A continuous exhibition of Fine and Decorative Arts in the offices of The Clock House, 140 London Road, Guildford within Guildford Arts Art @ Work scheme The twenty fifth exhibition of paintings and sculptures, in the Guildford offices of Baker Tilly, ran until 23rd January 2010 and was by national and local artists. The exhibitors' biographies can be read by clicking on a exhibitor's name, or click on Exhibitors. This continuous exhibition of paintings and sculpture was organised by a Guildford Arts working party headed by John O’Keefe .	Click on an image to view   Ana Acheves     Melanie Gairns Image 2   Martin Cundell Three Mothers   Sarah Haines Lilies   Jo Mabbutt	Use the BACK button on your browser to return here   Tessa Pearson Circles   David Richards   Sumi Perera Displace   Christine Hopkins Carpet Slippers   Sally Trask Free as a Bird
	Annee Robson The Way Through The Woods	Judy Williams Buenos Aires Rooftop

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Exhibitors

Martin Cundell worked in publishing and public relations until 1981 when he took “a year off” to concentrate on sculpture and prepare for his first major exhibition (with Alex Morrison) at Farnham Maltings. Numerous exhibitions followed including three more (solo) shows at Farnham Maltings and two at The University of Surrey. Since 1995 he has exhibited in various galleries and with Surrey Sculpture Society (at Wisley, Savill Gardens, VivArtis etc).

Twenty-eight years later sculpture remains Martin’s principal occupation.
Locally he has two sculptures at The Royal Surrey County Hospital, another two at The University of Surrey, and also “The Second Station of the Cross” at Wintershall. King Edward’s School, Witley, has also recently bought a large piece for their sixth form courtyard, and there are several examples of Martin’s work at The Pride of the Valley Sculpture Park in Churt. His work is included in several private and business collections in the UK and overseas (USA, Sweden, Poland, France etc.)

Martin has worked mainly in wood, later switching to constructions rather than carved pieces. Recently he has been concentrating on developing a series of bronzes, as well as paintings. He participates annually in Surrey Artists’ Open Studios and has a number of examples of his work in a secret garden (courtesy of two neighbouring houses).

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Ochre Print Studio welcomes and encourages artists and printmakers of all abilities to engage in the creative process of both traditional printmaking and contemporary print technology.

Established two years ago, Ochre Print Studio has already attracted a large membership, including established artist printmakers from all over Surrey and beyond. Members include Sumi Perera ARE, an artist of international renown and recipient of prestigious awards in the USA and South Korea as well as the United Kingdom and the distinguished printmaker Simon Lawson who is also a tutor at the Royal Academy Schools.

This unique facility is run on a non-profit making basis and offers its members open access for silkscreen printing and etching (including drypoint, relief and solarplate etching).

Ochre’s spacious screenprinting facility includes four vacuumed screenprinting beds and attracts many local artists to practise in this medium. Silkscreen has an aesthetic all of its own, and is a very versatile print process, offering the ability to print hand-drawn and painted stencils through to digital and photographic images.

Ochre has three etching presses and operates a non-toxic approach to printing with this equipment. Drypoint and Solarplate etching are techniques in the intaglio family of printmaking where a plate holds ink below its surface in incised or etched lines and marks. When put though the press the flexible damp paper presses into and collects the ink from these lines giving a rich, embossed, distinctive look. The drypoint technique is instantly recognizable with its beautiful velvety lines and the recent technique of Solarplate etching also gives the printmaker total flexibility with hand drawn or digital/photographic images possible.

