2024 LEEDS SUMMER GROUP SHOW
5 JULY - 30 AUGUST
LEEDS SUMMER GROUP SHOW
SHOWCASING TALENT FROM LEEDS AND BEYOND
Welcome to the 2024 Leeds Summer Group Show, an eclectic exhibition celebrating artists working across the UK. It was curated by Courtney Spencer who founded the annual show in 2015 marking this as the tenth showcase. This year she was joined on the selection panel by Nigel Walsh and Kelly Cumberland.
It is fantastic to be showing the exhibition once agian at Leeds Playhouse, an incredible cultural venue dedicated to making art accessible to audiences and enriching the cultural fabric of Yorkshire.
Many of the works featured in the exhibition are available to own. For inquiries, please use the contact form via www.courtspencer.com.
Selection panel:
Kelly Cumberland is an artist, PhD researcher, and academic. Her practice explores expanded definitions of drawing, with a focus on scientific and medical research and imagery. She was the Course Leader for BA (Hons) Fine Art at Leeds Arts University and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She exhibits nationally and internationally.
Nigel Walsh is the Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art for Leeds Museums & Galleries, based at Leeds Art Gallery. He joined the team in 1986 as its first dedicated Exhibitions Curator, after training with the Scottish Art Council in Glasgow following a degree in English Studies and Fine Art (History of Art) from a Scottish university. Until very recently, he was Chair of Trustees of the Ilkley Literature Festival, where he had been a board member for 20 years.
Courtney Spencer is an Australian artist, curator, and collaborator. She was the director an arts venue for five years, where in 2015 she began the Leeds Summer Group Show. In 2022, she founded The Art Court, which supports artists and collectors in the North of England. She has worked with clients including the National Trust, British Library, The Mercer Art Gallery in Harrogate, and Leeds Playhouse. She also writes a column called “Snooping Through Studios” for The State Of The Arts.
EXHIBITING ARTISTS
ADAM JOSEPH
ADRIAN GARDNER
AILSA READ
ALAN PERGUSEY
ALISON EDMONDS
ANDREA THOMA
ANDY BLACK
ANDY CAHILL
ANOOP MISTRY
ANTHONY HOUSMAN
ASHLEY REAKS
BETH WAITE
CHRIS EASTHAM
CLARE BOOKER
CLARE PHELAN
DAVID AP THOMAS
EDD M JONES
ELPIDA HADZI-VASILEVA
HOWARD EAGLESTONE
IAN BURDALL
JAMES MELLOR
JAMIE STEWARD
JOHN GAMBLE
JULIE CROSS
KATE BLACK
LIZ TOLAN
LOUISE VENTRIS
LUCY STEVENS
LYDIA RAIN
MARIE MURPHY
PAUL DIGBY
REBECCA O’HOOLEY
SEAN WILLIAMS
SEEUN KIM
SHIZA SYEDA
SIMON FITZGERALD
STUART RUSHWORTH
ADAM JOSEPH
B. 1988 BRIGHTON, UK
Adam Joseph is an early career contemporary artist who is currently based in West London. He is focussing on figurative scenes of everyday life via printmaking & oil painting.
The contrast of light & dark is present in all his work simply because he likes the look but also what light & dark can mean. Self-taught he has been drawing his whole life from the forms from the imagination and reality.
www. adamjoseph.crevado.com @art_adam_joseph
Brighton Seafront (2024) Oil on Wood Board
40x51cm
£300 (framed)
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
ADRIAN GARDNER
B. 1973 DURHAM, UK
Adrian Gardner’s paintings explore how we experience and make sense of the world, contrasting between the modern and mythological beliefs regenerated in the now. Ancient Greeks believed the soul travelled along the river Acheron to the underworld, and in many of his works he imagines this journey. The fragility of nature, surface beauty, tragedy lurking not far beneath
His work often references nature, off grid, from a perspective of memento mori, celebrate, enjoy and protect what we have inherited before it is gone. This feeling of impending doom permeates the work, although colourful and pretty at face value, it suggests a transition to an uncertain realm or future.
