2024 Exhibitors
Capital Culture Gallery
Capital Culture Gallery champions art that represents culture, landscape and diversity, and includes painters, photographers, printmakers and sculptors. The gallery is owned by artist Rachael Dalzell and photographer James Sparshatt. “Over the last fifteen years we have exhibited at art fairs in London, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Singapore, Paris, Milan, Stockholm and Hamburg.”
Clifton Fine Art
Located in the heart of Bristol’s Christmas Steps Arts Quarter. We represent a range of terrific artists, nurturing new talents and maintaining the success of some of the best in the South West.
Art and Horse Racing Gallery
Art & Horse Racing Gallery launched in May 2023 as the only fine art gallery in Newmarket, the home of horse racing. We represent and exhibit many well known international and national artists in our stable. An eclectic mix of genres and styles in all price-ranges. We focus on “Art that makes you feel good” with an emphasis on the Beauty of Nature. Enrich your life with Art at Art & Horse Racing Gallery!
The Black Gold Press
Ieuan Edwards, of The Black Gold Press, is a printmaker and illustrator, specialising in small editions of highly detailed linocut prints. Ieuan’s main areas of interest include industrial and fairground architecture, exploration, palaeontology and the human interaction with the natural world. His intricate prints have been exhibited widely, at prestigious venues including the Royal Academy of Arts, Somerset House, Mall Galleries, Turner Contemporary and the Australian National Botanical Gardens.
E.C. Woodard
Born and raised in Cornwall on the Fowey Estuary, Emily moved to London to seek a career in design where she now lives permanently. Operating out of her Waterloo studio, she has built a large client base, both in the UK and abroad. A darkly romantic element, evocative of the Golden Era of children’s literature is woven into the fabric of her paintings and designs, with clear influences from artists that have inspired her style (Gorey, Dulac, Rackham) apparent in each work. She amalgamates this influence with her own light-touch and irreverent humour. Emily has worked for companies such as Hitachi, Godiva Chocolatiers, Alexander McQueen, The Guardian, The Times, John Lewis, The National Trust, the Roald Dahl estate and Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity. Emily’s skillset stretches from book illustrations to painted interiors.
Ben Wardle Fine Art
Ben lives on a farm in rural Essex and has been lucky enough to spend the last 20 years of his working life exploring some of the most beautiful countryside East Anglia has to offer. Ben’s father and grandfather were both talented artists and he grew up surrounded by painting and creativity. He has become an established East Anglian landscape artist whose work has sold to collectors worldwide. His paintings are not just of what he sees in his local landscapes, but how he feels when he is in them. He has an MA in Fine Art, using the opportunity to analyse his practice. Being in wild spaces has a tremendous effect on our mental health, and Ben uses his practice to investigate this psychological/environmental link and is inspired by the research of Environmental Philosopher Glenn Albrecht, Robert Macfarlane and all the creatives who promote a more positive, healthy future for nature and our environment. A recent ADHD diagnosis has more recently led to him investigating wild spaces as he sees them; these works are landscape as he see it; embracing the chaos of a neurodivergent mind. Using painting and gesture as his therapy, with nature as his motif, Ben is now using his entire armoury of creative catalogue – old paintings, photos, scientific drawings from his Zoology degree days, portraiture, caricature, doodling (a lifelong stimming habit) as well as just paint.
Laragh Spearman
“I make art that ranges from abstract acrylic paintings to creative textiles using a wide range of different media. I love working with different media, dyeing different types of fabric, stencilling and embossing techniques, and using Acrylic inks with watercolour. I am fascinated by symbolic images within a mythic framework, and ancient springs, standing stones, and these often travelled into my artwork. I have been profoundly inspired by visits to the ancient sites in Egypt, Cornwall, South West France, and Wicklow, Ireland, and these experiences inform some of the patterns and textures I bring onto the canvas. Currently working at Outpost Studios, Norwich. My inspirations include music with a fusion element such as FKA Twigs, Young Magic, and Fever Ray. I have a Fine Art degree (painting) from Norwich School of Art & Design/NUA, was born in London, and came up to study for my degree in Norwich where I now live.”
