Unique Art Gifts

Christmas is always a lovely season to be in the gallery, with plenty of visitors coming to have a browse. Giving art as a gift is such a special thing to do. At the moment there is a lovely variety of artists and styles which make unique presents. Here are just a few which have found new homes this month:

Wishing by Jos Haigh

Lovebirds by Eloise Hall

Cyclist by Rennie Pilgrem

Blue Moon by Anna Harley

Prunus Serrulata by Robert Pereira Hind

Willow by Anna Harley

Morning Light by Clare Cutts

Don’t forget we also have plenty of gift items such as candles, vases, diffusers, birchwood trays, lanterns and notepads, all with special designs. Swing by the gallery soon to buy your perfect gift

Magdalena Morey: Sunsets in Spain

Magdalena Morey is a contemporary artist currently living near Madrid, Spain with her family. She studied Textiles and Painting at Sklodowska University, Lublin, Poland, and earned both a Diploma and a Masters in the arts. After continuing to develop her art over a number of years she has managed to create her own uniquely style. 

A Moment of Reflection 

Peaceful Reflections 1

Magdalena often paints expressive versions of natural landscapes, such as sunsets, sunrises, and bodies of water. She uses mainly layers of acrylic paints, watercolours, pastels and occasionally gold leaf to create these beautifully textured paintings. Magdalena says that she enjoys using the language of texture and colour to convey meaning and to express herself. This usage of texture really helps her work stand out as it almost juxtaposes the calmness of the scenes that she is painting, adding a lot of character to her pieces. Her intentions for her work are simple: to portray the beauty of the natural world in her own way.

Fresh Perspectives 4

"My aim is to create artwork that intrigues and challenges our initial perceptions. I love the natural world and organic textures, forms and beauty are fundamental to my art. I am particularly fascinated in transient phenomena and enjoy using my art to attempt to capture the sense of individual moments in time." - Magdalena Morey. 

Nature Inspired Japanese Art: by Ella Clayton

Throughout the ages, Japanese culture has been heavily geared towards the power of nature, and how to value not only what nature gives to us, but what we can return. And what better way to try and communicate this idea with the rest of the world, than through art? Art expresses what words cannot. As a student studying Art at A-level, I have always found this concept a fascinating one, hence why I decided to study this subject in the first place. Japanese art and Japanese artists seem to have a fixation with the natural world, probably a result of the intertwining of hundreds of years of the Buddhism and Shinto religions weaving their way into Japanese culture (both religions focusing the importance of nature). It is fascinating to witness these concepts expressed in a variety of different medias and forms, being created not only in Pre-modern art, but contemporary art as well. 

Shojin Tozan (Groups of Mountain Climbers). 1830-32 - Katsuhika Hokusai

The Great Wave of Kanagawa. 1830-32 - Katsuhika Hokusai

Firstly, starting in Japan’s Edo Period (1603 – 1868), a figurative golden age of Japanese art. During the Edo period, Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate, who is famous for directing the country away from war and violence and focusing on increasing the economical, educational and cultural prosperity of Japan. This is where the idea of traditional Japanese culture comes from, and hence the modern idea of nature in Japan. We turn to the artist that I’m sure many people have seen a few of his creations: Katsuhika Hokusai. This man was most famously the creator of “The Great Wave of Kanagawa” (1830-1832), constructed in his Iitsu Period. One of his favourite mediums to use, which also happened to be very popular at the time, was the technique of using polychrome wood block to create a print of an image. This is what gives his and many other artists the distinctively “Japanese” art style.

Boat of Sumida. 1817-58 - Utagawa Hiroshige

Another artist of a similar time, if not slightly later in the Edo Period, is Utagawa Hiroshige. Similarly to Hokusai, he is famous for the use of polychrome woodblock printing, mainly focusing on landscapes. Compared to Hokusai, Hiroshige used a lot more vibrant colours; deeper oranges, brighter reds, and more vivid blues. These infrequent bursts of colour among the vaguely melancholic pastel undertones he uses, helps certain aspects of the images stand out, like a sunset behind a mountain, or a crashing river.

