Jennifer Merrell in RA’s Summer Exhibition
Wonderful news! Congratulations to Jennifer Merrell whose painting “Small Wedding” has been accepted for the Royal Academy Summer Show which runs from Monday 14th June until 22 August.
More details on the RA website here>
Find out more about Jennifer Merrell’s work here>
And read Susan Wood’s interview with Jennifer Merrell here>
Read the latest version of the constitution: Draft Constitution
Read the latest mission statement SLWA Mission Statement
Ornella Iannuzzi wins GOLD at the Craft & Design Awards
Congratulations to SLWA’s Ornella Iannuzzi who won the Gold award in Jewellery & Precious Metal in the Craft & Design Awards.
See details of all the winners here
See Ornella’s work at her Open Studio in June more here>
“Loved the buzz – it’s going to be a good show – very inspiring”
“A brilliantly organised, professional, useful day. Thanks for kick-starting me into the New Year!”
“Excellent day – I learnt some tricks of the trade from Anita”Forty SLWA were at Dulwich Picture Gallery for a workshop ‘Presenting your work to its best advantage.’ which was full of practical tips and sound advice from practitioners. The repeated message was: “Invest in your work – it shows you are proud of it”
……….imagination techniques and a personal epiphany!
In my studio on Monday afternoon staring at the wall opposite, I was pondering the long week of routine ahead. I had been looking forward to a talk on psychosynthesis therapy and art. But was not sure I had the energy to go. Thanks to good sense and a desire for mates, tea and biscuits I found myself lying on the floor in the PPD room. Trying to switch off and conjure an image, with other SLWA members.
Angela Shultz delivered a talking and drawing therapy workshop that sent shivers of excitement down my spine! Angela had demonstrated how to visualize a headache and simultaneously have a positive creative experience. Showing us her drawings, a sequence of images progressing from abstract block to figurative-person sitting under a tree. She had begun by visualizing her headache as a rectangular textured space. In her second abstract drawing she sought to find a recognisable image and finally, in her third drawing, she depicted a scene entitled ‘Waiting Under the Tree of Knowledge.’
Angela then got us all to lie on the floor and guided us using her visualization technique. We found our own images in stages; some were more recognisable and obviously figurative than others. We worked in pairs to interpret our images and during the discussion, which ensued; I remembered that my drawings speak to me, providing a mirror reflecting my thinking and concerns at any one time. It was a very interesting workshop. We talked of the many things, physical and mental that can get in the way when making art. A fascinating revelation came from Anne-Marie Glasheen. She said that as a more senior artist, your ideas are coming faster than you can put them down on canvas.
Thank you to Angela for giving us some insight into the creative process.
Liz Dalton.
Joan Byrne at EAC Art Awards
Joan Byrne, will be showing a piece of work at the EAC Art Awards exhibition at Bankside Gallery from Wednesday, 2 December to Sunday, 6 December. The photograph — highly commended by the judges — is of Fergie, a barber at Desmond’s in Peckham, the actual location for the eponymous Channel Four TV sit-com which aired from 1989 to1994. Joan has made Peckham the subject of much of her photography.
Congratulations to SLWA member Linda Litchfield
whose work “This England” was selected for Part 1 of the London Group Open Exhibition
which ran from 21- 30 October 2009 at the Menier Gallery, Southwark
Street, London SW1. The piece is hand stitched on linen
Elly Wright in the Salon d’Automne, Albi, France
Elly Wright’s newest painting Running Wild has been accepted for the Salon d’Automne in Albi, France (Toulouse Lautrec’s home town). The show will run from 7 till 29 November from 13 to 19 h. in the ‘Moulins Albigeois, 41 Rue Porta in Albi on the banks of the Tarn river.