Rafail Kokkinos
Rafail Kokkinos is a Greek painter, primarily using acrylics/mixed media on wood and canvas. He has been based in Norwich since 2011. His abstract painting is intuitive, embracing the nature and behaviour of the paint used and utilising intentional marks as well as “accidents” within his process to guide his next step, until a painting is deemed finished according to his aesthetic criteria and state of mind at the time of creation.
Claire Oxley Studio
Claire Oxley’s work is distinctive through its colour intensity and rhythmic mark making. Taking inspiration from surrounding landscapes, her starting point is often the passing seasons and wide, changing moods of her East Anglian home. “I make paintings that chart and describe the seasons, skies, seas, moons, fields, flowers, and foliage of the area: canvases of energy and flux. These works are felt and heard as much as seen, stirring memories and experiences from these vast counties.” Claire lives in Norwich, Norfolk, and studied at the Norwich School of Art, and the Universities of Lancaster and Oxford. A synaesthete (which, in Claire’s case, means that colour and sound are experienced interchangeably) she uses environment, music and seasonal rhythms as a starting point for many pieces.
LoMu-Art
“Primarily, I am a painter and a drawer. I work with mixed media; acrylics, inks, charcoal, pencil, transfer, lino, jelly printing, collage. My work draws on the iconography all around me; old & new. I bombard the canvas with everything I have; obsessively adding and taking away, until the essence is achieved. My work has no preconceived path or destination. I am open to chance.” Lorna Naomi Murray is an artist emerging from hibernation…Born in SA, arrived in the UK in 1990, after years backpacking around the world. She lived and worked in London (in healthcare mostly) then relocated to Norwich (for that work life balance) and “rediscovered the artist within me!”
Katha Wood Photographic Art
Katha Wood is an emerging British Fine Art Photographer, working with photography printed on metal, with a background in neuroscience and hypnotherapy. Based in Norfolk and London, her work explores the surreal, capturing the profound impact of her time in Andalucia, Spain during the Covid years. Between 2020 and 2023, Katha created THE BIGGER PICTURE COLLECTION, a series that reflects her experiences predominantly through nature-inspired imagery. Her work, infused with her unique perspective, offers a visual journey through the surreal emotions of that transformative period.
Jill Blakey Art
Jill is a self taught abstract artist from Buckinghamshire. With a passion for colour, maths and interiors, Jill’s artwork is happy, vibrant and dynamic, full of texture and hidden details. She creates pieces you can really get lost in, noticing something different every time you look, using mixed media art on canvas with acrylic, spray paint, inks and collage.
Hannah Buchanan
Predominantly a landscape painter, Hannah Buchanan (b.1997) is a British artist currently based in Kent. Buchanan’s focus on the landscape is stimulated by her passion for the environment and an interest in Biocentrism. Buchanan studied Fine Art with History of Art at the University of Leeds where she developed her ability to capture the delicacy of the English countryside through oil painting. Buchanan aims to create a sense of nostalgia in her work, simultaneously reminding the viewer of the fragility of our climate today. “My focus on landscape painting is stimulated by the changing of the seasons and an interest in Biocentrism. Through oil paint, I aim to record the pulses of life emanating from the natural environment, whilst also focussing on the delicate and impermanent nature of our climate today. By using psycho-geography as a means of exploration, I am able to approach an environment with a deeper scrutiny, deconstructing the essential characteristics of the landscape from which I draw inspiration. I feel a strong connection to the Kentish countryside, where I have lived for most of my life and this has become the subject of many of my paintings.”
Nina Noakes
Nina Noakes is an abstract painter whose paintings are inspired by a sensory and emotional response to nature. Originally from Cumbria, Nina interprets her own felt experience and relationship with the natural world through her use of colour, marks and composition. This creates an emotive sense of depth, place and feeling which draws the viewer in, allowing the them to explore their own relationship to the painting as well as to their own memories, feelings and connections. Her work is a combination of oil painted abstract landscapes, as well as more abstract representations, using a selection of multi-media. Working from quick intuitive sketches she allows the process of painting in layers of oil to take over, often dramatically changing the original concept of a painting. Each layer telling it’s own story, often peering through the layer that follows it. “There is a reassurance in nature, especially at its roughest, a resilience and strength that towers above any of us. A stark reminder that we are just mortal beings.” Nina now lives and paints full time in rural Norfolk.
