The best art exhibitions coming up in Bristol and the Westcountry – 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 the month ahead – including a look ahead to upcoming features….
AT THE RWA
Found Cities, Lost Objects: Women in the City
Until 13 Aug 2023, Main galleries
Found Cities, Lost Objects: Women in the City, is a national touring exhibition curated for the Arts Council Collection by Turner Prize-winning artist and cultural activist Lubaina Himid CBE.
This exhibition of over 60 works, including some by Bristol-based artists, presents a wide array of modern and contemporary art, including painting, sculpture, photography and film from both the Arts Council Collection and artists’ studios.
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
Compiled by Sue Quirk and Laurel Smart
1) ALISON ROSE: IN THE COMPANY OF COLOUR
3-23 JULY, SOU’-SOU’-WEST GALLERY, BRIDPORT, DORSET
Alison is passionate about the power of colour and creates expressive, vibrant,
semi–abstract floral still life and landscape paintings. She explores and layers colour intuitively capturing sensations and feelings from both observation and imagination. “As a child, I recall staring up in awe at a large Matisse painting; that moment ignited my life-long love, curiosity and fascination for colour. Colour and nature, nourish and nurture both my soul and senses, and my well- being is enhanced with the therapeutic benefits of having colour and flowers as my constant companions.”
From fresh to fading, Alison is captivated by the glorious colours, textures, shapes, scents and characteristics of flowers. Searching the endless dialogue, dynamics and relationships between colours is what underpins and drives her practice – as does her desire for her paintings to bring joy to the viewer.
2) ALMUTH TEBBENHOFF: UNSENTIMENTAL BEAUTY
UNTIL 8 JULY, GALLERY PANGOLIN, STROUD, GLOS
This will be Almuth Tebbenhoff’s first solo exhibition at Gallery Pangolin. This is a display of a wide selection of her unique works alongside several bronze and silver pieces cast at Pangolin Editions. “Almuth Tebbenhoff’s work is undeniably beautiful, but it is the qualified, mediated unsentimental beauty – one that incorporates the poignancy of human imperfection – suggested by Keats’ famous words ‘beauty is truth, truth beauty.’ “
3) LINES OF EMPATHY: GROUP SHOW
UNTIL 22 JULY, CLOSE LTD, HATCH BEAUCHAMP, SOMERSET
A group show bringing together hand-drawn work on paper by 17 artists working in Britain today. The artworks in the exhibition are the subject of a new artist’s book, bearing the same title of the show, produced by the Italian, London-based, artist Giulia Ricci between 2020 and 2022. The title Lines of Empathy is a synthesis of the project’s main themes: the exploration of the process of mark-making while drawing on paper, and empathy as the act of reaching out into someone else’s experience. The invited artists have been asked to talk in detail about their artwork on paper, with questions related to their choice of paper, media and processes used, their relationship with the body and the senses; they have also contributed their thoughts on the impact that the pandemic has had on their individual practices. The interview project has been informed by an interest in mirror neurons and empathy; the artworks have been considered as ‘vehicles’ for experiences which the viewers might feel a connection to.
Exhibiting artists: Fay Ballard, Duncan Bullen, Lucinda Burgess, Helen Cass, Rachel Duckhouse, Mary Griffiths, Simon Hitchens, Louise Hopkins, Carali McCall, Onya McCausland, Anna Mossman, David Murphy, Peter Peri, Kathy Prendergast, Wendy Smith, Giulia Ricci and Kate Terry. Exhibition open by appointment: Thurs ‒ Fri 10am ‒ 3pm & Sat 10am ‒ 1 pm.
4) STEVE MCPHERSON AND GRAHAM RICH: THE FOUND IS MORE POWERFUL THAN THE MADE…
UNTIL 23 JULY, GBS FINE ART, WELLS, SOMERSET
The found is more important than the made is a typically playful – and deliberately contentious – assertion made by Rich, some years ago. That artists are makers, creators, is seemingly self-evident; and yet for this exhibition there was never a blank canvas and tubes of unctuous oil paint, no burnished copper plate, nor even any digital intermediary, for both these artists rely entirely on the found object. What is more, the provenance of that object is invariably the shorelines close to where they live; for Rich, that is usually the southern coast of Devon and Cornwall and for McPherson, the beaches of north-east Kent.
McPherson has been collecting plastic debris from those beaches since the mid-90s; categorised by colour, size and shape, they may be incorporated into large vibrant assemblages, that evoke entomological displays, or collated into individual sculptural forms.