In reverse, in relief printmaking techniques, the ink is rolled onto the surface of the plate and printed under pressure. Wood and lino are the most used plates for this beautiful, age-old method of printing which has been made popular at Ochre through the masterclass of one of its members, Richenda Court.
Collagraph is also popular as it can involve both intaglio and relief methods operating, as the name suggests, with collaged materials onto a plate. The results are always uniquely interesting and provide great scope to the artist.
Ochre has a new iMac and will be introducing digital techniques to the printroom to work alongside or with all of these traditional methods and intend to expand with more up-to-date, non-toxic methods of printmaking.
To promote printmaking to a wider audience, the studio runs a varied programme of courses and workshops throughout the year and a series of Artist’s Talks given by celebrated Artist Printmakers.

www.ochreprintstudio.co.uk

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Members of Ochre Print Studio exhibiting in this show:

Ana Aceves was born and grew up in Spain and, after spending a few months in Paris, moved to England where she now lives. She studied at Goldsmith's College in London and then at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, achieving a Bachelor of Arts in Music.

Always attracted to illustration and design, after her graduation she began to work as a graphic designer and art director for several advertising companies. Since January 2002 she has focused on developing her own creative company and has been able to put all her energy into painting, illustration and design. Ana has exhibited in the Legacy Gallery in Odiham, Sala Naos in Santander, Farnham Maltings and at online galleries and her work has also been published in several magazines.

A self-taught painter, she likes to evoke forms with the minimum possible detail of lines, lights and shades although sometimes she has a more spontaneous and intuitive approach and allows more abstract textures and forms dominate her work. Favourite subjects for painting tend to be the shape of the human figure and landscape and her illustrations celebrate simple, inspirational moments in life. Ana says that she wants the viewer to imagine a history around them.

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Richenda Court studied Fine Art and Contemporary Dance at Brighton University and The Laban Centre. Most of her work begins as line drawings from memory which are built up, drawing in textures and colour.

The lino-cuts on display were made last year when she was one of five artists selected to spend six months at Colebrook Day Centre in Redhill working alongside adults with learning difficulties. As part of the project, funded by the Arts Council, she led printmaking workshops for staff and students linked to activities and memories of their lives at the Centre. Richenda was given the opportunity to make three prints of her response to the Centre and a percentage of the sales from these prints is being donated back to the adults. The Gardener refers to the successful garden centre run by the adults and the The Band of Independence, to the rock band.

Her work has been shortlisted for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and exhibited widely in the South East and London.

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Melanie Gairns is an artist and Further Education lecturer with previous experience as a freelance textile designer within both fashion and home-furnishings. During her MA course in Fine Art at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham she used photolithography and mono-print to investigate the subtle and contrasting marks created through the exposure of various weights and structures of both mould-made and hand-made papers layered together. She focussed on fragments of the ephemeral and produced abstract work, which was entirely tonal. Excluding colour allowed her to be completely absorbed by the quality of marks and their relationship with the paper boundary.

She says “As the work became more personal, I began to consider the intricate layers of my personality, which shape my identity. I maintained the essence of conceal and reveal through the layering of fragmented elements presenting delicate, contrasting marks which represented fragile and introspective areas of my personality. This was indicative of how I identified myself as a student being challenged to achieve a balance of practical work demonstrating technical skill and conceptual theory.”

Melanie is currently Artist in Residence at Ochre print Studio which has provided an opportunity to reflect and review these abstract narratives and she intends to continue to produce emotionally responsive work experimenting with the manipulation and exposure of different papers to further explore mark-making, cut and torn edges, conceal and reveal, spontaneity, use of space and contrast. She feels that the allure of formal elements is linked to her undergraduate studies in printed textiles and former career as a freelance textile designer.

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Sarah Haines, after graduating with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Kent Institute of Art & Design, has spent the last ten years working as a graphic designer. After this break she has returned to her first love of fine art and printmaking.

Clearly graphic design has a profound influence on her work in the use of linear drawing and block colour: a style that translates very well to screen printing. Sarah is interested in creating quite complex prints, either by building several layers of colour or by adding to the surface, for example playing with texture and embroidery.

Sarah says that she has taken nature, in all its complexity, as her starting point. Since moving to London, she has been amazed at the abundance of wildlife that cohabits the busy capital. Her most recent work has explored the relationship to nature in an urban environment and how the space is shared.

