Gallery Exhibition
Explore our latest exhibition in the gallery this season, featuring work by:
Valerie Briggs (13 January - 12 April)
Over the last 40 years Valerie has been dedicated to recording the flora and fauna of the British countryside in the demanding and challenging medium of watercolour. Valerie is a completely self-taught artist.
This exhibition will showcase a selection of Valerie's favourite subjects - hares, otters, swans and small birds in particular. Valerie also loves sketching the Cornish coastline and is fascinated by Fulmars.
Valerie's favourite medium is graphite in which she finds very relaxing, she explains: the subtle technique of creating a drawing is the perfect tonal exercise for creating my watercolours.
Living in the city of Worcester, Valerie is surrounded by the beautiful Worcestershire countryside and its wild, and not so wild, inhabitants, which are her main inspiration. She is especially drawn to the natural and man-made waterways, which provide green corridors for a wildlife population under the constant threat of urbanisation. Throughout the year they provide much of the background material for Valerie's paintings.
Details of birds and animals are taken from dead specimens, usually found on the roadside. Valerie then spends time to study the subjects in the flesh. She thinks that watching animals and birds in the wild after all the detailed study is the most important and rewarding element to creating her artwork.
Valerie is regularly invited as an artist in residence to Nature in Art in Gloucestershire.
Snow Dancing by Valerie Briggs
John Horton (13 January - 12 April)
All John's life he has had a passion for wildlife and the natural world and John enjoys expressing this through painting and drawing. John portrays birds in their natural settings, often big landscapes and relies on his observations and field sketches. John usually free draws the compositions and refines the drawings from field work and other relevant reference for detail in his studio.
Watercolour is John's natural medium of preference but latterly I has been enjoying plein air oil painting and also has used acrylic. John's fascination is taking a flat piece of paper or board and creating the illusion of space and distance always striving to introduce a strong sensation of light within the picture.
John has been a member of The Wildlife Art Society International (TWASI) for 30 years, currently serving as Chairman. This is a wonderful society which offers huge encouragement to artists at all levels and John has benefited personally over the years from attending many workshops of different media with many artist tutors. The society holds its main exhibition annually at Nature in Art, Twigworth, Gloucester over May Bank Holiday.
John holds a watercolour course in his studio/gallery for up to 4 artists every month, usually a seasonal landscape with wildlife included. John also gives demonstrations and workshops to art societies and clubs. John has been an ‘artist in residence’ at Nature in Art over a number of years and will be running a workshop there in the autumn.
Tracy Newman and Oswaldo Merchor (14 April - 12 July)
Oswaldo has lived on the Norfolk Coast for the past 45 years. Originally from Peru, he comes from a family with a long artistic tradition.
Oswaldo acquired his admiration for nature as a young boy. It was in Peru, with its wonderful and exotic varied wildlife that his lifelong passion for the natural world began.
Completely self taught in technique and design his main sculptural subjects are birds. Many months of study and research go into each of his works, ensuring each sculpture is a skilfully crafted work of art which are cast in bronze and/or cold cast bronze resin.
Oswaldo says he is very fortunate destiny delivered him to Britain where a passion for wildlife is shared by so many people and, at the same time, considers himself very lucky to be able to create sculptures of the subjects he loves most.
He is a permanent exhibitor at the internationally renowned Bird Fair at Rutland and has also exhibited at the Society of Wildlife Artists Mall Galleries London, the Royal Show, the Royal Highland Show, Malcolm Innes Gallery Lon- don, Art in Action and the CLA Game Fair amongst others.
Owsaldo’s work is widely collected, two well known personalities who have purchased his work being HRH Sophie the Countess of Wessex and Bill Oddie.
Tracy has always been interested in wildlife. He comes from a farming family on the English/ Welsh border near Monmouth and as a youngster was encouraged to draw and be inspired by wildlife and the nature around
him. At five years old a family trip to WWT Slimbridge started a real passion for wildlife and conservation.
He studied at Newport College of Art and then specialised in 2D design and visual communications in Cardiff. After graduating he worked in graphic design for a number of national and international companies based in London and the South East. He has also been closely in- volved with various wildlife travel companies in Spain working as a designer for the Andalusia Wildlife Guides, Worldwide Birding Tours and as a wildlife guide with Sierra-Trek and Iberian Lynxland.
Now in collaboration with Sculptor Oswaldo Mérchor, Tracy is working on a number of projects. Most of the work on dis- play here has been cast in Wales from Oswaldo’s moulds and hand finished by Tracy.
