The best art exhibitions in Bristol and the Westcountry this month – selected by the Friends of the RWA…
Here’s our pick of the best art exhibitions and events happening in and around Bristol and the south west in November – including ‘Last chance to see’ shows and a look ahead to upcoming features….
Compiled by Sue Quirk and Laurel Smart
AT THE RWA
The 167 Open Exhibition – Until 1 Dec 19
The RWA’s renowned Annual Open Exhibition returns for its 167th year with a stunning variety of work from emerging and established artists. Full info here.
This year The Floating Circle is sponsoring a prize for the best work by a student – so look out for that!
Academican Candidates’ Exhibition 2019 – Until 1 Dec
Works from the eight candidate academician artists, including Rosalind Robinson, whom we interviewed here. More info here.
Abstract Realities: Carol Robertson In Conversation with Stewart Geddes PPRWA
Saturday 2 November 11am-12.15pm. More info and tickets here.
NORTH BRISTOL ART TRAIL
23 and 24 November (10am-5pm)
North Bristol Artists are a group of people in the North Bristol area who produce art works in a variety of formats: paintings, photographs, etchings, screenprints, textiles, pottery, glass pieces, jewellery and more. The Art Trail is an annual event for them to open their studios and exhibit work in the Montpelier/Bishopston/Redland areas.
This year three RWA Friends’ committee members, Jane Boot Suzanne Ewart and Laurel Smart are exhibiting work in their homes:
Jane Boot is chair of the Friends of the RWA. She works in watercolour and acrylics. “My paintings are purely imaginative. Ideas are stored in my head, and experimental techniques are logged into my ideas books. Hopefully the two come together” Venue 52
Suzanne Ewart helps organise RWA artists’ talks and studio visits. She works in acrylic, oil and watercolour. “Painting is a feast that never satisfies, but with my sketchbook in hand I attempt to capture those elusive colours and shapes within the landscape and the brief moment in a strangers life.” Venue 31
Laurel Smart helps with social media and is liaising with the Goods Shed Art Centre in Tetbury to forge a new collaboration with the RWA. She is currently working in acrylics. “I have been exploring the expressive quality of colour and marks. I have always been fascinated by the abstract quality of paint even where I am painting identifiable subjects. I am now working on colourful and exuberant large scale abstract paintings.” Venue 30
Find out more at: https://www.northbristolartists.org.uk/
NOVEMBER EXHIBITIONS
1) MINYOUNG CHOI
6-20 NOVEMBER
Minyoung Choi is an artist who focuses on painting. Her work shows a mind which observes its surroundings. It is the quiet voice which has mixed and varied feelings about what it sees around it, almost like a nostalgic or innocent observer. The combination of ordinary objects in her paintings – i.e. a laptop, electronic gadgets, ornaments, stationery and so on – she frequently uses, induces a meditative state to the observer. It becomes clear that Choi is evoking elements of her previous works and includes them more subtly in these new daily scenes. This makes for a much more surreal experience as the fantastic is not a dominant presence but more of a subdued feeling.
Andelli Art, Wells BA5 3QG www.andelliart.com
2) KINDRED – IRENE JONES, JAY JONES
UNTIL 9 NOVEMBER
Kindred by birth and in spirit, Irene and Jay have rarely shown their work side by side. Their painting and sculpture appears contrasting at first yet coming together to exhibit, echoes resound. Imagery of bluebirds, windows and openings, skies and stitching link the two, carrying particular meanings for each of them.
Hybrid Gallery, 51 High Street, Honiton, Devon, EX14 1PW https://hybrid-devon.co.uk/
3) MARZIA COLONNA
UNTIL 10 NOVEMBER
A new exhibition for the acclaimed collage artist and sculptor Marzia Colonna. Including over 40 recent collages of all different sizes, with bronze sculpture, framed drawings and giclée prints, this is an exhibition to appeal to everyone. Marzia Colonna’s great talent is to take us directly into her subject matter. Whether she is working in collage or in sculpture, she is able to convey the physical sensations of being in a particular place, time and situation. Marzia Colonna’s collages capture the exceptional landscape of West Dorset with the eye of someone who knows and understands it, in different weather and times of year, with a wonderful sense of space and light.
Sladers Yard Gallery and Café Sladers, West Bay Road, West Bay Bridport, Dorset DT6 4EL https://sladersyard.wordpress.com
4) NEROCHE ARTISTS
UNTIL 23 NOVEMBER
An exhibition by a group of artists whose work is diverse; each artist excelling in their own particular field. All are based in and around Somerset which offers inspiration for much of their work, but also travels abroad and people going about their everyday business, these all add to an interesting and varied exhibition.
Neroche Artists include members who have all the ability to cover these subjects, and more, in the most sensitive and skilful of ways. Mediums include: etchings, oils, watercolours, pastels and beautifully executed sculptures.
