ArtSway Open07
Saturday 8 December 2007 - Sunday 10 February 2008
(Note: Gallery Closed: 20 December 2007 - 7 January 2008)
Open07 Winner Announced
Congratulations to Laura Green who was awarded the prize of a solo exhibition at ArtSway as the winner of Open07. Laura's exhibition will take place at the gallery later in the year, providing an invaluable opportunity for her to show her work in a professional environment along with full curatorial and marketing support for the duration of the show. Joel Papps, winner of Open06 had a hugely successful show at ArtSway in September 2007, affording his career a significant boost as a professional artist.
Laura Green with her winning work, '001 (Untitled: 001)'.
ArtSway Open07 brings together local, regional and national artists showing the highest quality contemporary visual art in a wide range of media and covering a wide variety of themes.
Landscape is the focus of a number of the works on display in this year’s selection, landscape explored as a political site, as idyll, and through personal experiences. Lianne Dawes photograph, Dismantled Railway, Fochriw, South Wales, for example, deals with post-industrial landscape and events that have shaped these as we know them, while Tone Holmen’s Coastlines IV, brings to our attention the potential impacts of global warming through her delicate map-like drawing. Other works take on personal interpretations of the landscape. Dorset artist Jim Hunter Iceland 2nd August, 2007 uses the immediacy of watercolour to capture his experience of Iceland, while Terry Taylor uses a large C-Type photograph Liminal Periphary of Logic to reference Old Master paintings and create a naturalistic idyll on a grandiose scale.
The passing of time is a focus for some of the works. Nature is recorded in the pencil drawings of Sin Mui Chong-Martin and in the timeless woodcarvings of Jo McChesney. In stark contrast, Sharon Wales captures fleeting moments in time through experimental video stills. Wales’ Passing By leaves the viewer with only a glimpse of the fleeting notion of time.
Domestic interiors also feature in different forms throughout the gallery as many artworks attempt to illustrate an artist’s visual interpretation of their personal surroundings. Camila Wilson’s painting A Gaze, plays on the viewer’s sense of self perception, while the stillness of Ed Workman’s Untitled lamp 2 suggests feelings of solitude and loneliness.
The absurdity of modern life is also seen in this year’s showcase. The banality and repetitiveness of David Theobald’s Greensleeves encourage us to think about the systems we live in and the strange situations we find ourselves in.
The show brings together a range of work that shows how contemporary art is as much about ideas as it is concerned with an image or picture. Much of the work in the show looks at the world around us: the artists are concerned about the place, be it landscape, the personal, the political or the cultural. The show is a snapshot of the world today; an insight into current thinking and the direction contemporary artists are taking. With so many varied works on display, ArtSway Open07 aims to be accessible to everybody. A melting pot of ideas and ambitions are on display for you to see.
Open Studios:
Saturday 8 December, 12pm - 5pm
An opportunity to pay a visit to ArtSway’s studio artists, and to talk to them about their work, and perhaps find a one-of-a-kind gift for a loved-one.
Free, All Welcome.
Portfolio Days for Artists:
Friday 14 December 2007, Friday 25 January 2008, Friday 8 February 2008 and Friday 7 March, 10am - 4pm
Ten half-hour slots each day for artists from all backgrounds for critiques, portfolio reviews and career advice with Director Mark Segal and Curator Peter Bonnell.
Please contact the gallery to book your slot.
Cost: £5 per person, booking essential.
Tax and Accountancy Advice Day for Artists:
Monday 17 December 2007, 10am - 5pm
Artists will be offered the opportunity of free tax and accountancy advice from Peter Lashmar, owner of Lashmars Accountancy in Lymington and sponsor of the ArtSway Open07. The day will comprise of twelve half-hour slots between 10am and 5pm. Please contact Jack on 01590 682260 x 14 or email jack.lewis@artsway.org.uk to book your place. Free.
Gallery Talk and Winner Announcement: Saturday 26 January, 2pm
Join ArtSway Director Mark Segal and Curator Peter Bonnell for a tour of the exhibition and the all important winner announcement. Free, All Welcome.
The event is sponsored by Lashmars Accountants of Lymington (http://www.lashmars.co.uk)
with additional support from Art & Business.