The Goldfish Salvation. 2002 - Riusuke Fokahori

Goldfish Salvation 2. 2012 - Riusuke Fukahori

Lastly, creeping into the more modern side of Japanese art, we have Riusuke Fukahori. This contemporary artist is known for his work on fish, specifically gold fish. Fukahori has stated that he was ‘attracted to his goldfish because he admired them and viewed their domestication as a metaphor for the stifling conditions of modern life’ (https://www.artsy.net/artwork/riusuke-fukahori-hanakage), possibly a commentary on the way that although nature still plays a vital role in Japanese society, it also seems to be fading into the background compared to previous generations, with more and more people migrating to cities like Tokyo, Kyoto, and Ōsaka, rather than staying in the countryside. 

(Ella Clayton is studying A'Level art at John of Gaunts School and is currently doing some work experience at Gallery & Barrow)

Riusuke Fukahori

Rebecca Hawkins: Sculptor and artist

All the Stars We Cannot See by Rebecca Hawkins

Into The Light by Rebecca Hawkins

Based near Andover in Wiltshire, Rebecca creates beautiful drawings and sculptures which hold strength, movement and elegance at their core. Her own line of work explores the strength and courage of women in situations where they are culturally or socially stigmatised. Rebecca is especially interested in the notion of what it means to feel empowered for women who are born into more challenging environments, and of the concept of Physis: "the determination to grow and survive", for women and girls across the world facing social and environmental hardship.

Drawing by Rebecca Hawkins

Drawing by Rebecca Hawkins

Rebecca’s distinctive line of charcoal drawings have developed over the last 12 years. Time spent travelling and working in Nepal and India has given her an unbending respect for the women who live there. Inspired by their elegance, strength and humility in the face of social and environmental hardship, she has sought to pay homage to them through her drawings. Drawing from her minds eye, Rebecca aims to capture their sense of movement and the unmistakable “feel” of what it is to see these ethereal paragons in their surroundings. Gradually over the years she has started to introduce the use of gold leaf, and cultural references in the form of block printing found in their saris, into her drawings. Using a technique she has developed, she draws on gold leaf to build beautiful and unusual drawings which pay homage to the women who evolve from within them. Rebecca’s emphasis on traditional skills while incorporating beautifully crafted imagery is building a reputation with private and public collectors alike, both in the UK and abroad.

framed and in the gallery now

framed and in the gallery now

Within her sculpture, Rebecca works with the traditional figurative style, and more abstract sheet metal work designed primarily for the garden.  Her figurative, work is usually modelled in clay and then cast in either bronze or bronze resin.  Rebecca works to all scale with public commissioning bodies, garden designers and private clients alike

Rebecca has worked on a number of humanitarian projects, including working with the Esther Benjamins Trust in 2009 in Nepal, setting up a sculpture workshop to provide therapy through the art of making to victims of child trafficking. 

Dreams Afar Exhibition

Dreams Afar

Exhibition: July 3rd - Aug 4th

Travel inspired artworks

The Dreams Afar exhibition features art inspired by travel and culture.  The artworks include drawings of African safari animals, screen prints of everyday life in rural India and portraits of Sri Lankan workers, oil paintings of Japanese kimono, and a watercolour of Spanish flamenco. The featured artists include: Rebecca Hawkins; Natasha Kumar; Chitra Merchant; Jamel Akib; Veronica MacKinnon; Rennie Pilgrem; Marisa Cyd; Bryony Cox and mosaics by Antonella Scarpa-Isles. 

Chitra Merchant and Natasha Kumar both draw on their own Indian heritage to inform their artworks of rural life in India or historical temple sites. Rebecca Hawkins uses charcoal to delicately show the swirl of sari’s surrounded by gold leaf and block-print emblems 

Into the Night by Rebecca Hawkins

Vestige by Chitra Merchant

Devakad by Chitra Merchant

Veronica MacKinnon’s detailed drawings of African Safari animals include lions resting, wildebeest in motion, and the fixed gaze of a caracal cat.