Ilminster Arts Centre at the Meeting House, East Street, Ilminster, Somerset TA19 0AN https://www.themeetinghouse.org.uk/visual_arts
5) LINDA BROTHWELL CONVERSATIONS IN MAKING
UNTIL 24 NOVEMBER
The exhibition presents a new series of work created by artist Linda Brothwell. A collection of 40 copper and silver bowls, beakers and vessels form a portrait of the area, charting the connections between Stonehenge and the communities that have lived around the monument, both past and present.
Stonehenge Visitor Centre, Near Amesbury, Wiltshire, SP4 7DE
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stonehenge/things-to-do/linda-brothwell/
6) RICHARD TWOSE: EXPERIMENTS WITH FLYING
UNTIL 24 NOVEMBER
Twose undertook a three-month residency at Elisabeth Frink’s former studio in 2018. Inspired by Frink’s themes such as the Bird Man, horses and bulls, he extended them helped by acrobats from CircoMedia, Bristol. By directing the acrobats he was able to test their limits – balancing, falling and flying – incorporating energetic marks into the resultant images so as to convey continuing motion.
Victoria Art Gallery, Bridge Street, Bath BA2 4AT www.victoriagal.org.uk
7) MARTINA AMATI – UNDER
UNTIL 1 DECEMBER
New solo exhibition of director-producer Martina Amati’s immersive video installation. Under is an eleven-minute installation comprised of two separate looped video projections, with each film named after a quantitate means of measuring free-diving ability: Distance and Depth. Underwater cinematographer Daan Verhoeven captured Amati’s subaquatic performance, shooting every scene on a single, non-assisted breath of air.
Messums Wiltshire, Place Farm, Court St, Tisbury, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP3 6LW https://messumswiltshire.com/martina-amati-under/
LAST CHANCE TO SEE…
UNTIL 5 NOVEMBER: ZARA MCQUEEN Contemporary painting, drawing and collage. SHAFTESBURY ARTS CENTRE
UNTIL 7 NOVEMBER: BLACK SWAN ARTS OPEN 2019 Annual competition which welcomes entries of original works from established practitioners and emerging artists of all professions and disciplines. BLACK SWAN ARTS, FROME
UNTIL 8 NOVEMBER: ART FOR NATURE Art exhibition featuring donated artwork on the theme of the natural world from over thirty professional artists. 100% of proceeds go to the environmental charity World Land Trust. CREATE CENTRE, BRISTOL. Read more here.
UNTIL 9 NOVEMBER: THE ART OF THE POTTER Explores how ceramic slipware developed in Somerset from the late 1600s onward. Somerset Rural Life Museum, Glastonbury
WATCH OUT FOR…
- EXETER CONTEMPORARY OPEN EXHIBITION UNTIL 10 NOVEMBER One of the UK’s most prominent regional contemporary art competitions. Exeter Phoenix, EXETER https://www.exetercontemporaryopen.com/2019
- IMRAN PERRETTA THE DESTRUCTORS UNTIL 8 DECEMBER Drawing on the artist’s own experience as a young man of Bangladeshi heritage, the film explores personal and collective experiences of marginalisation and oppression. Spike Island, BRISTOL https://www.spikeisland.org.uk/programme/exhibitions/imran-perretta/
- STILL I RISE: FEMINISMS, GENDER, RESISTANCE – ACT 3 UNTIL 15 DECEMBER A large-scale exhibition of international artists, highlighting the experiences of women and celebrating their triumphs – and showing how the struggle for liberation is ongoing and hard-won. Arnolfini, BRISTOL https://www.arnolfini.org.uk/whatson
- CANDACE BAHOUTH’S BOX OF DELIGHTS; MATISSE MASTER OF LINE; REMBRANDT IN PRINT UNTIL JANUARY 3 major exhibitions. The Holburne Museum, BATH https://www.holburne.org/
ONE/TWO DAY EVENTS
- 2 & 3 NOVEMBER 11-4pm Cam Valley Arts Trail Over 40 artists in Cam Valley from Tunley to Temple Cloud https://www.camvalleyartstrail.co.uk/
- 7 NOVEMBER 6.30-8pm Film London Jarman Award 2019: Screening and Conversation Discover works that explore new digital practices, experimental animation and fresh approaches to analogue filmmaking in this screening of cutting-edge artists’ films. SPIKE ISLAND, BRISTOL https://www.spikeisland.org.uk/programme/events/jarman-award-programme-2019/
- 7 NOVEMBER 7.30-9pm Winter Lecture: How the black female image was erased from Renaissance art Talk seeks to explain why the Bible’s Queen of Sheba and the Classic’s Andromeda are both invariably depicted as white in Renaissance art and onwards, despite that both were known to be black. BRISTOL MUSEUM & ART GALLERY https://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/bristol-museum-and-art-gallery/
- 21 NOVEMBER 7-8pm Talk: Rembrandt the Printmaker with An Van Camp Exploration of Rembrandt’s working methods and his innovative printmaking techniques, in addition to his talents as a storyteller and an observer of life. THE HOLBURNE MUSEUM, BATH https://www.holburne.org/
If you would like an exhibition or artist to be listed please email laurel.smart@blueyonder.co.uk and we will consider it for inclusion.
The Floating Circle 