Professional Development Talk No. 2 – Althea Greenan, Women’s Art Library, Goldsmiths’ College
The second talk in our series was well-attended and, after Althea’s presentation, allowed for more interaction between members whose wide-ranging discussions were prompted by the information in Althea’s slideshow. The Women’s Art Library consists of slides, books, photographs and CDs of work by women, donated over the past 30 years. It is a free resource open to any artist or researcher. http://www.gold.ac.uk/make/ Althea has an encyclopedic knowledge of the contents of her library, and showed us a project she had organized with a group of artists, researchers and writers who came to her with a variety of requests for types of images. The resulting collection was thus grouped according to these individual requests for imagery, and demonstrated both the scope of the collection and Althea’s familiarity with it’s contents. I was particularly taken with the collection based on water images, which included written work as well.
Members were invited to discuss their work with Althea, who reminded us that the collection is ongoing and any woman artist is always welcome to submit work. Guidelines for submission can be found on the website above.
A very enjoyable and informative evening, it was good to meet some more members and interested friends.
Next speaker: Angela Schütz, December 7th, on the Transformative Power of Art
SLWA Education Program
To coincide with their second exhibition at the Dulwich Library, South London Women Artists launched their education programme.
Artists Jackie Brown and Pia Randall-Godard worked with local primary schools, Goodrich and St. Anthony’s, while Jane Higginbottom worked with a group of AS students from James Alleyn’s Girls School.
The workshops were designed to focus on good sketch book practise and the development of ideas. For the primary schools, this involved a preliminary visit to the school by Pia and Jackie. Pia presented a slide show, introducing the work of SLWA whilst putting these into a historical context of women artists. This exciting presentation also introduced self portraiture and symbolism”setting up” the practical activity that followed: What makes me me?
Each child was given a handmade sketch book, the front and back of which were the flyers for the exhibition. Selecting three objects from their bags, trays or pockets that said something about themselves, the children drew a self portrait into their sketchbooks. Heads and shoulders had to fill the page with the three objects drawn into the portrait.
The children were encouraged to make a collage, developing their self-portrait, playing with shape and colours.
It was fantastic to see the children actively engaged in an activity that is fundamental to the creative process, the process of development.
The following day the children visited the exhibition at the library where they were met by four of the exhibitors, Liz Charsley-Jory,Kate Redfern, Kim Thornton and Leonie Cronin who talked about their work. The artists seemed to enjoy this as much as the children, enjoying their fresh, unguarded comments although there was rather too much fascination with the prices of the works.
(Unfortunately, Goodrich school were unable to visit the library as their teacher was ill.)
The children were then asked to select four favourite pieces from the works they had seen and draw these on one page in their sketchbooks. These drawings were remarkable in their observation, markmaking and connection.
Nearly all the children said they really liked drawing in their sketchbooks and would definitely like to sketch more often. They found Pia’s presentation very interesting and thought that seeing an exhibition at the library was “a bit strange but cool”. They found the work “wierd, amazing, brilliant”
The teachers involved said “all” the children had felt a sense of achievement with” such a rounded” project and that the staff could capitalise on the skills learnt, not only in art but in other curriculum areas.
James Alleyn’s Girls School came along to the library after school where Jane facilitated their workshop. Being a smaller and older group, this workshop could be more intimate. The girls really appreciated talking to artists Liz and Leonie; they said they found this interesting and inspiring and that they would definitely use the development skills that Liz and Leonie talked about in their own practise.
Jane asked the girls to do some line and tonal exercises in their sketchbooks, focusing on the emotion evoked in the works in the exhibition. The girls found this an interesting exercise and one they would like to develop.
So, how satisfying to know that SLWA has reached out in to the community, not only to library visitors but to several children and young adults, leaving them with a desire to continue and develop their own artistic practise. SLWA now has an excellent education package that can be easily adapted to the next event or exhibition.
WELL DONE AND THANK YOU TO ALL INVOLVED, ESPECIALLY NELL AT DULWICH LIBRARY FOR BEING SO SUPPORTIVE AND ACCOMMODATING.
The next SLWA at Dulwich Library show will be in March as part of Southwark’s Celebrating Women Month.
We want to extend the work with pupils to more schools. Contact Jackie Brown (jackiebrown@homecall.co.uk) if you would like to get involved.
JAGS students visit South London Women Artists at the Dulwich Library
This visit coincided with the SLWA exhibition and pupils were lucky enough to be able to talk with some of the exhibiting artists and to see their working sketchbooks. This proved an invaluable and interesting experience for the group of Year 11 GCSE Art pupils.
