On Monday I had the chance to go and catch up with Matt Waite at his studio at Stowford Manor Farm near Trowbridge (where I also discovered some amazing blackberries!).

After rebuilding his kiln this year, Matt has been working on some really interesting new pieces and exploring different glazes.  I’m delighted to say that many of these new pieces will be going into his exhibition at the gallery in November.  I took a few behind the scenes photos in his studio and caught some of the new work.  Alongside the number of individual pieces for the show Matt is also making a new range of tableware exclusively for the gallery, which will be revealed in November so watch this space! And do sign up to the mailing list to receive an invitation to Matt’s show 20 November – 3 December.

Our newly opened ‘Late Summer Show’ sees the introduction of six new artists to the gallery.

We’re delighted to be showing three Bristol-based artists: Ian Chamberlain, Stewart Geddes RWA and Midge Naylor RWA, Bath artists: Andrew Lansley and Sally Muir along with textile designs from Birmingham-based Rosie Moss.

Ian Chamberlain is an experienced printmaker and lecturer based in Bristol.  He is fascinated by symbols of derelict technologies and portrays these man made objects and forms in his intricate etchings.  See more … 

Stewart Geddes is a Royal West of England Academician whose work is embedded in a language that seeks to combine the kinetic characteristics of Cubism and the notion of the Modern Ruin.   By layering and and excavating his materials Stewart’s compositions offset visual tensions and resolutions with contrasting surface textures. See more …

Midge Naylor is also a Royal West of England Academician, living and working in Bristol.  Her landscape-based gesturally abstract paintings are strongly influenced by the landscape of her upbringing in Scotland.  See More …

Andrew Lansley is a painter and printmaker whose work is generated from direct experience of location with a focus on landscape, marine and architectural subjects.  Images are developed using raw pigment combined with a variety of tempera mediums, including egg, casein, varnish and watercolour.  See more …

Sally Muir is a painter who lives and works in Bath.  Known for her distinctive portraits, dog paintings and landscape studies Sally directly engages with her subjects with bold, spontaneous brushstrokes. See more …

Rosie Moss is a Midlands based textile designer who hand dyes, prints and makes all of her textile products ranging from cushions to bags. Her designs are informed by various forms of vernacular arts and crafts and she is particularly inspired by the playful qualities of Mid-century Scandinavian designers.  See more …

The gallery will be closed from 17 – 24 August before we open up again for a late summer show (or early Autumn depending on the weather!), which starts on Saturday 29 August.

This show will feature a mixture of new and recent work by many of our existing gallery artists plus we will be introducing a few new names to the gallery so it’s a great chance to discover lots of interesting new pieces from paintings, original prints and mixed media to new textiles, jewellery and ceramics.

Read more here:
LATE SUMMER SHOW 29 August – 26 September 2015 

To accompany the show of paintings by Richard J S Young currently on display at Gascoyne Place Restaurant we are pleased to present this online catalogue of Richard’s work ‘Sound and Vision’ with text by Yasmin Namdjou.

View the catalogue here.

The exhibition ‘Sound and Vision’ has been extended until October so do pay Gascoyne Place Restaurant a visit where you can browse these powerful paintings over a glass of wine or some food.

Our new show ENCLOSURES is now up and running and continues until Saturday 15 August.

The show features 2D and 3D artworks by three distinctive artists working across the mediums of print, painting, drawing and sculpture.  Each artwork references some form of enclosure with the combination of pieces presenting interesting visual connections and contrasts throughout the exhibition.

A new body of work by Sandra Porter sits alongside previously unseen works by John Mitchell and we are delighted to be introducing prints by Katherine Jones to the gallery for the first time.  Katherine Jones is an award-winning artist based in London who studied printmaking at Cambridge School of Art and London’s Camberwell Colledge of Art.  Recently awarded multiple printmaking prizes in the UK her work is being recognised for its technical brilliance, distinctive depiction of light and strong iconography.

An interest in enclosures appear as a strong strand within each of the three artist’s output and this exhibition highlights an overlap between them. The pure, focused forms of John Mitchell’s ‘house-like’ shapes reveal his interest in the harmony of the Fibonacci Sequence that underpins so much of his work.  His enclosures are idealised, timeless shapes presented in sets of four across pure pigments of contrasting colours – coeruleum blue and indian red.  The forms are presented directly in order that the full essence of volume and arrangement of angles can be read and understood.

By contrast Katherine Jones’ use of enclosures initiate a narrative and sense of ambiguity.  The structures presented in her work play out a contrasting sense of security and void with the ‘house-like’ forms seemingly becoming symbols for our understanding of enclosures in different ‘scenes’ of lived experience.  Her works invite the viewer to navigate a visual environment created through layers of texture and colour.

Sandra Porter’s perspective on enclosures adds another dimension to the theme.  Her new works in this show were developed from observations of shed-like structures on the Isle of Skye called Bothans.  The artist was struck by the rich visual effect of the corrugated textures on these buildings, combined with the simplicity of their entire form.  The prints and paintings here display the abstracted essence of these physical structures distilled through Sandra’s distinctive vocabulary of grids and stripes.

View photographs of the exhibition here.