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Christine Hopkins says that it took just one day at Ochre Print Studio for her to become addicted to print. The graphic qualities of her painting style transferred happily to this medium, and it was apparent that drypoint printing would be an ideal vehicle to display her love of architecture and the human form. With the addition of monoprinting to add a painterly quality, some of the results are on display here.

“I love the human form in all its variety, but love to show the small details that give character. Shoes are particularly important in revealing much about our personality – do we dress for comfort, for fashion or for our own personal taste? And I love small-scale domestic architecture too: the sort of houses that ordinary people live in. I sketch wherever I go which enables me to get a real understanding of the location I’m in. But I often distil this in the finished piece, to give more of the flavour of a place rather than an accurate depiction. Sometimes I will combine sketches from several different places, filter them through my imagination, and produce a new version of reality, based entirely on wishful thinking which is a rather ideal world that has some resonance for everyone. The paintings are much more about the feel and memory of many places, rather than one. And I love hiding things in the collage – appropriate newspaper cuttings, fragments from clothing catalogues, sheet music etc. For a recycling project I used old train and bus tickets, and commissions can be personalised in this way.”

As well as printmaking Christine also paints in mixed media and collage, and paints in oil when out of doors. She runs workshops in mixed media painting, collage and simple printmaking techniques at the Skylight Studio in Reigate.
A recent venture has been the setting up of a collaborative partnership (Blue Sky Artists) with artists Rosie Christie and Kirsten Baron, to work on joint projects in 2-and 3-D media, and to exhibit together.
As part of the ‘Big Draw’ campaign in 2009, Christine will be demonstrating ‘drawing with scissors’ at the Menier Gallery in London with the Society of Graphic Fine Art, of which she is a Council member.

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Jo Mabbutt is a decorative artist specialising in experimental surface decoration combining gilding with print and hand-painting. Recently she took time out from full-time teaching to develop new work at Central St Martin’s Art College and is now dividing her time as a designer / maker and lecturer. She works on a variety of surfaces from paper to textiles to glass and currently is developing ranges of gilded jewellery and interior accessories.

Jo says “Lace is my inspiration and main material and intuitive exploration with materials has resulted in contemporary surface treatments which give my pieces a new fragility with jewel-like qualities. Negative printed imagery is often intriguing and has revealed unexpected relationships for consideration: figurative and abstract, pierced yet strong, practical yet fragile, discarded yet precious. I continue to explore other treatments and the use of a range of substrates, such as plastics, leathers and wood veneer that can be manipulated and distorted as surface decoration in interiors.”

Some of Jo’s work has been accepted by Coles Wallpapers. In addition she collaborates with other designers and her materials have been incorporated into fashion pieces and accessories.

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Tessa Pearson is passionate about colour. She studied textile design at West Surrey College of Art and Design and the Royal College of Art, and enjoyed a successful career for many years producing hand -painted fabrics, selling them at her London studio/gallery Designer2 and around the world. Moving away from London to bring up her three children, Tessa painted watercolours, and has recently returned to her first love of printmaking, revelling in its expressive mark-making qualities and element of unpredictability.

Inspired by memories of colour and imagery seen on her travels in Africa and Europe, Tessa works in series, exploring and revisiting a theme many times. Her bold abstract prints are mostly monotypes, often combined with collagraphs and elements of etchings with chine-colle.

Tessa says “In my work I try to express the physical impact I experience when I react passionately to a glimpse of a violet pot on a cobalt blue wall in a magical exotic garden, or a lozenge of acid-green flashing from a patchwork Devon landscape.”

Tessa exhibits regularly in galleries and art fairs around London and south east England. She is an active member of the Fountain Gallery Artists, the Richmond Printmakers, and Ochre Print Studios, taking part in both solo and group shows.

In 2008 Tessa was a finalist in the inaugural Surrey Contemporary Open exhibition at the Lightbox in Woking, Surrey and recently represented Ochre Print Studios at the National Printmaking Festival in Stroud, and at the IMPACT international print conference in Bristol. In August 2009 her work was selected for the Open Print Show at the West of England Academy, Bristol.