Richard White
“The inspiration for my paintings comes from nature all around me. Trees, foliage, sea, water, light and shade in particular. I am drawn into corners of the landscape that could seem unremarkable but I find their complex structure and detail, often distorted by sunlight to be fascinating, full of color, and a wonderful mass of entwined shapes and abstract forms. I use a multitude of materials at present from oil on canvas, pen drawings and charcoal on paper, and some acrylic as well. My paintings have their origin in my own black and white photographs. Then through an intricate and labour intense process, resulting in an array of tiny shapes, which depicts a unified visual effect that is both abstract when viewed close up and figurative from when viewed from a far. The more I paint the more I realise how important my process is to me. The structure and control I need to have when painting. I am not trying to create a photorealist painting, it is the process I have adopted that is the integral part for me.”
Vandy Massey
Vandy is an award-winning Cambridge-based painter, showing expressive landscapes, abstracts and floral paintings in acrylic, mixed media and watercolour. Her roots are the vibrant landscapes of South Africa where she spent the early part of her life. The echoes of Africa are woven into her art, influencing the way she infuses her work with vivid colours. She is inspired by the untamed beauty of natural spaces. She chaired the Society of East Anglian Watercolourists for four years, and she is currently a member of ArtCan.
Jane Wilson
Jane originally studied printed textile design and spent many years in the fashion industry before becoming a full time artist. Her vibrant, joyful, multi-layered mixed media artworks explore interconnectivity and inspired by life in the South West from a unique perspective. Her inspiration comes from living in the South West and its coast, landscape, flora and fauna. She has exhibited widely in the UK and recently had work accepted for The Royal Society of British Artists 2023 Bicentenary Exhibition, The Society of Wildlife Artists Natural Eye 2022 and 2023 exhibitions and was the winner of The Dry Red Press Award at The Royal Watercolour Society’s 2022 Exhibition. She lives and works in Looe, Cornwall and is a member of The Polperro Arts Foundation.
Lisa Atsumi
I am a local painter based in Norwich. I use acrylic paint on canvases created from vintage remnants and preloved fabrics vintage fabrics to create moments that span the decades. The patterns and colours of the fabric inspire new images, where the nostalgia of the past mingles with the present, creating stories of lost moments and reimagined scenes. By reusing materials that were once unwanted, I transform them into cherished works.
Nicholas Elliott
Nicholas studied art through to an Art Foundation course and then worked in magazine publishing and marketing, In 2000 he sold out of his company to pursue an Art career. Living cheaply in India and Andalusia he taught himself oil painting following Atelier practices. In a 2008 London’s Cork Street exhibition he enjoyed enormous success and gained London Gallery representation . He then moved to France. However in 2013 he returned to the UK to receive treatment for cancer of the jaw and now lives and works in Norfolk. “Extraordinary contemporary oils pairing cartoon and toy characters with still life elements. Within carefully planned compositions characters appear to come to life and could maybe jump out of the picture plane at any moment!”
Urban Art Store
We are not your usual gallery; we are an Art Store – an artist-focused store representing mix of artists and art from the region, as well as from New York to Ukraine. We specialise in promoting artists, whether it is working with interior designers or via our website. We have a unique approach and purpose and that is what makes us different!