Rich’s works range from large scale installations to small, constructed scenes, formed from the remnants of boats or other objects he has found walking or sailing along the south-western coasts. His interventions are less to do with the environmental impact of humankind on the oceans but rather a more metaphysical, or even totemic, expression of our relationship with the sea. Often dwarfed against a backdrop of sea-worn paint and the scars left by maritime use or the sea itself, his motifs of small, jibbed sailing boats serve as symbols of hope and struggle against tribulation.
5) LISLE, SEWELL, RICHARDSON, ATKINSON & MORSE: UNCHARTED
UNTIL 29 JULY, VANNER GALLERY, SALISBURY, WILTSHIRE
An exhibition bringing together five renowned artists: Susanna Lisle, Robin Sewell, Catherine Richardson, Julia Atkinson and Jenny Morse. The title of the exhibition, Uncharted, refers to the way in which these five artists engage with the physical world. Their approach is investigative and playful, primarily concerned with the dynamics of visual language, as each artist experiments with their own chosen materials and techniques.
It is a journey of discovery, as they are all in a fluid state of ‘finding out’ – by chance, by risk taking and by exploring. The engagement with the organic world and the methods to bring that response to light is fundamentally what connects all of them.
6) NOELA JAMES BREWRY
UNTIL 29 JULY, PREMA ARTS CENTRE, ULEY, GLOS
Artist Noela James Bewry was born in Vienna, her mother was Austrian and her father Jamaican. She was brought up in London and studied Fine Art at Kingston upon Thames Polytechnic (now Kingston University). In the 1970s, Noela moved to Stroud and has taken inspiration from the landscapes in and around its beautiful valleys. Many will recognise Noela’s name and work from her time spent lecturing at the former Stroud Art College and through her many exhibitions in and around the locality.
Since the early noughties, Noela’s work has undertaken a gradual progression from her distinctive landscapes and figurative work towards her now trademark abstract paintings – a liberating endeavour which feels right at the moment. For her show in Prema’s upstairs gallery, Noela will exhibit her most recent abstracts from her prolific body of creative work.
All of her work is influenced by the light and colour of her surroundings, resulting in the paintings having a nuanced naturalism with a kind of synthetic edge. Noela is a member of Brancaster Chronicles and has contributed to the online discussion forum Abstract Critical.
7) COTSWOLD SCULPTORS ASSOCIATION, CREATING SPACES 2023
UNTIL 30 JULY, THE MISERDEN GARDEN, MISERDEN, NR STROUD, GLOS
Founded in 2017 by a group of like-minded sculptors from Bath and the Cotswolds who wanted to bring local sculptors and their sculptures to a wider audience, the association now has members from all over the UK. There are over 120 sculptures on display in the garden and also an indoor exhibition in the Club Room in the centre of the village.
Creating Spaces 2023: Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays 10am to 5pm.
LAST CHANCE TO SEE
- UNTIL 2 JULY: DESIGN FOR LIFE: ART AND ARCHITECTURE PART 1 Artworks by over twenty international artists and architects including Le Corbusier, Bridget Riley, Leonhard Lapin, Toni Davey, Andreas Gursky, Liu Wei, Cyprien Gaillard and Ugo La Pietra. HESTERCOMBE GALLERY, CHEDDON FITZPAINE, SOMERSET https://www.hestercombe.com/whats-on/design-for-life
WATCH OUT FOR
- PHILIP SUTTON RA: A COLOURIST’S WORLD: UNTIL 8 JULY A celebration of the joyous, magical vision of Philip Sutton with paintings from the family collection, alongside works on canvas, paper and ceramics selected from a lifetime of painting up to and including his most recent work SLADERS YARD, BRIDPORT, DORSET https://sladersyard.wordpress.com/philip-sutton-ra-solo-2023/
- JENNY BEAVEN AND STUART THORN: CLAYWORKS 25 YEARS IN THE MAKING: UNTIL 10 JULY This exhibition is a festive celebration of their artistic connections linked to the china clay industry over the last 25 years. ROGER PRESTON GALLERY, WHEAL MARTYN, ST AUSTELL, CORNWALL https://www.wheal-martyn.com/clayworks
- VIVIENNE BEAUMONT: SEEDS, FLOWERS AND FLOWING HAIR: UNTIL 22 JULY Vivienne Beaumont’s soulful textile work is shaped by symbols and stories, archetypes and female transformation. ACEARTS, SOMERTON, SOMERSET https://www.acearts.co.uk/2023-2/
The Floating Circle 