seascape, sometimes quite abstract. She paints from sketchbook studies, carefully observed, and taken back to the studio.
About the Gallery
The Joseph Gibson Gallery is based in Shrewsbury and represents established and emerging artists from across the British Isles. It has a continual programme of exhibitions featuring the work of gallery artists as well as themed shows and solo events. The gallery is committed to showing exciting and innovative works of art, including contemporary paintings and works on paper.
The Gallery can be found in the magnificent 19th Century Music Hall and Assembly Rooms, listed as Grade II. The former Music Hall remains one of the most important sites in Shrewsbury, housing the Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery. Sitting on the historic Market Square, at the heart of the town, the exhibition space plays a central role in the cultural life of the Town.