Juli Fejer Art
Suffolk-based artist, Juli Fejer, uses a distinctive combination of colour, mark making and perspective to create landscapes that are both familiar and strange. Her art is rooted in lived experience but she also uses landscape as a metaphor for emotional states. She works with watercolour, acrylic and her iPad to explore different moods and subjects. Fejer will be showing a collection of acrylic paintings on canvas, inspired by the landscape and coast of East Anglia. Although she identifies in the tradition of the outsider artist, she was brought up in a house of colour and design, and has always thought in pictures. Her father was a designer, and her grandfather, a Hungarian watercolourist. After decades of chronic pain and depression, she began painting as a pain management technique. In 2021, one of Fejer’s paintings was selected for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and she was invited to take part in a BBC2 documentary which followed four hopeful applicants. She was selected for the ING Discerning Eye in 2020 and 2021 and has participated in numerous art fairs and group exhibitions including with the Society of East Anglian Watercolourists and non-profit organisation, ArtCan. In 2023, Fejer was part of a project team awarded a £500 bursary by the HollyBush Prize, she was shortlisted for the D31 Art Prize, and long listed for the Women in Art Prize and the Visual Artists Association professional award. Also shortlisted for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, 2024, and has recently been artist in residence for the charity A Space Between. In Juli Fejer’s collection you will find original paintings on canvas inspired by ancient woods, wide fields and beaches of East Anglia. The Suffolk-based artist creates landscapes that are both familiar and strange through the use of an unusual colour palette and mark making. She draws inspiration from the cycles of the natural world but also uses landscape as a metaphor for emotions. Fibromyalgia gives her an acute sensitivity to smells, sounds and colours, which allows her to pick up the nuances of her surroundings. Fejer’s work has appeared in the Royal Academy, The Mall Galleries, and numerous group exhibitions.
Dom Holmes
Dom Holmes is a queer British painter and mixed-media artist currently living and working in London, exploring the ways in which climate crisis is impacting our mental health and relationship to our immediate environment. Dom paints local flora and botanicals found in their east London neighbourhood – from community planters, neighbourhood gardens, open spaces, council-run parks, roadsides and windowsills – and elevates them in large scale, extreme close ups with references to traditional botanical illustration and classical oil painting techniques. They highlight the importance of sustainable practice through using minimal pigments, mediums and equipment. Dom Holmes is an emerging British painter and mixed-media artist, living and working in London. Their work has shown in exhibitions and collections across the UK, the US and Europe. Dom’s primary concern is themes of nature, in particular as a vehicle for exploring spirituality, identity, ego and mental health in the time of climate crisis. Their oil painting practice evolved from a period of self-directed study beginning in 2017, and has led to their principal focus of traditional fine art painting methods. Dom creates oversized and dramatic images of found fauna and flora from urban environments, capturing moments of unexpected and often overlooked beauty, using minimal colours, with a focus on depth and darkness. Dom was the recipient of the Most Inspiring Contemporary Artist award at the 2022 LuxLife Awards, and was awarded the Audience Choice award at the 2023 Swanfall Art ‘Through The Looking Glass’ exhibition at London’s Mall Galleries for their work ‘White Peony’. Their work has been shortlisted for the NEAC.
Matthew Cordwell Fine Art
Matthew Cordwell is a landscape artist capturing the natural world in all its beautiful form and colour. Working in oils, the artist creates evocative impressionistic paintings inspired by the ever-changing nature of light and its effect on land, sea and sky. Working outside in all conditions, each painting is imbued with the emotional qualities of the landscape. “Every sense is alert and gathering information whilst painting outside, sensory inputs cannot be separated from the scene before me and form an indispensable quality in the painting itself.” This living of the landscape gives Matthew’s artwork a painterly feel loved by collectors. “Oil paintings on boards, panel and canvas created predominantly en plein air, with some larger pieces created in the studio. The work is impressionistic and is an artistic representation of the natural landscape around me. I focus primarily on country/natural scenes with an emphasis on skies and cloudscapes.”
Colin Revell
I’m a self taught artist who predominantly paints in watercolour, but I also use acrylic now and then. My style is loose contemporary and I love to paint portraits/ still life / landscapes/ cityscapes. I aspire to pursue exibiting directions, developing and progressing my art. I love the way watercolour allows me to interpret light and mood in the subjects I paint. I work plein-air as much as I can and also produce work in my studio. I’m always striving to create a visual story for the viewer to enjoy!
Ben Kendall
Ben Kendall is a self taught artist based in Norfolk. He paints bold, semi abstract landscapes inspired by the countryside and coast he loves, using acrylic and mixed media. His works is characterised by a loose, free-flowing expressionistic style. He was shortlisted for the Sir John Hurt Art Prize in 2023
Tom Zaw
Tom Zaw, drawing on paper or wood, and pyrography on solid wood, has a raw art talent typical for autistic people. He hasn’t received any formal art education. What you see in his pictures is a natural expression of his impulses or lack of them. A mixture of perfection and imperfection. Favourite dry media include coloured pencils, charcoal, graphite, conte, pastels, and also pyrography. Tom Zaw is an associate member of SGFA, has been exhibiting within a few major art societies and galleries. Loves pencils sharp.