www.agpainter.com @here_is_ag
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
Guardian angel (2022)
Oil on panel
90cm x 90cm
£1,400 (unframed)
Pink mountain V (2020)
Oil on linen
30cm x 30cm
£300 (unframed)
You will find my heart at the bottom of Black River (2021)
Oil on linen
71cm x 91cm
£1,500 (unframed)
AILSA READ
B. 1955 LEEDS, UK
Ailsa Read is a contemporary seascape artist and a Leeds Arts University graduate with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art and a practice-based Ph.D. from the University of Huddersfield. She lives and works in Yorkshire. Her paintings are somewhere between contemporary and traditional, based on detailed observation in trying to convey the spirit of the sea and the ever-changing moods of the tides.
She paints in oils or mixed media and her work has been accepted and exhibited in many galleries including the International Art Fairs in Battersea, Hampstead, and Edinburgh.
www.ailsaread.co.uk
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
No Shelter (2024)
Acrylic and mixed media on canvas
70 x 70 cm
£400 (framed)
The Storm has Passed’ (2024)
Acrylic and mixed media on canvas
70 x 70 cm
£400 (framed)
ALAN PERGUSEY
B. 1964 EASTBORNE, UK
Alan Pergusey brings his experiences from life into his paintings. He presents imaginative versions of the people he knows and the places he’s been. Using these experiences as a starting point he works on a painting adding and subtracting elements and colours until a satisfactory outcome is achieved.
www.alanpergusey.com @alanpergy
Lookout (2022)
Oil on canvas
95cm x 70cm
£1,400 (framed)
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
ALISON EDMONDS
B. 1959 MANCHESTER, UK
Alison Edmonds studied Fine Art at Sheffield gaining a First Degree and now works in a studio ar Bates Mill located near Huddersfield Town centre.
She paints mainly in oil and her work is an investigation into the passage of time, memory and the markers that punctuate our journey as we attempt to navigate our way through life. Alison has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions and her work is part of private collections both in the UK and abroad.
www.alisonedmonds.com @alisonedmondsart
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
Herd (2024 ) Oil on canvas
50 x 50cms
£1,200 (framed)
ANDREA THOMA
Andrea Thoma is an artist and researcher who is concerned with place and nomadic dwelling in a contemporary art context. Her practice is concerned with durational multiplicity and image perception in painting, photography and audio-visual installations.
She is interested in the physicality of painting in relation to ideas of movement, colour and space. She sees painting as dynamic process where the inertia of matter is ‘set in motion’ by the physical effort of moving paint across the canvas, where formlessness is ‘given direction’. This might involve colour bands/lines as horizontal, linear vectors or in more recent works as a folding of colour space through curves and interwoven lines. Her abstract(ed) paintings are often developed as diptychs or triptychs to allow for complex colour constellations expanding into actual, architectural space. This has led to an on-going body of work, her ‘Lines of Light’ series including the series ‘White Lines’ and the more recent series ‘Folded Colour’.
www. andreathoma.com @thoma.andrea.kunst
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
Colour folds/ black, white, green and lilac, (2023) Oil on canvas
Diptych, 2 x 50 x 60cm
£730
ANDY BLACK
B. 1975 BANGOR, WALES
Andy Black is an artist whose work involves constructing drawings and paintings using an index of forms. He makes works on paper in the main but more recently has used these forms to make paintings and large scale wall drawings.
Andy studied at the Cardiff School of Art (1995-98) and at the Royal College of Art (2000-02). Andy lives in Malton, North Yorkshire and teaches at Leeds Arts University.
www.andyblackart.com @andyblackart
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
131 (2022)
Acrylic and Charcoal on Ply
7cm x 11cm
£120 (unframed)
191 (2022)
Acrylic and Charcoal on Ply
7cm x 11cm
£120 (unframed)
145 (2022)
Acrylic and Charcoal on Ply
7cm x 11cm
£120 (unframed)
202 (2022)
Acrylic and Charcoal on Ply
7cm x 11cm
£120 (unframed)
ANDY CAHILL
B. 1951 WAKEFIELD, UK
Andy Cahill is a former Biomedical Scientist in Haematology turned painter. His work is inspired by the natural world and an interest in living things. His paintings are mixed media, waterolour, pen and print making.
