I am a graphic fine artist who works exclusively in graphite. Extensive walking, close observation and research about land and ‘place’ are integral to my practice.
I have exhibited at the Royal West of England Academy, Messums Wiltshire and with the Society of Graphic Fine Art in London as well as various Open exhibitions in South West England including RWA Drawn, Bath Society of Artists Annual Opens and Somerset Art Weeks events.
Drawing in Horner Woods (photo Davina Jelley)
In my curatorial work, I have organised many exhibitions including ‘The Transformed Land’, which collected work from various artists interested in place- some who frequently return to the same place, others who are visitors, some who are residents, and some who are creators of imagined places.
Here, you can find information about my work, exhibitions and news with an insight into my process through ‘walking and writing’. Cards and reproductions of my work are available under ‘purchase’.
Originally published 10 April 2021 on Somerset Art Works’ website
Fifty works by SAW Members feature in a new exhibition at Black Swan Arts in Frome, celebrating the book of the same name by Edward Thomas.
In Pursuit of Spring sees Thomas setting out from London, westwards by bike to find spring, but it also marks another journey; his transition from critic and biographer to poet. Thomas produced all of his poetry in the last three years of his life, which was tragically cut short by his death in 1917 at the Battle of Arras in World War I.
The launch of the exhibition has been timed to coincide with the weekend on which Thomas finished his journey to find spring, on 28 March 1913, with an online catalogue featuring artwork, artists’ statements and quotes from the book, creating a rich and diverse response by Somerset artists to the themes expressed as well as the places on the Somerset leg of his journey. The exhibition not only explores ideas around hope, renewal and reflection, but also reveals some of the preoccupations of Somerset Art Works members as they have made work over a difficult winter, looking for signs of change and a collective reassurance as we emerge from the third national lockdown. The exhibition will run until the end of June, allowing for a phased return of the shop and exhibition spaces at Black Swan Arts in line with the Government Roadmap through April and May.
For those unfamiliar with the book, Edward Thomas sets out from his parents’ home in Balham, by bicycle and heads west, entering the county near Tellisford and tracing a route through Radstock, Shepton Mallet, Wells, Glastonbury, the Polden Hills, Bridgwater and Kilve to meet Spring, and Winter’s Grave, on Cothelstone Hill in the Quantocks. It’s a unique account, delicately observed in places, of a rural roadtrip with World War I a few months away, but the writing also produces some poignant observations which are ripe for artistic interpretation.
This is an unsettling time for us all and planning an open call exhibition has it’s own challenges, so why put on an exhibition like this during a pandemic?
The plans for the show were seeded in an idea for a Somerset Art Works Member’s winter exhibition at Black Swan Arts, for a themed exhibition responding to Thomas Hardy’s poem ‘The Darkling Thrush’. As with everything in 2020, this had to be parked but the idea of a Somerset Art Works members’ exhibition, responding to a literary theme or prompt persisted. In Pursuit of Spring provides many happy coincidences of timing and theming with Thomas’ book; a journey with an undetermined end point, emergence from difficulty and a moment where things are turning.
As a visual arts organisation not attached to a venue, Somerset Art Works often collaborate with regional arts centres to create high quality exhibition opportunities, often as part of it’s biennial Festival event. Covid-19 has had an impact on that approach, although showcase opportunities for members have always been part of the membership offer, but the importance to unite and provide additional opportunities at this time is apparent to many.
The exhibition has unique benefits for those involved. Artists have the opportunity to get their work seen online, with a specially-created online catalogue as well as online shop and the promise of a physical exhibition, as restrictions hopefully lift. The timing is apt as it’s a show which has only been planned since the New Year so the idea of re-emergence feels fresh and vital. Black Swan Arts have the opportunity to see if an online offer can work as part of a future exhibition programme. There are other benefits too- better digital resources mean that the work is more accessible, and more sustainable as people can experience the work without the need to travel. Having said that, many of us are craving a return to seeing the work up close so the flexibility to provide an exhibition which can work online but also ‘live’ when the time allows is really welcome.