We were introduced to varied methods of making sketchbooks, be they as collections of contextual evidence, working drawings or highly personalised visual diaries. Making the links between the work journals at GCSE and the work the artists were making encouraged the pupils to see different methods of developing ideas. We saw this come to fruition in the exhibition itself where pupils made tonal and linear responses to the works on display.
It was a very privileged experience – one rarely has the chance to see the very personal development of ideas and pupils were very grateful indeed to Jane, Liz, Leonie and Jane for giving them this insight.
S.Payne
Head of Art, JAGS
Kim Thornton Selected for London Group Show
Congratulations to SLWA member Kim Thornton whose work The Domestic Alchemist: Dustpan was selected for Part I of The London Group Open Exhibition at the Menier Gallery, London SE1. Her work is being shown alongside the London Group members including Albert Irvin who introduced the show and will award prizes at the Part 2 Private View on Tuesday 3rd November. Part 1 runs until October 30th and Part 2 4-13 November.
Professional Development Talk No. 1 – Business Coach Sophie Mahir
The first talk of the Professional Development Series, given by business coach Sophie Mahir, proved to be thought-provoking and at times even controversial. After a brief introduction to the concept of “life coaching”, which may have made some members cringe with apprehension, those present found themselves engaging with each other in lively discussion prompted by Sophie’s topics of “The Why” and 6 month to 5 year career plans. For some, the concept of making and keeping to these plans, and that of “modelling” oneself on a mentor, was not to their liking. However, these ideas provided enormous scope for discussion, and I think all present came away with intentions of either re-assessing their outlooks and career plans or reinforcing their own convictions and ideals.
Sophie is clearly a canny businesswoman, a single mother of 2 teenage girls, and one of the follow-up discussions I had was of the concern felt by many artists of becoming too commercial, with the potential resultant loss of integrity in one’s work. However, all of Sophie’s commercial ideas – her 10-Step Plan – could be implemented by any artist to whatever degree they felt comfortable with. We were all given homework to take away and ponder, and I came away with renewed enthusiasm for pursuing my own personal goals. I often find that going to this sort of talk triggers new ideas tangential but relevant nonetheless to the topic being discussed, and I look forward to Sophie’s return in March.
Next speaker: Althea Greenan, from The Women Artists’ Library at Goldsmiths.
Dulwich Library, November 4th, 6:30-8:30pm £5
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NUNHEAD OPEN, 19-27 Sept 09
Part of Nunhead Arts Week 2009.
The Nunhead Open submission show 2009, at the Nunhead Community Centre, 56 Nunhead Lane, SE15.
Preview:Friday 18 th Sept 6 -9 pm, Open to public: 19-27 September, Friday to Sunday 12 -6.
SLWA artists Liz Charsley-Jory and Anne-Marie Glasheen have work in the show.
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SIMPLY RED AND GREEN
The image shows ‘Stilletto Ghetto’ part of a huge instillation SIMPLY RED AND GREEN in Luxmore Gardens SE14 which was assembled on 29th and 30th August . Artists Alma Tischler Wood and Sara Willett were asked by the Brockley Ward Assembly to come up with an idea to raise awareness of this slightly under loved green space. Members of the public of all ages were invited along to help paint recycled materials and fabric red and adorn the naturally green space. We were blessed with the weather and had a great turn out – the results were fantastic! For more images go to http://www.lewishamarthouse.co.uk
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CAKE CONSTITUTION AND CHAT
We have attracted funding which means we have put in place a bank account and a constitution which required us to hold the AGM – a great success; minimum formality and lots of chat.
Looking ahead -a major exhibition at Bankside Gallery April 2010 – a Personal Development Programme for artists, starting in October – an Exhibition in Dulwich involving schools and the community, throughout October.
Tips from the AGM:
-Put your name into Google and see what happens! It is worth belonging to SLWA!!!