The subjects portrayed in his works don’t exist in nature, they are abstractions of how he sees them. He makes paintings using his instincts and empathy with the subject and the paint medium.
@andycahill5317
Olive Branch (2023)
Watercolour on paper
38cm x 56cm
£500 (framed)
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
ANOOP MISTRY
B. 1984 NAIROBI, KENYA
Anoop Mistry explores the properties of paint, resin, solvents, inks and pigments. The media in part makes the subject as well as the substance of his work.
He draws influences from the natural sciences, the cosmos and nature. This includes desire lines and the curves of organic forms which he combines with microscopic and macroscopic views of the world.
He thrives in manipulating the physical properties of paint to create tension between chaos and order. His intent is to liberate the paint from the brush and to make the pigment dance within the medium in which abstraction is the language.
@mistry_art
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
Mixed media on canvas
54.5cm x 54.5cm
£600 (framed)
Cataclysm (2022)
ANTHONY HOUSMAN
B. 1977 GRIMSBY, UK
Anthony Housman is an artist whose approach can be described as phenomenological, whereby process and the relationship between intention and incidence are his primary lines of inquiry.
His multi-scale paintings play host to a lexicon of shapes, marks and colours, that recede and amplify, in the pursuit of a charged and active abstract language.
www.anthonyhousman.com @anthonyhousman77
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
Drypool (2024)
Oil on stretched canvas
25.5cm x 20.5cm
£450 (unframed)
Composition (March IV) (2023)
Oil and collage on canvas
80cm x 30cm
£750 (unframed)
ASHLEY REAKS
B. 1966 HARROGATE, UK
Ashley Reaks is a collagist and musician from Harrogate. Inspired by the DIY ethos of punk, he began compulsively creating as an expression of the traumas he experienced in childhood. There’s a playful bleak humour in his work as well as anxieties and darkness.
He’s exhibited at Sotheby’s in London, Berlin, NYC, Detroit and Valencia. He has collectors from the punk era, including members of The Mekons, Magazine, Southern Death Cult, The Dickies, Captain Beefheart, and his art is on posters, books, magazines, records and the cover of the Big Issue, who said he was a ‘Hieronymous Bosch for the Thatcher generation.’
www.linktr.ee/ashleyreaks @ashleyreaks
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
30.5 cm x 25.4 cm
£250 (framed)
Happily Married Couple (2024)
Collage on black card
BETH WAITE
B. 1999 COUNTY DURHAM, UK
Beth Waite is an interdisciplinary artist based in Leeds, working primarily in sculpture, film and performance. Her work centres around a personal and shared experience of the feminine, its histories and its mysticism, facilitating a connection between the physical and spiritual through feminist structures, ritual and world-building.
Her work does not exist in complete reality nor fantasy, but the in-between which she sees as the home of the feminine soul.
She graduated with a BA Hons in Fine Art from University of Leeds in 2021. Selected exhibitions include New Contemporaries 2021, the Ingram Prize 2022 and Leeds Artists Show 2023.
www.bethwaiteart.co.uk @beth_waite_
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
Dancing for the Devil Woman (2023)
Pyrography on plywood
30 x 30 cm
£500 (mounted and unframed)
Willendorf-Devil Hybrid (2020)
Pyrography on plywood
30 x 30cm
£500 (mounted and unframed)
A Warm Offering (2021)
Photographic print
82 x 66cm
£200 (framed)
CHRIS EASTHAM
B. 1958 LEEDS, UK
Chris Eastham is an artist who trained at Leeds College of Art before embarking on a Fine Art degree at Nottingham Trent. She works across a range of media including, painting, printmaking and digital. The figure is central to her work.