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Sumi Perera ARE: Sumi’s work invariably exploits her background as a doctor, scientist and artist (MA, Camberwell, London), working in the East (Sri Lanka, her native country), and the West (the United Kingdom, her adoptive country). Mixed media assemblage techniques combining traditional forms of printmaking are digitally manipulated to transform unique artwork into democratic multiples.

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David Richards gained a first class BA Honours in Fine Art from the University College for the Creative Arts (UCCA) in Farnham followed by a Community Arts Training Scheme run by Surrey County Council and qualification in Professional Presentation and Communication Skills also at UCCA. Since then he has exhibited in Free Range at Brick Lane in London, at the Lightbox Surrey Open Exhibition in Woking, with ReOrsa, Artists Projects 2 and 3 in Bracknell and Wokingham, Ideas Bank 2009 at Slough Museum and in Disconcerting Eye in Dorking.

This series of works, presented under the banner name The Natural History Project, makes reference to the important roles played by both the animal and the museum in the development of contemporary art. Dragonflies that feed on small mammals and birds, tree frogs that fly like helicopters, birds with extraordinary means of propulsion: these are just some of the astonishing creatures that you will discover in this fascinating and imaginative virtual museum of natural history. Through an idiosyncratic brand of magic and humour The Natural History Project brings to life a stunning array of fantastic animals in a unique blend of traditional museum display and the latest techniques of digital media.

For more information see www.thenaturalhistoryproject.org.uk

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Annee Robson is a graduate of Surrey Institute of Art and Design (UCCA) and is now based at Ochre Print Studio in Guildford.

This work is in response to a visit by Annee’s American friends in Spring this year with their 10-month-old daughter who has Down’s Syndrome. Annee says “This small person filled our lives with laughter and wonderment. It was a journey of discovery for all of us at a time when winter is past and summer is a promise of the future.”

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Sally Trask took post-graduate studies and an MA in Dance Movement Therapy at Roehampton University before studying Art and Design at UCA Farnham. She is a painter and printmaker, creating contemporary abstract artwork in a variety of media, including textiles. Sally paints in acrylics and inks and recent prints include screenprints, lithographs and monoprints. Her work reflects, and is influenced by, life experiences and explorations and shape, pattern and layering are all recurring themes.

Sally says “Recent prints have been based on an ongoing interest in freedom. Each of us views the world through patterns and filters that create individual perceptions. Being aware of our patterns and filters enables us to see beyond our limited views. The grids, meshes and layers of these recent series allude to the veils, patterns and filters that can constrain our freedom. Whilst earlier work involved circles, mandalas and cellular structures relating to the inner body and self, these recent prints feel, perhaps, like a movement from an inner exploration towards a more inclusive awareness.”

Sally’s work has been exhibited in Sheffield, Lincolnshire, Bristol and more locally in the Surrey Artists’ Open Studios for the past five years, VivArtis, Hidden Art for the past three years, New Ashgate Gallery, the Landmark Art Fair in Teddington and she has had solo exhibitions at the Yehudi Menuhin Concert Hall in Fetcham and at La Galleria in London.

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Judy Williams began her career as an Art Historian in 1979, teaching and lecturing in London, Surrey and Hampshire. In 1994 she returned to study and took up printmaking followed by textiles.

Obsessed by old walls and layers she visited various cities in Eastern Europe looking at old buildings and rediscovering her European heritage. Much of her work has been informed by this search for roots and her Jewish ancestry.

The latest series entitled ‘Homely’ is a reference to memories and moving home.
Judy has exhibited since 1995 in London, on the South Coast and in Surrey.
In 2007 she set up a printmaking group called First Sett Printmakers and they had their first exhibition together at Bedales School Gallery in October 2008.

Her textile work ‘Felt Wall’ has recently appeared in a new book called Experimental Textiles by Kim Thittichai.

Judy says “I am drawn to crumbling walls and the surface lines on stones. In them I see traces of past lives and it is this history and depth that I try to communicate through my prints.”

 

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