Curating and planning has been facilitated by the team at Black Swan Arts; Emma Warren, David Daniels, Hans Borgonjon and Rosie Hart, and has been sensitively curated by Emma Tuck from the gallery’s programming group. Black Swan Arts were successful in applying to the Culture Recovery Fund last autumn, receiving a lifeline grant from Arts Council England which has helped the organisation transition to a viable and sustainable operating model this spring. The exhibition is an ambitious-yet-cautious, absorbing and thoroughly engaging return for Black Swan Art’s exhibition programme as they plan their route out of lockdown and the challenges of the pandemic. Exploratory conversations and subsequent planning have been facilitated by Zoom meetings- frequent catchups were held throughout January and February, with efficient agendas and clear actions speeding up the process and ensuring swift decision making! A callout was planned, with artists asked to respond to the book and submit work within a five-week period. The results are impressive; diverse and personal responses to the timeframe of Thomas’ journey mirrored by a contemporary response to our own unique and challenging experience.
In terms of the physical exhibition, artwork occupies two spaces at Black Swan Arts- the former shop and downstairs gallery, and the Round Tower, a beautiful space which is a former wool-drying store. As with the online catalogue, the display of work is punctuated with quotes from Thomas’ book. The figure of a traveller looms throughout the show. Sally Muir’s work consists of an interesting composite monoprint and drypoint work, responding to a couple of Thomas’ own photographs that feature in the Little Toller edition of the book, which has been used to plan and research the exhibition. Although David Brayne’s cyclist is clearly shown, he encounters a ‘pale mist at an uncertain distance’ and as David says, Thomas seemed to enjoy the fleeting and often skewed impressions he experienced. This is a journey full of particular incidents and observations, but with a fluid sense of steady movement and a moment passing.
Some of the takes are personal and moving; Jenny Mellings and Benedict Mackay have both previously undertaken Thomas’ journey, also by bike, with Benedict producing a series of walks along the route. Hans Borgonjon and Pauline Lerry talk about their families’ accounts of World War I. Much of the work is a direct response to now, with some artists creating new work made under lockdown such as Jenny Graham and Matilda Morton who both use mud and local materials in their work.
There’s a good variety of mediums represented too with stained glass, collage, poetry, photography, printmaking, ceramics and sculpture as well as abstract and figurative responses. A display of contributing artists’ sketchbooks provides an insight into how some of the work was conceived.
Although Thomas passed through towns including Radstock, Shepton Mallet, Wells, Street, Glastonbury and Bridgwater, the built environment hardly features in artists’ responses although Thomas’ own photos do record places clearly identifiable as well as those unknown. They provide a fascinating insight into his visual and poetic eye and a record of the county just over a century ago.
Splashes of colour provide highlights amongst the restrained palette of much of the work, moods shift as artwork captures the hope which dares after the subdued winter we’ve just passed through. Contours are mapped and puddles splashed in work that acknowledges a darker than normal winter and all that this spring might now offer.
The first part of the exhibition and shop opens on 16 April with a full launch and events planned in May in line with the Government Roadmap. If you cannot get to Frome, or just want to experience the exhibition from home, the catalogue can be viewed on the Black Swan Arts and Somerset Art Works’ websites where you can also see the artwork available to purchase in an online shop.
Curated by Tim Craven, Sandra Higgins and Fiona McIntyre
Edge of the Wood, Applehayes- Looking Back Graphite on Bristol Board, 2023, 18 x 24 cm
Looking for Spencer Gore
Many times I have taken the beech-lined road which runs along the Blackdown Hills on the southern edge of Taunton Vale- but never properly ventured into the nearby cluster of valleys and knuckle of accompanying hills which knit together in the hinterland between Somerset and Devon.
I was one of 36 artists invited to make a contemporary response to works created by members of The Camden Town Group who stayed in the area in the early 1900’s. My piece was Edge of the Wood, Applehayes by Spencer Gore.
Wanting to interpret the brief as carefully (yet creatively) as possible, the question was- edge of which wood? The first thing to notice when leaving the main road to drive down into the valleys around Clayhidon is the way in which the area is circuited and protected by woods, an abundance of woodland on the surrounding high ground, with fingers of hedgerows making forays down into the valleys. Finding the location of Gore’s painting was going to be a challenge.