Most recently she has been using archive photography as a starting point for a series of paintings based around Leeds landmarks such as the Corn Exchange, Queens Hotel and Roundhay Park lido. She strives to find a connection and a sense of place with people from the past that can inform the present.
www.chrisieastham.co.uk @chrisieastham
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
Majestic (2024) Oil on canvas
100 x 100cm
£1,750 (framed)
One pad, no gloves (2024) Oil on canvas
32 x 32cm
£450 (framed)
CLARE BOOKER
Clare Booker is an Artist and Human Geographer. Her work explores the relationship between people and place using a combination of collage and painting processes.
Clare has a BA (Hons) Fine Art and a Masters in Creative Technology. More recently she has completed a practice led PhD, studying at Royal Holloway, in the department of Human Geography. Her PhD project combined art and geographical methods as a way to study and re-imagine airport space.
Clare has exhibited and presented her art and research nationally and internationally. Alongside her art practice Clare is currently teaching Art and Design at Leeds City College.
www.clarebooker.com @clarebookerartist
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
This Compact Apartment (2024) Oil on wood panel
30 x 30cm
£550 (unframed)
CLARE PHELAN
B. 1961 LEICESTER, UK
Clare Phelan is a visual artist using print and installation to explore the multiple dimensions of the print matrix. She has developed an interest in collecting and reworking mass produced redundant artefacts. In recent work Clare has extended her interest in nineteenth and twentieth century coding technology ephemera to include relics associated with morse code. These carriers of history are woven into new forms through installation, photography and printmaking.
clarephelan.com @clarephelanprintmaker
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
Fál i (2024)
Photo-Etching
28 x 36cm
£160 (framed)
Fál ii (2024)
Photo-Etching
36 x 28cm
£160 (framed)
DAVID AP THOMAS
B. 1953 PERRIVALE, UK
David AP Thomas paints what is in front of him. He would like to think that his study of inconsequential objects produce paintings of strange monumentality & formal pleasure. Sometimes it’s about taking the ungraspable flood of the sensation of being alive & rendering it in paint. Sometimes it’s just painting pictures. www.junctionworkshop.co.uk
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
61 x 61cm
Paper Cloud (2022-24)
Oil on panel
£800 (framed)
EDD M JONES
B. 1980 PEMBURY, UK
Edd Jones is an artists who enjoys working with oil pastels that he blends with linseed oil, charcoal or acrylics.
Growing up with Cerebral Palsy that affected his fine motor control, Edd was always told he wasn’t good at art. At school everything turned out a bit messy as he rushed to complete work during the alloted class time. Fast forward 20+ years and he has gone on to become an artist with a style that is bold, naïve and expressionistic with touches of abstraction.
Since 2022 he has been developing his skills through classes with Feral Art School in Hull. These classes have allowed him to explore different mediums and approaches. He is currently part of their fellowship programme. He loves the mindfulness of the creative process and learning a new skill.
www.eddmjones.art
@edd.m.jones.art
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
The Gathering Storm (2023)
Acrylic on watercolour paper
20 x 30cm
£125 (framed)
Watching the fishing boat leave at night (2023)
Acrylic on wooden panel
45 x 55cm
£250 (unframed)
ELPIDA HADZI-VASILEVA
B.1971 KAVADARCI, NORTH MACEDONIA
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva is a contemporary visual artist working across varied media of sculpture, installation and architectural interventions. Interested in the areas of life that people find it hard to talk about – death, disease, and religion to name recent examples.
Hadzi-Vasileva’s choice of materials range from the extraordinary to the ordinary and the ephemeral or discarded to the highly precious; they have included organic materials, foodstuffs and precious metals, such as caul fat to gold leaf.