Wilderbeests by Veronica MacKinnon

The exhibition can be viewed throughout July

Travels through India with Natasha Kumar

Award winning artist Natasha Kumar, is influenced by her heritage and travels through India. On her mother’s English side she comes from a line of established artists: her father’s Indian heritage she traces back to Kashmir and Afghanistan via stories of partition and lost family gold.  She has made her own name as an artist from the age of 17, when, earning a place by right in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition she found her etchings hanging on the same wall as paintings by her grandfather and uncle. 

Indian Woman: Muka, by Natasha Kumar

Kumar began with a first class degree in printmaking at Manchester. She studied printmaking and anatomy in the Venice Accademia and completed her MA in printmaking in Camberwell in London in 2000, winning the London Printmaking Prize the same year.  More recently she has had a 5 month solo show in Southbank, annual exhibitions at the Royal Geographical Society, and in 2015 gave a talk about her work;  Rasa: Essence of India.
This year (2018) Soho House purchased a number of pieces for their latest venture, Juhu Beach, Mumbai and Harland Miller personally selected her work from an international range of artists for the Rise Printmaking Prize

Hand drawn Screenprints by NatashaKumar

Kumar divides her time between a rural farmhouse with dedicated painting and printmaking studios, intense studio practice in London and increasingly longer regular working trips to India to gather images and ideas.  ‘Of course, it’s always an excuse to catch up with family – I miss those chapatis and the chatter  – I just love it all, I absorb it like a sponge. When I get back to the studio I am bursting with new ideas. I love sharing that feeling through my work and when I meet people’.  Kumar has a dedicated and growing following of collectors worldwide

Indian Woman: Fired Earth series with floral emboss

Butterflies, Birds & Bees

Once again we were thrilled with the delightful entries we received for our quarterly competition. The theme this time was “Butterflies, Birds & Bees” and we seem to have received a wide variety of styles and subjects.  One painting even included all 3 - well done Sam Brett-Atkin!

Spring by Yean teo

Orchid by Yean Teo

silk textile design by Laura Suthon

Hebomoia Gloucippe by Jill Iliffe

Reverie by Sam Brett-Atkin

The joint winners were: Katia Bellini for her beautiful oil painting “Birds of Sirius” and Yean Teo for “Spring” and “Orchid”, Chinese Ink and pigment on rice paper. Congrats to the other finalists: Sam Brett-Atkin; Laura Suthon (for butterfly textile designs on silk scarfs); Jill Iliffe (for her butterfly painting)

Birds of Sirius by Katia Bellini

Thank you to everyone who entered and keep an eye on the website for future competitions! The next one is “Dreams Afar”: Travel inspired artworks (exhibition in July & August)

New Artist: Jamel Akib

We’re delighted to be working with super talented artist Jamel Akib.  He has worked successfully as an artist for many years, showing at numerous exhibitions and art fairs around the country, as well as teaching art at his own workshops. We have his gorgeous, vibrant Puffins and Hummingbirds as part of our mixed show this May and June

Hummingbird by Jamel Akib

Hummingbird by Jamel Akib

If you need a pop of colour for your room then look no further! Akib doesn’t hold back with brushes of thick, glorious paint and creates wonderful movement in his oil paintings. 

Puffin by Jamel Akib

Puffin by Jamel Akib

Jamel Akib was born in Leigh-on-sea, Essex, England, on the 4th November 1965 to mixed English and Malaysian parentage.  He moved to Sabah, North Borneo at the age of five and returned to England to pursue further education at the age of thirteen.  He gained a BA honours Degree in Illustration in 1989.  He began working for the London Observer newspaper while still a student at art college, and has since become an award winning artist involved in many exhibitions and commissions.

He has so far illustrated the covers for three booker prize finalists and has a long list of credits for illustration stretching far and wide. He lives in Salisbury, England with his wife and two boys.

Kimono by Jamel Akib

Ballerina by Jamel Akib

Congratulations competition winners

Well done to the winners of the first Gallery & Barrow art competition “Bonny Botanical”. We were blown away by the high standard of entries and thank everyone for entering the competition. We currently have six winning pictures up in the gallery so if you’re passing do pop in and take a look

"New Beginnings” - Encaustic wax painting by Lynne Miller

This lovely entry came in a pair by Lynne Miller all the way from North Carolina.  The coloured wax has been used to create these beautiful floral designs in a charming way and the finish almost looks like a ceramic tile. We just love them!