Mark Munroe-Preston
“Treescapes” Digital art printed on aluminium and paper. Mark’s work coalesces painting, photography and collage to create atmospheric images inspired by nature. His art is a celebration of trees using modern techniques to evoke the beauty and drama of the landscapes he experiences and drawing the viewer into the scenes with their unique and captivating presentation.
Emily Jolley
Fine artist Emily Jolley specialises in expressive abstract paintings incorporating emulsion paint. Influences include Abstract Expressionists such as Lee Krasner and Helen Frankenthaler. Emily makes one off originals and commissions in response to a particular place / experience / thought, inspired by the natural world and ideas of transience and connectedness. Supporting her local art-scene, Emily established not-for-profit Huntingdon Art Gallery and is a member of several artists networks such as the Visual Artists Association, A-N, Cambridge Arts Network, Cambridge Creative Network, The Neotists, and Cambridge Open Studios. Her studio practice is shared between Milton Studios and Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.
Wendy Kimberley Art
Wendy is an award winning landscape and wildlife painter based in Norfolk, working in water-based media on canvas and on reclaimed wood. Her work is inspired by nature and the world around her, how it changes over time and the impact of our urban footprint.
Stellabox Designs by Haychley Webb
Haychley Webb is a traditional linocut printmaker, printing under the name Stellabox Designs. Her original limited edition linocut prints are designed, carved and printed by hand in the City of Norwich in her studio. Her linocut prints try to capture the personalities of animals and the landscapes she views, whether that be in the Norfolk Broads or her travels in England and Canada. She is an Arts Educator and regularly teaches printmaking across the East of England. “My linocut prints are carved on either traditional grey hessian-backed or Japanese Vinyl. They are printed on a range of papers, including Japanese, Kitakata and Somerset. All linocut prints brought to Art Fair East would be limited edition (my standard edition is 30). These are printed by hand at my studio in the City – using either a wooden spoon or Slama Press.”
Juliet Lawson
I am a figurative artist working in several different medias, mainly oils or pastels. I paint landscape with a narrative. I enjoy using the human figure as a starting point for my own kind of story telling. I also relish the fast notebook impressions that I create whilst travelling, wherever that maybe. I studied theatre design at Wimbledon College of Art. Also a singer-songwriter,I have released several albums of my songs over the last four decades. Returning to painting, I have exhibited and sold my artwork in London, Bedford, Germany and recently, Norwich.
Dianne Branscombe and Vikki Middleton
Dianne Branscombe (bowl of grapes and a violin): I live in Norfolk and have been painting for over 50 years, working in oil and watercolour. After many years of teaching adult art classes, painting in all media and techniques. I now concentrate on still life, landscape and portraits in a detailed realistic style. I show my paintings in Norfolk and London Galleries. I am a member of the Royal Miniature Society and have won many awards for my miniature still life. Vikki Middleton (lemons and pomegranate): I live in Norwich and have been painting for 40 years, working in oil and watercolour. I started with landscape using oils. I had a change of direction and using watercolours started painting portraits and still life in miniature style. Became a member of the Royal Miniature Society where I have won many awards including the top award of the Gold Bowl. I like to paint what I see in a realistic style and am now enjoying working in oils painting small still life pictures in a looser technique.
Julia Tooley
Julia Tooley is self-taught artist based in Norfolk. She paints exclusively in gouache, choosing subject matter which evokes feelings of positivity, warmth and contentment. She aims to capture the details which bring joy to the viewer; from the reflections in glass or ceramic surfaces to the differing textures of food or textiles.
Laura Miller-Boast
I’ve always been inspired by the human form. I began creating figurative art when I was 15 as I saw a lack of realistic body types in popular culture. My use of acrylic paint and palette knives helps me in adding layers to my paintings. This creates texture which relates to the human body’s curves, bumps and blemishes which I believe is something that is villainised on people’s bodies nowadays. By using black and white I allow the viewer to link their own emotion to the piece and give each person a different impression of the painting.