Hadzi-Vasileva’s artworks are in public collections and private collections around the world.
www.elpidahv.art @elpidahadzivasileva
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
Maggot I (2013)
Drawings made with decomposing mushroom and maggots
60 x 85 x 3.5 cm
£1,950 (framed)
Maggot II (2013)
Drawings made with decomposing mushroom and maggots
60 x 85 x 3.5 cm
£1,950 (framed)
HOWARD EAGLESTONE
B. 1949 BARROW-IN-FURNESS, UK
Is an artist who has been drawn to painting from a very early age. He went on to do a BA (Hons) Fine Art at Leeds University 1971, became Head of Painting at Bradford College 1980 - 2012 and a Visiting Professor Universidad del Pais Vasco. Bilbao, Spain 2012 - 2018.
His paintings take on a meditative quality as he considers what it means to be alive at this moment in time. He references his immediate environment, found objects and aspects of art history.
@howardeaglestone1
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
Atomic (2023)
Oil on canvas
76 x 76cm
£1,500 (unframed)
Chrysalis (2023)
Oil on canvas
76 x 76cm
£1,500 (unframed)
IAN BURDALL
B. 1962 HARROGATE, UK
Ian Burdall can mainly be found painting on the Yorkshire coast. His subject matter are the industrial and fishing towns between the Humber and the Tees. He depicts the paths less trodden and attempts to capture the dignity and tenacity of the people that keep them alive against the odds.
@BurdallPainting
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
Whitby Boys with a Shark (2021) Oils
90 x 60cm
£950 (framed)
JAMES MELLOR
B.2000 SHEFFIELD, UK
James Mellor uses art to express process emotions and reduce anxiety and depression.
Canvas world where oil meets brush, An elegant Lurcher Whippet, hushed. No title spoken, yet a tale to tell, Of loyalty and love, where hearts swell.
With angel wings, in hues that glow, A smile expressed, a warmth to show. Background blue, a spiritual hue, Simple yet profound, in all it drew.
No adornments, for the star shines bright, In growth and green, bathed in pure light. A breeze whispers of life’s pure aura, Respect and love, a timeless allure.
This mystic beauty, a message clear, Never abandon, never cause fear. For in the eyes of this noble friend, Lies a bond that shall never end.
@iseeyoujamesmellor06
Untitled (2024)
Oil on canvas
29 x 42cm
NFS
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
JAMIE STEWARD
B. 1983 BRADFORD, UK
Jamie Steward is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Leeds. Initially known for his graffiti art, he has moved his practice to focus on mural painting and portraiture. Influenced by his graffiti roots, his work exudes a captivating blend of boldness and subtlety.
Employing a restrained palette and deliberate markmaking, Jamie’s art offers a glimpse beneath the surface, reflecting his belief in the importance of capturing depth in portraiture.
His portraits have a sensitivity achieved through not only the layers and brushwork, but also the composition of his sitters who have a presence that feels both assertive and at ease.
With a career spanning decades, Jamie continues to evolve his craft, infusing each piece with his unique perspective and unwavering passion for artistic expression.
www.cortisolkid.com @jamiestewardartist
Tired (2024)
Spray paint, acrylic, pencil and oil on board
21 x 29 cm
£350 (framed)
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
JOHN GAMBLE
B. 1963 LEEDS, UK
John Gamble works from his studio in Ilkley. His work is intuitive, responding to memory, soundscapes, and place. He allows himself the joyful freedom to erase, obliterate, remove and then to repair, whilst slowly shifting the paintings focus. The resultant paintings contain hints of story and narrative related to the human figure contained within imaginary spaces.
He is co-founder of Art School Ilkley which offers workshops for young artists and adults. He has a BA and MA and has studied with The Royal Drawing School.
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
Oil on board
30 x 23cm
£250 (unframed)
Oil on board
30 x 23cm
£250 (unframed)
Stream (2024)
Tide (2024)
JULIE CROSS
B. 1966 DONCASTER, UK
Julie trained at Newlyn School of Art, as well as at art colleges in Leeds. Her enigmatic figurative works focus on gesture and silhouette, informed by many years of drawing and painting from life. Usually painted on an abstract underpainting in oil or fluid acrylic, textural interest abounds in Julie’s work, making her paintings full of visual interest for the viewer close up, whilst the strong design makes them instantly ‘read’ across a room. Key themes include the role of fate and the interconnectedness of human beings over time.