"Siam Tulip”. Collage by Penny Brown

"Blue Hydrangea”. Watercolour by Susan Thomson

“Desiccated Tulip”. Watercolour by Julia Trickey

“Chinese Lanterns”. Drawing by Christine Lawes

Some of the artists who entered the competition are professional botanical artists and it was a delight to see the variety of styles and methods used. 

If you’d like to enter our next competition “Butterflies, Birds & Bees” - see the website menu “Art Competitions" for details

“Vintage Roses”. Watercolour by Julia Trickey

New Artist: Alexandra Gallagher

Award winning artist Alexandra Gallagher is a British multidisciplinary artist, who's work takes the form of collage, street art, prints, photography and painting. 

Gallagher’s work celebrates the surreal and sublime. ­Between the realms of memory, dreams and experience, her work looks beyond our subjective limits and often tells a story of inner imagination and thought. Often working within a series, each piece is visceral and organic, the artist never knowing how each piece will transform. 

Many of Alexandra's originals are street-art or large scale mural commissions 

Alexandra at work creating a large mural

Alexandra’s mural for AskItalian restaurant

Another large scale commission 

Exhibiting and selling both across the country and internationally, she has been nominated for a number of awards. Shortlisted for the Zealous X, she was awarded the Saatchi Showdown Surrealism Second Place Winner and the Secret Art Prize Runner Up Winner 2016. Her recent achievements include being a London Contemporary Art Prize 2018 Finalist and being shortlisted for the Rise Art Prize.

We are delighted to be selling some of her work at the gallery here in Bath. Beautifully framed in dark black the glossy images would add contemporary glamour to any wall.

Gallery & Barrow are opening in Stroud!

From March 1st, you can find us both in Bath and also in Stroud! We are delighted to be renting wall space at The Malthouse Collective in Stroud. The old brewery building is now a haven for antiques, crafts and art.  

You can find us upstairs from March 1st onwards. Why not make a day of it and have lunch in the adjoining Malthouse Bar & Kitchen. Parking is easy - right in front. For more information go to: https://themalthousecollective.co.uk

The basement is soon to be filled with artist studios and workshops. The ground floor is full of antiques and designer makers and the first floor will be artists, galleries, dealerships and crafts. Seek out our wall (far end) and then shop 'til you drop!

As well as meeting new customers we look forward to checking out all the local artists in Stroud and the surrounding villages

The address is: Salmon Springs Trading Estate
Cheltenham Road
Stroud
GL6 6NU

See you there soon!

New Artist: Esther Brown

Gallery and Barrow are delighted to shortly be receiving original paintings by Esther Brown.

Based in Ireland, Esther is a highly skilled draughtsman and conceptual artist, having achieved a BA Honours in Fine Art and experience working as a print designer in high fashion house Alexander McQueen where her drawings were printed as T shirts and scarves in their SS 2014 collection. Her Bone China drawings won her the 1st prize at the Ranger House Exhibition Guildford 2014, and This is My Body was shortlisted in the Hermione Hammond Drawing Award 2014 top ten.
 
 

Showing precise technical skill, Esther's work is centred mainly on the themes of brokenness and restoration, ideas of symmetry and utopianism.

 We can’t wait to receive her paintings and look forward to seeing more work from Esther over the coming months

Art Competition “Bonny Botanical"

Have you entered our first Gallery & Barrow art competition yet?  Just click on the link “Art Competitions” in the menu bar of the website for details on how to enter.  It’s free! Here are some pictures for inspiration, just think plants, leaves, trees, floral, petals, palms and the more contemporary and innovative the better!  All mediums are welcome from ceramics to mixed-media. 

We’ve already been receiving some delightful entries, all extremely varied in style and format. Keep them coming! The winners will be exhibited in the group show in March in the gallery in Bath, alongside artwork from G&B artists.  The exhibition will be kick-started with a small drinks party from 3 - 5pm on Sat March 3rd - do come and join us and see all the wonderful and colourful botanical art on display!