-Publicise SLWA, and yourself: Every time you send an email use the SLWA strapline:http://www.southlondonwomenartists.co.uk An inspirational portfolio of talented artists: discover, decide and buy
-Use the SLWA logo: Email Liz Dalton at liz@daltonmaag.com for our logo and guidelines for use on your printed publicity
-On your website, add a link to your profile on SLWA, it will up your Google rating
Help is needed for all the upcoming events. Join the SLWA steering group or volunteer help with one event.
We particularly need PR help, email Leonie at slwa@btinternet.com
Membership fees: given the exciting plans for next year it was agreed unanimously to support the need for a £10 annual membership fee to cover upfront costs.
Please send a cheque for £10 payable to South London Women Artists to :
Lindsay Merriman (SLWA treasurer) C/o Bainbridge Studio,1 Sydenham Place,West Norwood,SE27 0AP
Read more about the AGM click here
Look out for news on Bankside, PPD and the Dulwich exhibition, coming soon
Elly Wright at the Rose Theatre, Kingston on Thames, July and August 2009
During the Kingston Summer Art Season some of my paintings will be showcased by FusionARTS in the Culture Café Gallery at the Rose Theatre. The work chosen is from my ‘Escape’ and ‘Garden of Delight’ series. If you are in Kingston in July or August, pop into the theatre’s Culture Café to see what’s on show there.
http://www.kingston.gov.uk/browse/leisure/arts/arts_diary/kingston_summer_arts_season.htm
Elly Wright at the Waterloo Gallery
SLWA painter Elly Wright is participating in an exhibition entitled Short Stories: Tall Tales, curated by Nicolette Carter at the Waterloo Gallery. The show features works by two London-based and two Wales-based painters and explores the symbolic and narrative aspects of visual art by creating imaginary spaces, or by juxtaposing disparate images to evoke a sense of storytelling. Elly would like to invite SLWA members to the Private View on Monday 20 July 2009 from 6.30-8.30 p.m.
Waterloo Gallery at Waterloo Action Centre, 14 Baylis Road, SE1 7AA
20 – 25 July 2009 – Monday to Friday 11am – 6 pm, Saturday 11am – 4pm
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Eithne Twomey: From the Sea, at the Sirius Arts Centre, Cork, Ireland.
Eithne has a solo exhibition of paintings which opened June 6th – the same day as the Creekside Open at the APT, for which she also had a piece of work selected – and runs until July 12th. Eithne applied a year ago to exhibit in the Sirius Arts Centre, where artists are selected by the curatorial panel for either exhibition or for their Artist-in-Residence programme. She spent the intervening time making paintings inspired by the views of the harbour outside the gallery. The opening was a great success, with many friends travelling to Cork for the day, and it was fantastic seeing the paintings displayed in this venue as you only had to look out the window to see some of the images or be aware of the light which is so crucial to the work.
The following is a review by Tricia Gillman, one of the friends who came to Cobh for the “afternoon”. Until recently Tricia taught painting in Central St Martins School of Art and The Royal College of Art, now she runs a wonderful teaching programme from her Ladywell studio which Eithne attends.
Liz Dalton in “Love in the Sky” Art Auction
SLWA member Liz Dalton has collaborated with Dan Prescott and Bruno Maag to produce a thought provoking and playful work for the inaugural exhibition, auction & global competition launch at the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts)
An exceptional collection of established and emerging artists have been commissioned to collaborate to capture the true meaning of love in a work of art.
The Auction starts: Tuesday June 30, 2009 – 07:30 pm, and finishes Wednesday July 1, 2009 – 08:00 am
The auction is to raise funds for the children’s creativity charity, Coram. For more information, go to http://www.loveinthesky.tv/
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Marnie Pitts in “Rooted” competition
SLWA artist Marnie Pitts is pleased to announce that she is a finalist in “Rooted” the International art competition run by Culture Inside.
You can view the online show here
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Liz Charsley-Jory in the annual Pastel Society Exhibition
Liz Charsley-Jory has had a piece of work selected for inclusion in the 110th annual exhibition of the Pastel Society, and would like to invite SLWA members to attend the Private View on Tuesday, June 9th. The Mall Galleries will be open from 2 – 8pm, with an official opening and prize-giving at 6pm.