Julie has won many awards for her work, including the Schmincke Award at the Mall Galleries earlier this year. She exhibits widely in the UK and the US, including with the Society of Women Artists and the Prestigious ING Discerning Eye Exhibition in London.
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
Mixed media with oil on panel
35 x 35cm
£350 (framed)
A Different Slant (2023)
KATE BLACK
B. 1981 WALSALL, UK
Kate Black creates imagery in response to objects and events. She takes inspiration from museum collections, antiques and British social history. Based in her studio in Malton, North Yorkshire, Kate works across several mediums including collage, printmaking and textiles.
Social history, artefacts and artworks found in museum and gallery collections act as a catalyst for ideas. A diverse range of influences play a part in her work, including British Folk Art, textiles and children’s drawings
Kate studied BA Fine Art at University of Wales, Cardiff and an MA Fine Art at University of Leeds. She has been selected for a number of group exhibitions including Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition and The Derwent Art Prize. Recent solo exhibitions include, Water Birds at Myriad, London, The Misfortunes of Women, North Yorkshire and Down on the Farm at The Shop Floor Project, Ulverston.
www.kateblackillustration.co.uk @kateblack16
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
Fantail Pigeon (2024)
Collage
60 x 40cm
£695 (framed)
LIZ TOLAN
B. 1948 BRADFORD, UK
Liz Tolan is a painter whose current work is often based on photographic images. These might be family snaps, vintage studio portraits, or streetview images. They will often have flaws, damage, distortion, or other strange aspects to them. Paintings attempt to convey something of the human subjects but also the way different types of photography captures them.
Liz is based in Bradford where she was born. She attended Bradford Regional College of Art and then Central School of Art and Design in the late 60s. She gained a degree in Fine Art at Bradford College in 2011.
@liztolan
Bobby (2024)
Household paint and oil on canvas
40 x 50cm
£110 (unframed)
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
LOUISE VENTIS
B. 1967 WIRRAL, UK
Louise Ventris draws inspiration in moments of “dead time” such as being stuck in traffic or caught in gridlock. She captures fleeting moments during these seemingly futile and stressful situations.
Louise uses the journey as a metaphor, with vehicles pushing through urban streets. The work reflects that sense of isolation and solitude that often accompanies these journeys, while also conveying the underlying stress and complexity of our relationship with time and acceleration society.
Louise works intuitively with oil paint, building up layers and selectively scraping back and refining the work. The paintings become a space of convergence and divergence sliding between realism and abstraction.
Louise has exhibited her work in various open and group exhibitions, including Society of Women Artist exhibition June 2024, Contemporary Six ‘Coalescence’, Mercer Open, Leeds Summer Show, and the Old Parcels Office in Scarborough. Her work was selected for the group show ‘Prized 2023’ She has recently become an associate member of the Manchester Academy of Fine Arts. In 2024 she had her first solo show at The Mercer in Harrogate.
www.louiseventris.art
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
With the rain (2022)
Oil on paper
33 x 33 cm
£400 (framed)
Palindrome (2023)
Acrylic on panel
32 x 32 cm
£450 (framed)
LUCY STEVENS
B. 1982 LEICESTER, UK
Lucy Stevens received an MA in Fine Art from Nottingham Trent University in 2007. Her body of work encompasses mixed media 2D works, sound walks and concerts.
She creates vibrant abstract portraits of avian subjects inspired by ornithology and colour theory. Her projects often include working in collaboration with experts in the natural world including bird watching groups, museum curators, ornithologists and bird conservation charities to develop a deeper understanding of her subject area.
