24 January to 23 April 2023
The New Year will see visitors to Bath’s Holburne Museum which o ers a rare opportunity to see a complete set of twelve woodcut prints by the most celebrated artist of the German Renaissance, Albrecht Dürer (14711528). Known as the Great Passion, the
biblical images are normally inaccessible in their entirety, as they are most frequently bound into an album or incomplete. Especially for Illustrating the World: Woodcuts in the Age of Dürer, these beautiful images detailing moments in Christ’s Passion have been framed, allowing the viewer to appreciate the full cycle.
Great Pulteney St, Bath BA2 4DB holburne.org
This
body of work signals a signi cant moment for Cooke as he brings his expansive abstract paintings to London for the rst time since his practice shifted in 2019. Cooke reimagines the Ancient Greek icon with a delicate, diaphanous creature, re ecting his own interrogation of the immense systems that govern the natural world. 5 Hanover Square, London W1S 1HQ. pacegallery.com
This
This is Burrows’ rst solo exhibition since his conception and launch of the Artist Support Pledge. You will see new, larger works; the fruition of his In and Through series which he developed during the pandemic. These paintings re ect Burrows’ interest in connection, ‘to ourselves, one another, and our environment.’
Wellington Arch Museum, London W1J 7JZ english-heritage.org.uk
Until 7 January 2023
A unique exhibition that focuses on biodiversity, wildlife and landscape has been developed at St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery. It celebrates plants, animals and habitats which are sometimes overlooked but remarkable and most likely under threat from climate change, sea level rise, pollution or intensive farming methods. Based on the work of contemporary artists, the exhibition reminds us of the richness of British wildlife while highlighting the precarious situation many species are now found in. St Barbe, New Street, Lymington SO41 9BH stbarbe-museum.org.uk
Until 26 March 2023 The Stanley Spencer Gallery is delighted to present Most Loved Works, an exhibition that will reveal the Gallery volunteers’ most loved works and why they mean so much to the community. Highlights include The Last Supper, set in the Cookham malthouses and painted just across the river at Bourne End; visitor-favourite Neighbours; and paintings from Spencer’s Wedding at Cana series, which weave Biblical stories into scenes from village life. The exhibition will be a rare opportunity to see the best-loved works on display at once. High Street, Cookham, Berkshire SL6 9SJ stanleyspencer.org.uk
BIG
11Februaryto18June 2023
Sarah Lucas, one of Britain’s most celebrated artists, will curate a major exhibition at Firstsite in 2023. Under the headline BIG WOMEN, the Colchester gallery will showcase work by leading female artists and promises a wealth of diverse artworks to view and enjoy – plus a few surprises too.
Lewis Gardens, High Street, Colchester CO1 1JH rstsite.uk
This still life artist finds the beauty in everyday items, painting in oil from her quaint cottage studio in Surrey, discovers Ramsha Vistro ▸
DEDE GOLD meticulously planned her career in art. Now, she’s written a book about what she’s learned along the way, which will be an invaluable tome for those also wishing to take the leap, says Niki Browes
Dede Gold was brought up on the south coast of Ireland and oscillated between a strict convent education and a more free-range quaker school, depending on how her grades were going; anything less than a B and she was hiked back down the hill to the nuns. The Quaker school was brilliantly attentive to the importance of the arts, sports and individual self-expression: it was as much about creativity as curriculums. She can still hear her art teacher’s words calling after her and her friends as they headed into town to ‘look up;’ he was encouraging them to remember to look beyond the tips of their noses and their immediate orbit, and let the imagination wander to see what it stirs within; ultimately a great lesson for life and art.
Still, a career in law followed and, after the end of her marriage, she attended classes at Lavender Hill Studios (now London Fine Art Studios) as a form of therapy. It lifted her heart in unexpected ways, igniting her passion. She took the route to become a professional in two stages, and would recommend it. For three years, she worked part-time in a gallery and trained intensely in her art for another two days a week. She built towards her rst exhibition, hiring a space in Mayfair for a short and to-the-point show. “I needed to see if there might be anything in my art that would appeal to an audience beyond my mother and my best friend,” she laughs. She subsequently sold a convincing number of paintings, which gave her the con dence to throw her hat into the full-time ring. That was12 years ago andshe’s just published a book, The CREATIVE, Covered, predominantly as a companion to help other creatives short circuit their learning curves.
SUSAN CLARE shows you how she painted this underwater reef scene in acrylic, to raise money for a charity supporting the health of the world’s oceans
My idea for this painting began on spotting some beautiful underwater photos, by Belinda Collier-Morrow, posted on the White River Fish Sanctuary Instagram page. She kindly gave me her permission to paint from them.
I still love the reefs and feel every bit as protective of them as when I worked in scuba diving, here in Jamaica, in my twenties and thirties. Despite my change of career and having witnessed a heartbreaking deterioration of the reefs in the last 20 years, I still feel compelled to do anything I can to help. Although damaged, the remaining reefs and their residents represent an important indicator for the health of the ocean and by extension, our planet. Being an island nation, the looming threat of rising sea levels (with associated problems from a more acid ocean) is even more relevant, as we all face the enormous, and now immediate, challenges of climate change.
I knew I wanted to create a statement piece that could raise awareness of the plight of our coastal environment and earn some much-needed funds to support the White River Fish Sanctuary – founded by Belinda and assisted by the Jamaica Inn Foundation – in their work, helping reefs and the local community alike. I wanted to produce a work of complexity and hidden textural layers, created with found items relating to the health of the world’s oceans.
Instagram: @whiteriver shsanctuary ▸
The image was still quite stark at this stage, so I felt that the mass of reeds and grasses at the bottom of the image was really needed to soften the composition. Using square-edged brushes I also found patches of the ochre colour in various parts of the painting and did the same with the blue of the sky. I used the end of the paintbrush to scrape into the paint.
I tried to re ne the trees a bit more by nding little round patches of light in the densest part of the leaves. Maintaining the heavy silhouette of the trees, while also giving them some hints of colour was a di cult balance. I used more of the warm highlights on the trunks to give them depth, and also added some more strong brushmarks in the sky with thicker paint, leaving them quite raw-edged.
Finally, I re-introduced a band of indigo at the bottom of the image amongst the reeds and used a dry brush again to pull some of the colours together in the foreground, creating some vertical marks. I was keen to keep a freshness and sense of immediacy in the painting so I tried very hard not to overwork it and make it too neat. Hopefully, I have managed to capture something of the cool winter Su olk landscape. ▫