The Pastel Society exhibition opens at the Mall Galleries, The Mall, on 10 June 2009, and runs until June 21st, 10am – 5pm daily. Admission is £2.50, concessions £1.50 (Free to Friends of the FBA, Friends of the Pastel Society, Art Fund Members, Westminster Res-card holders and Under 16s)
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Leonie’s Experience of Dulwich Open House 2009
As many of you appreciate, my life as an artist is quite often filled with doing everything on my own from creating,to promoting, to selling, to problem solving, to anything and everything it often seems! It is part of what I love about being an artist but also keeps me from learning how to do things in new ways. This year I was taking part in Dulwich Open House 2009 in Bainbridge studio, which is not just a new studio for me but for all the artists there, Lucy is evolving a commercial space into studios, screen printing facilities and a gallery no less! I also was trying to create a presence of SLWA within the event. Moira Jarvis organized a group of SLWA into the lovely All Saints church on Rosendale rd, 
and many of the SLWA opened their studios and homes.
I hope many of you saw our lovely bookmarks designed by Julie Bennett, (if anyone would like one I have some spare!) As you might expect from the open house I met and chatted to lots of interesting people, but what I learned was that I enjoyed working as part of a group doing small manageable tasks that added up to greater effect. Lucys private view was buzzing with the excitement of a new venture and the promise of a great addition to West Norwood, and I felt very proud when I heard over the weekend of how visitors had been to see a lovely church of artists up the road or had come clutching the work or fascination from a SLWA studio. As I tried to palm off another bookmark onto a visitor whose reply was they had seen more of those than the pink booklets, I felt then that SLWA had left their mark!!! Leonie Cronin
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Dulwich Open House – Court Lane Extravaganza
There’s a big surprise waiting for you at 182-184 Court Lane. Two traditional 1930s family houses have been turned into one astonishing contemporary space. A groovy pad with a vast living room overlooking an enormous garden.
Outside the windows, there’s a crazy-paved, crazy shaped terrace, then a beautifully-striped lawn. There are clumps of trees here and there, creating areas of mystery that you want to explore. And when you do explore, you’ll come across a black panther, a gorilla and, just by the pond, a couple of copulating birds: these fabulously quirky sculptures are by Iain Nutting. Read More
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Critique number 3
Our third critique, held on April 6th, was another enjoyable experience and a useful session for Eithne and Laura Moreton-Griffiths, whose work was discussed.
There were 8 of us present and we started with Laura’s work. Laura finished her BA at Camberwell in July 2008, and had this to say about the crit:
“Recently out of college, I have many concerns about how to maintain my practice, establish myself professionally, and make the work I want to make; whilst juggling work and home-life. From the discussions I was hoping to gauge interest in my work and whether the research and ideas that inform my work are coming across to the viewer and in simplistic and emotional terms, whether anyone LIKES the work.
I brought two of my older landscape paintings, a painting of a figurine that I am currently working on and a portfolio of images of unresolved though connected pieces. The paintings were hung on the wall for discussion, and the book was passed around. Everyone seemed to respond the work well.
My degree taught me how to contextualize my work, and I feel required to put my work through an academic mangle. I find the content often gets in the way. The main advice I got from the group was just to enjoy the investigation of my ideas; some may become important, some may fall away. The concensus was that a thread will reveal itself in the making, that I can justify later!
It was good to talk with the group about some of my deliberations. Our conversations were wide reaching, not just directed to the work brought for discussions but contemporary practice generally, and how the other members of the group work.
I was given some artist names and suggestions of exhibitions to see. I came away feeling energized and more confident about trying out some of my ideas and working toward a collection and show of my own.”
A discussion of Eithne’s work followed, which Eithne found “a bit daunting, following Laura who speaks so well about her work” but she also found the group “to be very welcoming and it becomes quite apparent that most people share the same concerns about their work. It was good to hear comments about my current body of work, as it is often difficult to step outside what you are doing because of your intense level of involvement.