Feeling Pink by Elodie May

Susan Laughton

In the new year, the gallery is excited to be showing some fresh new artists.  Susan Laughton, brings a serene sense of peacefulness to the new year, with these delightfully tranquil pieces of botanical and also architectural art:

Susan writes: "My paintings and drawings evolve from half-remembered glimpses seen from the corner of my eye, fleeting juxtapositions elusive to photography, the dislocated reverie of long car journeys, or from more studied compositions. The landscape is my starting point, not as a picturesque or static view, but as a space travelled through and experienced often on the edges of the urban and the rural. It is a source of man made and natural structures, surfaces and colour from which my reductive personal responses develop. Man made structures in particular impose their presence: telegraph poles, fences, power lines, isolated buildings - structures that create tension within space and mark the passage of time and distance.

Process and materials are important to me as a way of allowing the paintings to emerge as objects in their own right. Structured and methodical approaches combined with spontaneous and intuitive reactions allow me to plan and take risks: to combine control with ‘let‘s see what happens if...’

Having worked as an architect for years, Susan has been working as an artist since 2002 and has had numerous solo and group shows all over the UK.  Susan now lives and works in Congleton, Cheshire, and we can’t wait to show her work here in Bath from Feb onwards.

Susan Laughton at work

The Big Gallery & Barrow Sale!

Join us from Jan 5th - 13th for The Big Gallery & Barrow sale!! Many artworks from the previous year will be temporarily sold at discounted prices.  Hundreds of £££ off altogether! Do pop in to the gallery to grab a bargain! Don’t miss out! 

From Jan 14th - Feb 2nd, the gallery will be closed but artworks from the sale can still be viewed and purchased by appointment. Just call Heidi on: 07958 775744 to make an appointment.

From Feb 3rd the gallery will be open again, with usual hours and opening times except that it will be closed on Tuesdays as well.  The gallery will be open: Wed - Sat (10.30am - 5.30pm) and closed Sun - Tues inclusive.  

In March the gallery will be back to usual opening times. The gallery will feature the first curated mixed show “Bonny Botanical” and will include competition winners from our first G&B art competition (details to follow shortly!)

See you in the gallery soon!!

The Buy Art Fair, Manchester

In October G&B headed north to the Buy Art Fair in Manchester. What a great city Manchester is - easy to walk around and full of great restaurants and bars. We loved it. Here are some of the photos from the show.  Well done to Andy Coombs who sold not one, but all of four of his sculptures and to Chitra Merchant who also sold well at the exhibition

(you may need to wait a few moments for the photos to upload)

Winter dates to remember

Some dates to remember:

Wed 22nd November: Late night shopping and the Bath Christmas market preview. The gallery will be open until 7pm

Sat 25th November: Gallery & Barrow Christmas Party. 3 - 5pm. Everyone welcome! Enjoy a few glasses of vino while you visit our “Winter Scenes” exhibition and browse the gorgeous artisan gifts available. Please RSVP: studio@galleryandbarrow.com (so I have an idea of numbers)

Sun 26th November: Walcot Winterfest: Walcot St will have it's own little Christmas festival. If you visit the “Winter Scenes” show on this day you might find mulled wine and delicious bakes thrown in!

Gallery & Barrow are heading North!

Please come and see us at The Buy Art Fair in Manchester on 27th - 29th October

"Winter Scenes” exhibition

November and December at the gallery will feature a “Winter Scenes” exhibition, with new artwork from various artists showing mountains, skiers, snow landscapes and cabins. 

Cabin by Rennie Pilgrem

Penglai by Michelle Loa Kum Cheung

Apres Ski by Rennie Pilgrem

Morning light. Screen print by Clare Cutts

Snow by Sarah Targett

Oak House by Rennie Pilgrem

Meet the Artists event!

Thank you to everyone who came to the “Meet The Artists” event on Saturday in conjunction with the “Psyche, Dreams & Spaces” exhibition. Artists Toni Cogdell and Antonella Scarpa-Isles were in the gallery to discuss their work. The wine flowed and the afternoon whizzed by! Here are some of the photos: