Angels and Hearts exhibition opens at Southwark Cathedral
Artwork by David McLean
Angels and Hearts, an exhibition of paintings and mixed media work by Camden Society artists from The Riverside, opens today at the Southwark Cathedral Refectory.
Preparing for the show, the artists made a series of visits to the cathedral, making drawings and sketches which were used as the basis for this poetic and colourful collection. Gail Dickerson, Art Tutor at The Riverside who supported the artists describes the process:
"The artists at The Riverside work on various art projects, working with their individual abilities, personal expression, style, or approach. In all their work there is a direct and unique sense of observation or exploration, which is full of character and individuality and can lead to a visual or tactile poetry. Inner feelings and outer observation can merge together, the essence of something observed can be heightened rather than the details, or on the contrary, emphasis is put on detail rather than the overall. All this can lead to an unpredictable outcome in the work, which is full of surprise and wonderful to see."
Angels and Hearts includes a total of 18 exhibiting artists. All engage strongly with art and have their own unique style and way of working.
Exhibition information
Angels and Hearts is open from 2 August to 16 September 2011 at the Southwark Cathedral Refectory. Southwark Cathedral is next to London Bridge in SE1. The nearest tube is London Bridge or Borough.
The exhibtiion is open from:
Monday to Friday - 8.30am to 6.00pm
Saturday and Sunday - 10.00am to 6.00pm
Admission is free. Sales from the exhibition are available via the Cathedral shop.
The Artists
The Angels and Hearts artists are:
Kathy Betts - a subtle and poetic use of colour with dominant brush strokes
Alison Brewer - a thoughtful, sensitive use of colour with strong drawings
Irene Farrington - gives characters and faces to candles
Adora Iwuchuku - very strong use of colour and drawing and touches every subject with her own style and cultural reference
Dawn Lawrence - creates an aura-like effect to her sombre colour paintings by first going around the edges of the canvas several times then making large brush strokes across the canvas, along with textured marks with a drier brush
Lynn Leverett - patient and very careful, delicate work with collage
David McLean - his slow and patient work has an intensity of colour and texture along with strong linear drawing
Damien McGrath - strong and moving representational drawing from observation gives emphasis or importance to particular details
Peter Phelps - emphasises the eerie and mysterious in his paintings
Anna Raven - abstract depiction of light and colour, often using circular brush marks
Sarah Roff - little figures along with her choice of colour are full of joy
Elita Thomas - use of rhythmical lines and shapes make the figures appear as if in movement
John Whiterod - abstraction expresses his inner world with his outer observed world
Showing from the end of August:
Ganiat Badmus - flat areas of bright colour and strong shapes
Gavin Harrington - prolific drawings and paintings of figures full of character and smiles
Maureen Mathews - concentrated but energetic marks fill the whole paper and appear as if glimpsed or fragmented
Sharon McDonald - amazing figures made up mainly of curved or round shapes
Sam Pearce - energetic pen and paint strokes go over and over each other and slowly build up into a mixture of colourful rhythmic marks
All the artists were supported by Gail Dickerson and Lucy Bergonzi, Project Worker at The Riverside.