Emma Meek Photography
My name is Emma and I am a fine art landscape, cityscape and aerial photographer, I split my time between the Cotswolds and the North East of England. I love seascapes and sunsets but I am passionate about capturing the beauty of wherever I travel to. I offer limited edition giclée prints and use the highest quality museum quality papers and inks.
Shelley Nott Fine Art Photography
Shelley is dedicated to the art of slow photography and has spent many years refining her practice to create still lifes based in the tradition of the genre. Her research has taken her to multiple countries and any number of museums as she examines the world of symbolism and metaphor. She has an honours degree in photography from the University of Westminster and is holder of the Royal Photographic Society’s Associate Distinction. Her work is collected internationally and she exhibits in various galleries throughout East Anglia. She lives and works in East Suffolk.
Brian Korteling
Norwich based award winning artist and curator. Working mainly as a painter but also producing 3D site specific pieces. Brian paints with the aim of capturing the moment. Working both plein air and in the studio his work is varied in style and approach but there is an exploratory thread that unites his work into a cohesive body. Never resting, he is constantly evolving and striving to push his paintings into new areas.
John Sparks
John Sparks is a self-taught figurative artist. John’s intimate and introspective works deal with themes of transformation. Primarily using oil on canvas board, he creates images with a sense of yearning that is almost darkly nostalgic. With the innate instinct of a great cinematographer, his muted and restrained colour palettes allow space for an inclination toward existential contemplation.
Garner + Read
Meeting a few years ago on a painting holiday in Portugal, Hilary Garner and Norma Read became firm friends. Hilary worked in IT for over 30 years until she graduated with an Art Diploma from Anteros Arts Foundation in Norwich. She now works from her own studio in Holton. Norma was formerly a dance and fitness teacher, but closed her classes at the start of Lockdown and worked on her art full time. Carlton Marshes being just five minutes from her studio gives her the inspiration to create vibrant, textured oils of the Suffolk countryside and marshlands. Hilary and Norma’s work is complementary whatever the subject or medium, however they create mainly still life and landscapes in oils. Hilary uses bold brushstrokes with thick paint and an enhanced colour palette to produce striking paintings, while Norma uses vibrant colour, expressive brush marks and palette knives to create texture in still life and contemporary landscapes. Showing here are Norma Read’s red blooms and sunflowers, and Hilary Garner’s two blue vases of flowers www.hilarygarner.co.uk; www.normareadartist.com
Nicola Mountney
Nicola Mountney is from London and now lives in Tuscany. She worked for a London costumiers, specialising in period costume for film and TV, where she curated many international exhibitions. She then moved to Tuscany in 2006 and ran a Buddhist retreat centre in the Apennines. Nicola studied Buddhist thangka painting where there is a strong emphasis on colour and detail. This background has led her to create a unique fusion where East meets West. Nicola is inspired by the Italian artist Giuseppe Castiglione 1688-1766 who introduced Western-style painting to China and in doing so became one of the greatest court painters in China.
Jade KD Abstract Art
East Anglian based Abstract Artist, currently studying Art Therapy at the University of Hertfordshire. “I’m a mixed media artist, often creating cracked textured canvases with acrylic paints, acrylic inks, spray paints, to adding touches of gold leaf and sand. My acrylic ink artwork takes time and goes through multiple stages to create, over many days or weeks. My other passions include seascape photography, and I believe this comes across in my artwork with the fluidity themes, emotions expressed, and the colours I work with. I can produce two to three pieces of original one-off artworks each week, and am also available for commissions.”
Patrick Wilkins Drawings
Based in Ixworth, Suffolk, Patrick is self taught artist with a background in engineering design. The art of American realist Edward Hopper is a major influence, as is Film Noir. Patrick has exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and the Mall Gallery. He has won awards at annual exhibitions held by the Society of Graphic Fine Art (SGFA) and the UK Coloured Pencil Society (UKCPS). Patrick was featured in Artist and Illustrators magazine in February 2020, and The Artist magazine in April 2023. He also appeared on Sky Landscape Artist of the Year (Season 7).
