The Ropewalk’s biennial open exhibition has again attracted artists from throughout our region. We had a large number of entries and limited space proved to be a bigger consideration for the selectors than lack of quality:
Being a selector for this open exhibition was both a terrific privilege and a challenging role! Terrific – as we were surrounded by work of extremely high quality, presenting many different styles, techniques and glimpses into the artists’ worlds. And challenging, of course, for all the same reasons!
No-one should underestimate the creative force and dynamism there is in this area, from the Humber to the Wash, and I, for one, will be recommending this exhibition highly as THE place to visit.
Ann Wallis, Selector.
I have been involved with selection and hanging exhibitions for the past 40years but this was my first ‘Open’. How would I describe the experience? I liken it to my one and only roller coaster ride, exciting but terrifying, hurtling along, wanting to get off, and then wanting to start all over again as soon as it stopped!
An Open, I believe, should show a cross section of work, something I hope we have managed to do, but in the doing of it we have had to consider space, I think we could have easily selected another exhibition with as much quality and diversity as is being shown. How wonderful then that we have so many and such gifted artists practising in our area, how sad that there are so few places large enough to show the work, how much we owe to those at the Ropewalk for developing this excellent space.
I hope that everyone who visits the exhibition finds something to enjoy, something to hold within and remember.
Carol Butler, Selector.
The exhibition is kindly sponsored by The Proudfoot Group and Cooke Webster & Co
Prize Winners to be announced shortly.
The annual exhibition by The Ropewalk Studio artists. Featuring work by:
David Alcock
Sally Beaumont
Emily Connor
Debbie Grice
Richard Hatfield
Gill Hobson
Judith Land
Darren Langton
Tim Needham
Julie Oxenforth
Michael Scrimshaw
Shirley Trumble
Keith Woodcock
The Ropewalk’s popular Christmas Art Market will showcase the work of more than 40 makers and artists.
Taking place over the weekend of Saturday December 7 and Sunday December 8 those makers and artists selected to take part will be selling original handmade gifts, cards and artwork (more…)
Helen Martino would describe her work as being ‘sometimes serious and sometimes playful’. For many years Helen worked as a functional potter, making batches of domestic pots on a wheel. Now she sees herself as more of a maker in clay, hand building each piece individually by using soft and flexible sheets of clay. These sheets of clay are freely cut, curved and sometimes twisted, this is how Helen is able to create different perspectives and distortion within her work. The surface is painted with slip, underglaze pigment and resists. Depending on the piece silver and gold lustre may also be incorporated.
Helen is fascinated by body language and how this can be communicated. She observes Mogul and Persian miniatures and admires how they are able to tell a story within one image. These artworks often show a significant event within the life span of a person or family. Helen’s sculptures are also intimate like the miniature and show a single event that can be applied to the past, future and present, allowing the viewer to determine the story of each artwork.
Working in Cambridge, Helen exhibits widely across the UK and is the founder member of Cambridge Open Studios. She will be exhibiting in the Box Gallery in November.
Yorkshire born and bred, Eleanor Tomlinson is a traditional artist and illustrator based in East Yorkshire. Inspired by the beautiful Yorkshire countryside she has grown up amongst, Eleanor predominantly works in ink and watercolour to specialise in capturing and celebrating UK wildlife and the local countryside. Eleanor’s distinctive style using ink and watercolour, combines traditional, well-loved subjects with a contemporary, illustrative twist. Her use and composition of contrasting white space brings a narrative and sense of movement and energy to her pieces. Eleanor’s artworks have also been developed into a wide range of cards, stationery, limited edition prints and homeware collections alongside her original pieces which are being sold in an array of independent shops and galleries across the UK.
LAND, SEA AND SKY
The theme for this exhibition ‘Land, Sea, and Sky’ was chosen because its wide-ranging associations might be interpreted in many different ways, and in part because the theme was seen to have some relevance to the location of The Ropewalk Gallery. No size limit was imposed and artists were invited to respond to the theme in as wide a way as possible, to be as traditional or as innovative as they wished both in process and format. The final selection includes three dimensional and large format pieces as well as more conventional prints.
Printmakers Council was founded in 1965 by a group of prominent printmakers to raise the profile of printmaking as an art form and to provide an exhibition society for members. For over fifty years PmC has continued to pursue these aims through a rolling programme of exhibitions, lectures and practical workshops.
Two new exhibitions with links to northern Lincolnshire are opening this Saturday (Sept 14) at The Ropewalk arts centre in Barton upon Humber.
In the Artspace is Re-Tellings, a solo exhibition by Grimsby based artist Sue Stone whose work is inspired by people, place and time. (more…)