The Cinder Path by Gore has remained a favourite painting since first seeing it in The Ashmolean many years ago. I was pleased to have the opportunity to delve into a location, to understand its nature, the way it had been painted and maybe to learn more about Gore himself. It had seemed hard to find information about Gore but the book Fragile Beauty by Richard Emeny was helpful in locating Gore and the spots in which he had stood.
The first visit was in heavy rain, and we parked outside Applehayes. Looking at the painting Across Wiltown Valley Towards Ringdown provided the first clues to Gore’s footsteps; the profile of Ringdown is still distinct and a small, lone barn, isolated in a field on the hillside above the lakes, made the location of this painting easy to identify. Emeny states that:
“Gore’s pictures… were mostly executed within a few yards of Applehayes. Their titles may be generic, such as West County Landscape, but their subjects are the fields, hills and hedgerows of Clayhidon Parish, many being clearly identifiable if anyone cares to walk the lanes, so little has the landscape altered.”
The rain came hard and a plan to walk further was shelved, taking refuge in the beeches of Ringdown itself. These seemed intriguing, a beautiful play of light underneath the ebbing autumn canopy, and an idea for a picture formed but this was too far from the brief, and not even the same painting as Edge of the Wood, trying to make it ‘fit’ wasn’t good enough. The ancient lanes approaching Ringdown with their fine ancient oaks and abandoned buildings were appealing and attractive, but we were moving further away from Gore and the painting I was meant to respond to.
Another visit was planned, delving back into Fragile Beauty, re-studying the paintings by Gore and going back to Richard’s statement. I realised that this revealed more than I thought. Gore’s pictures were literally executed within yards of Applehayes, so there was no need to plan extensive walks to get the feel of this ‘place’, which is my usual approach, but merely to radiate out from Applehayes and we might find the spot.
Returning later in a very mild autumn, the trees were still holding on to summer although the colours of the canopies were slowly yielding to the turn of the year. Something felt different this time. We’d realised from going back to the book that the latter part of Richard’s statement, about the fields, hills and hedgerows being clearly identifiable, might be the thing to focus on and help find the location we were seeking. So much would have shifted over 100 years, but what remained? Driving past Applehayes, we soon found the viewpoint for Landscape Near Applehayes, with the summit of Ringdown Hill distinct but from a different angle to last time. It was the roof of Lear’s Farm (?), its distinctive length and colour, along with an exposed triangle of whitewashed wall which had been recorded by Gore’s brushworks and was clearly identified. The feeling of being in the same spot of a second painting gave a sense that we might be able to find the other pictures, including Edge of the Wood.
Driving back up to Applehayes, we parked again and set out across the fields behind to walk a modest circuit which would take us past a small wood. After crossing the fields, we returned passed another farm to then change direction along a small ridge with woodland. We were looking for a flat skyline, with the delineation of field systems and hedgerows, but unsure of what the wood itself might look like after 100 years. We felt that we might be in the right area and soon noticed that the younger wood, consisting of birch and hazel gave way to oaks and other more mature trees. We quickly realised that we were looking across to a flat skyline across the valley, slightly obscured by trees, but there it was- similar field patterns in the distance and the edge of the wood in the foreground. The field shapes were almost identical to those depicted in the painting and although the wood was not quite how we expected it, the boundary and light seemed to all suggest that this was the spot. The longer we looked, the more confident we felt that we were in the right spot. The sense of relief was huge! Now, I could focus on how to interpret the location for my own piece.
Where Gore stood to paint ‘Edge of the Wood, Applehayes’
As Gore worked in colour and my work is monochrome, I felt that a different interpretation was really needed. If I was going to spend time on this, I needed something that would excite me. The trees in Gore’s picture were not really playing with the light as I would like, and Gore’s composition, although working well with his palette, was structurally uninteresting. However, a couple of ideas started to form. One would be to execute a quick study using a looser way of working which I had adopted during lockdown- which gave a sense of energy and movement. The other idea was to turn my back on the scene, to go to the oaks which stood behind us and work with those. The oaks felt precious, semi wild and would have sheltered Gore as he painted the scene. I could feel the sense that this was ‘right’ starting to flow. It would be two pictures, one ‘me’ and one ‘him’, back and forth across a century.
paul newman 