This month, we’re delighted to welcome two exhibitions to Tremenheere Gallery. On the lower floor, Mary Mabbutt with her exhibition Life in Colour, paired with ceramics by Sam Marks. While on the upper floor, Phillippa and Licy Clayden with their exhibition Above Below, a beautiful combination of paintings and ceramics by the pair.
Mary Mabbutt: Life in Colour
Mary Mabbutt is a painter whose career has spanned four decades. She has taught for many years on the BA Fine Art course at University College Falmouth and also as a visiting lecturer to a number of other Fine Art courses in England and Wales.
We’re delighted that she has chosen to show her work at Tremenheere Gallery, which has truly brought an abundance of colour and joy to the lower floor. Her painting encourages us to look for beauty in everyday life.
Mary says:
“My paintings emerge from the apparently ordinary world of everyday surroundings, the spaces and places of my life. My usual starting point is my own experience and a large proportion of my paintings have been made at, or of the kitchen table, which is the centre of the home.
I am interested in looking, the thrill of seeing and how to respond with paint. My dilemma is the need to balance the immediacy of observed discovery in small-scale work with the demands and complexity of larger paintings.
This exhibition includes old and new works, large and small, works made from direct observation and works which develop from a thought, a lived moment.
My paintings have become increasingly involved with colour which developed when making the kitchen table paintings. By keeping the subject matter constant, I was able to explore elements of composition: balancing the elements of colour, shape and surface, to achieve something of permanence from something so ordinary and fleeting.
I want my work to be a celebration of life and painting.”
Mary will be delivering a talk about her work on Friday 25th August in the gallery. Free entry and no need to book.
Phillippa and Licy Clayden: Above Below
Born in London, Phillippa Clayden completed her BA Honours at Central School of Art & Design and Post Graduate Diploma at the Royal Academy Schools. She studied life drawing for six years under the inspirational tutorage of Cecil Collins.
Her paintings are noted for their unusual and breath-taking imagery combined with a stunning layered surface, which is built from a powerful instinctive link to the world of the unconscious and of myth.
“Everything may come about by chance but nothing is accidental. However much the hand, which makes the surface, may seem to be acting autonomously, the mind evidently puts in what the mind subsequently extracts. These are definitely modern myths, the product of a modern sensibility. But the great unconscious that they are drawn from belongs to everybody” – John Russell-Taylor
Exhibiting alongside Phillippa’s paintings will be a collection of ceramics by Licy Clayden; inspired by a fascination of corals and the colonies that become vibrant cities for marine life.
Licy Clayden set up her first studio in London in the early 1990’s, when at the time her work was influenced by the cliffs of North Cornwall and their erosion by the weather and sea. In the late 90’s she found her love for working with black stoneware and porcelain, fusing them together to create the textures and contrast found in the landscape. By the time she moved to and set up studios in Hastings, her interest has had moved to under the sea and her passion for corals had begun. It was a natural progression with her love of the sea and one which suited the materials she enjoyed working with. Her research came from reference books but she later went on to experience it all for herself. Licy says:
“Since diving in the Red Sea I have been captivated by the diverse ecosystems that exist beneath the waves. My sculptural vessels are inspired by a fascination of corals and the colonies that become vibrant cities for marine life. Each piece is hand built using porcelain and parian, which lends itself to the fragility of coral and black stoneware which helps to create dynamic contrasts and textures.”
The exhibitions will finish on Saturday 9th September. Tremenheere Gallery is open Tuesday – Saturday, 11am – 4pm. Closed Sundays and Mondays. FREE entry – no need to pre-book visits.