I always find it challenging to speak but once people were asking questions and responding to the work it was much easier. Practical points regarding canvas surface, paint finishes, wet on wet painting, layering, projecting images, framed or unframed raise a lot of questions and it is surely a good thing to re evaluate these things for yourself once in a while.
Speaking to people new to my work will always throw up challenges/queries such as Why not paint bigger? Why not show my photos?How much towards flattening/pattern and abstraction do I want to go?”
We all look forward to the next critique.
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RA Summer Show: Julie & Jude submit
Words & photos by Jude Evans; driving by Julie Bennett
We took our paintings to the Royal Academy on Wednesday evening. It was the last day for entrants to deliver their work and the doors were closing at 7pm. Julie picked me up from my East Dulwich home about 5.30, so we had plenty of time. Julie drives a C
helsea tractor, which is handy for transporting big works of art. All we had to do was get there in time and drop off our paintings. The paperwork and payment (£25 each piece) for submitting to the Summer Exhibition had been done weeks ago and our pictures were ready with bar-coded labels and tags. This submission process is very slick but that’s not surprising as the RA have been doing it quite a while now.
Anyway, Julie and I were on our way, chatting about Art (Julie is currently painting portraits onto old TV screens for an exhibition in some cutting-edge gallery) and as we approached Elephant and Castle I started ranting about the 
awful transport interchange (have you ever tried to get from the railway station to the Bakerloo Line?) we noticed the traffic was suddenly heavy, even heavier than normal at the god-forsaken no man’s land that is Elephant, and we were going slower and slower. They were either digging up the road or Something Terrible had happened and we were about to get stuck in an ugly jam. We didn’t have time for this!
Julie took evasive action, cutting across several lanes of impatient traffic, heading towards Kennington and away (as we hoped) from the snarl-up. But the tail-back had reached Kennington before we did and Julie had to abandon her plan to drive over Westminster Bridge. Time seemed to have suddenly shot out of control: it was 6.30 and we were still south of the river. We started to laugh. Wouldn’t it be funny if we got to the RA and it was too late! The joke turned a bit sour when we hit another snarl-up and it began to look as though we really would be too late. Julie took a sharp and 
rather cheeky turn into a side street, and we made it to Black Prince Road and then crossed the
river at Lambeth Bridge. The traffic was still bad along Millbank but Julie went into cabbie mode, and used The Knowledge to whizz us through the empty back streets and we were making excellent progress until we reached Admiralty Arch, where we got stuck in a line of taxis for what seemed ages.
It was about 6.45 now and we were at a standstill. When we finally got moving again, Julie just put her foot down and we zoomed along, from Trafalgar Square to Piccadilly, arriving at Burlington Gardens with about 5 minutes to spare. Parked on yellow lines, Julie stayed with the truck while I carried our paintings to the delivery point, which was down the alleyway at the side of the RA. The place was more or less deserted and the handing-in process took about 30 seconds. Now all we have to do is wait and hope.
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Moira Jarvis: Life Drawing Workshop
Exciting work was achieved by SLWA members at the workshop on 11 March. The model had a striking physical presence and the difficult poses she held were fantastic to draw and paint. The crit in the middle of the session stimulated a lively debate about contemporary drawing practice. We hope to run the next life drawing workshop in July.
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Social event: Gerhard Richter at the National Portrait Gallery
Organised by Julie Bennett, this event was a great success: SLWA members found the exhibition well worth a visit, and they enjoyed the chance to meet fellow members and chat about the show. 
“It was a feast to see some of Richter’s paintings again. I have mostly concentrated on the abstracts before, but enjoyed these pictures a lot.”
“I was very interested in the early portraits although found them somewhat sinister and at times rather too slick. I suppose Richter was a man of his time and the young painters were looking round to express themselves in different areas – political comes to mind. The purpose of painting was changing. Everything had kind of been done before. It was a time when the art schools hardly taught one to draw – we were all encouraged to, well, come to think of it, I am not sure what! Going further into the exhibition we began to see a change in Richter’s work: after his smudging technique, making a kind of indecisive painting, realism crept into his portraits. Then came the more interesting beginnings of his abstract work.”