Andy Walker
I regularly exhibit my artworks at art fairs, exhibitions and other events throughout the UK, up to 20 times per year. My work Is now included in private collections, including Australia, Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, USA and the UK.
Bella Bigsby
In her emotive paintings, Bella Bigsby combines tangible elements of the world around her with an imagined nature. She draws on her memories of home, feelings for landscape and a love of myth and fairytale. Animals and birds that have a rich folkloric tradition are particularly intriguing to her, as they are infused with layers of human history as well as their own unknowable narratives. For Bella, nature is a separate yet parallel world. She is most interested in the quiet presence of this world, where it touches our everyday one. Familiar birds and trees are to her endlessly rich in beauty and meaning. Having lived and worked in Oakland, California for many years, Bella recently relocated back to her native home of Norfolk, England.
Susan Abbs
The world is a scary place – earthquake, world pandemic, raging wars, resources dwindling, climate deteriorating – but in the midst of the darkness, there is always light. Unlike my usual colourful artworks, this new series is dark and monochromatic. In 2019, at the cusp of the pandemic, I was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer. The experience was harrowing but no matter how bad and how dark, there was always light – my very supportive family and friends, close proximity to an amazing hospital, great studio space to isolate in etc. My cancer is now in remission and the world is bright and wonderful again. This series is very dark but it isn’t really about the darkness but the shining light. We can’t see the brightness of light without the contrast of darkness. The world and our lives might seem dark at the moment but change is coming and we can look forward to the coming light.
Nickie Holford
Nickie is a member of Easterly Artists and is inspired by the local seaside and coastal areas. She’s on a journey to discover and describe the beauty in the environment, including the region’s big skies, seeking to encapsulate the emotion evoked by the coast. Artists who demonstrate a bold use of colour, or the sublime portrayal of light within a painting, continue to influence Nickie in her work, while her background in technical theatre also has a part to play in the subjects and imagery which interest her.
Dan Brown
The work acts as a record of explorations into the fundamental questions of reality, consciousness and the human condition. The aim is to create strong aesthetic imagery that excites conversation into scientific and spiritual questions and philosophies.
Alex Bell
Alex Bell is a local artist based in Norwich who’s been painting for over 15-years. His artwork offers a contemporary style blending both traditional and abstract techniques.
Kate Cree
I live in Leicestershire. I’ve worked in photography, illustration, fashion design, and fine art. I’m a professional artist and teacher. I work in oils, designing and producing art work with meaning and passion, in various styles, inspired by the colour, shape and form of wildlife and life around me. Many of my designs create a scene through geometric abstraction, involving shapes in strong colours, and producing a painting that elicits thought about its meaning. My latest work is a series of bird life paintings in oils. Here, I create an abstract background with my main subject being partially transparent.
Simon Bailey
Simon Bailey is a landscape painter based in south London. He works with oil paints, using vibrant colours primarily to depict clouds and trees – his preferred subject matter. Bailey’s love of colour began when he was studying A Level art and was inspired by Henri Matisse’s work. The first piece that made him think ‘wow’ was The Snail; he admired the large, bold blocks of colour that Matisse used and was fascinated by the little snail hidden away within the artwork. Bailey grew up with dyslexia, which was challenging for him in school, but he now sees it as his superpower because it enables him to pick up patterns and see things in a different way with unique combinations and associations, helping him with his creativity. After college, Bailey spent some of the best years of his life as a bass player in bands. The band had its own music studio in the arches at Clapham Junction and performed around London and the UK for many years. He remembered during one band rehearsal session trying to explain to his bandmates how he can hear songs in colour; they enjoyed the banter but clearly had no clue what he meant! Music has become an important role in Bailey’s painting process, enabling his creativity to flow. Listening to music helps him relax, creating a calm environment that allows his mind to wander freely. This state of relaxation is essential for tapping into his creativity, as it reduces distractions and allows a deeper connection to his artistic vision. Different melodies and rhythms evoke specific colours and shapes in his mind, guiding the brushstrokes and palette choices. This synesthetic experience enriches his paintings, infusing them with a dynamic interplay of tones that transform sound into colour.