“As a Richter fan and I wasn’t disappointed with this exhibition: it was great to see multiples of his paintings, and I felt you could really study them.”
“The gallery was buzzing.”
“Good to see such interesting work in the company of other artists and swap our impressions, much more stimulating than viewing it alone.”
“Fascinating to see a large body of Gerard Richter’s work together. Having somewhat dismissed his work on previous viewings, it is now clear that there is more depth and substance to his images than even he might admit to. His paintings of his wives, baby and daughter were especially touching and beautiful. The dramatic display of multi-portraits on the main staircase in the main gallery outside the exhibition was a bold and very effective hanging decision which would have not occurred to me previously. It is always good to be challenged and this exhibition has had this effect.”
“So glad I went – I might not have visited this show otherwise.”
“Meeting other artists was great, some of the faces of SLWA are becoming nice and familiar. It was a friendly group visit, particularly as there was the opportunity to talk about the paintings with people who share the same interest and enthusiasm. Later, during drinks, I was able to network with other members face-to-face.”
“We are a large sprawling group and it is only with small social outings like this that we have a chance of getting to know one another.”
“Looking forward to future events like this.”
Thanks to Carol Cooper, Liz Dalton, Liz Dickinson, Suzanne Rees Glanister, Paulina Little, Gil Mutch, Eithne Twomey and Elly Wright for their comments.
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Unveiled: New Art from the Middle East
at the Saatchi Gallery runs until 6 May
This is an exciting exhibition beautifully staged in the new Saatchi Gallery, Kings Road, Chelsea. The building was previously the headquarters of the Duke of York’s barracks designed in 1803 by John Sanders, a pupil of Sir John Soane, who built Dulwich Picture Gallery! It is a large exhibition, 86 works by 19 artists; most large-scale and hung to great effect in the beautifully proportioned rooms. It is amazing to enter and see a dozen or more works by one artist. There are paintings, photographs, sculptures and installations by artists come from across the Middle East: Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Algeria and Tunisia. They address the subjects of unending war, terrorism, social inequality, religious police and the denigration of women in Islamic societies. The work is strong which may explain why only eight of the artists actually live in the Middle East, and only two of the seven women. read more
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Our second critique
This crit was held in Julie Bennett’s studio at William Angel Gallery opposite Peckham Rye, a few days before she vacated it to relocate at Camberwell College of art where Julie is doing a BA in painting. Those present: Julie Bennett, Moira Jarvis, Laura Moreton-Griffiths, Sonia Stanyard, Liz Dalton, Liz Charsley-Jory. Three others were due to attend but did not turn up.
We discussed Moira Jarvis’ painting first, a landscape of an area of France with which she is very familiar. Here is what Moira had to say about the experience:
“Each artist present responded to my painting without an initial explanation from me. This was a real opportunity to benefit from a response from those who are not familiar with my work. I found the in depth discussion that followed extremely helpful as the painting was one I want to use as a starting point for my next series. Topics covered both the day to day practical problems of making a painting and the theoretical aspects that underpin painting. Discussion ranged from the different qualities of paints, grounds, un-stretched canvas as well as analyzing the context of the work. My own ideas were reinforced, questioned and I came home with a clearer understanding of how to take the work forward. Looking at Julie’s work was hugely enjoyable and continued this process.”
Julie had a new painting “Izzy after Camden” to show, done in her current favourite medium, house gloss paint. Julie’s comments on the crit:
“It felt relaxed without any time pressures as it took place in my own studio. We discussed exhibitions and artists past and present that were relevant to my work.
The comments I received were very helpful which included suggestions on how to further my work, alternative materials and brushes to use. I also felt it helped me to start contextualising my work and articulating my use of materials.
I would be delighted to attend another crit with Liz Charsley-Jory and South London Women Artists. It was a very enjoyable, professional and helpful experience.”
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My work was hanging for a week at ArtDog Gallery Space, so we met there to talk about it, and the work of the person I was showing with, as well as a painting by Liz Dalton and a photographic series by Kim Thornton.
"Cosmic Huasca" ring by Ornella Iannuzzi
Success of our Bankside workshop Jan 23rd
SLWA Members Pages 
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