Stevens explores our complex relationship with nature, by re-interpreting bird conservation case studies, natural science collections and visualising animal vocalisations through a range of techniques to develop a register of colour-coded mark making.
www.lucystevens.co.uk @lucyjostevens
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
Mixed media on panel
30.4 x 38cm
£325 (framed)
Mixed media on panel
30.4x38cm
£325 (framed)
Jay (Stacked Acorns) (2023)
Mallard (Bread Crusts) (2023)
LYDIA RAIN
B. 1955 LEEDS, UK
Lydia Rain was able to begin her art practice in January 2021. She is neurodiverse/queer, has a Psychology degree and an MA in Screenwriting, worked in mental health, youthwork and education, has written fiction, poetry and plays.
Participation in a Leeds 2023 project at Leeds Central Library enabled her to see herself as an artist. She now works from a studio in Northlight Arts Centre. Her main focus is painting but she also works in 3D.
She curates the legacy of Leeds artist Elaine Cooper. Lydia’s work has been shown in several group exhibitions.
@lydiarainart
Mileva Maric: a relatively unimportant figure (2024)
Mixed media on rice paper
31 x 38cm 26 x 34cm
£200 (framed)
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
MARIE MURPHY
B. 1979 CORK, IRELAND
Drawn to the urban landscape her work explores hidden and unnoticed spaces and buildings, as well as some famous modern landmarks. Her minimalist approach to form sees her abstracting shapes and shadows to bring into view harmonised urban scenes.
Through the use of layering she creates definition, while subtle shading adds a sense of ephemerality. These contrasting methods engage the viewer in the landscape that is both rooted in reality but open to interpretation.
Her paintings with their limited uses of flat blocks of colour, subtle shading and striking angles portray a sense of modern serenity. The viewer is compelled to look more closely at the sharp lines and the negative space in which they can navigate around and imagine their own version of reality.
www.mariemurphystudio.com @mariemurphystudio
Houses in the Woods No 4 (2023)
Acrylic on cotton board
30 x 30 cm (framed)
NFS
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
PAUL DIGBY
B. 1971 CLEETHORPES, UK
Paul Dibgy began his art career in 1997 after graduating from Norwich University of the Arts. After living in London he moved to Leeds in 1999, where he resides with his family, and earned his MFA from the University of Leeds in 2002.
His work, intersecting art and science, includes residencies in mental health hospitals and is archived in the Welcome Trust Collection. Paul has exhibited in prestigious venues including the Saatchi Gallery and Leeds City Gallery. The work on display is from a series of Leeds landscapes before and during the pandemic.
His recent focus is on figurative sculpture with a show in 2023 in Jimmy’s and a life size nurse sculpture been displayed in hospitals in 2024 and sited in 2025. He actively engages with the community and has contributed significantly to the Yorkshire art scene through his involvement at YVAN and the Northern Arts and Science Network.
www.pauldigby.co.uk @pj.digby
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
Harehills Lane (2017)
Pencil on papar
21 x 29.7cm
£500 (framed)
REBECCA O’HOOLEY
B. 1970 OTLEY, UK
Rebecca’s practice is concerned with human relationships, motherhood and caring for a disabled child. Her work is semi-auto biographical, layered with narratives, meanings and often the paintings are metaphors for her life before. Forests and woodland feature heavily in her work as a way of conveying ambiguity and introspection.
Although Rebecca’s work is personal to her, it is also not necessarily intentional for her story to be obvious or understood by the viewer, only hoping that someone may identify with one small element of the picture in some way.
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
@rebecca_ohooley
Overgrown (2023)
Oil on linen
54cm x 44cm
£550 (framed)
Other Mothers (2023) Oil on linen
44cm x 54.5cm
£500 (framed)
Unknown Stones (2023)
Oil on canvas
81 x 65cm
£750 (framed)
SEAN WILLIAMS
B. 1966 NORTH WALES
Sean Williams is an artist based at Bloc Studios in Sheffield. His paintings are of suburban fringes, places that feel familiar, but then escape our conditioned response. His painting ‘Our Bloody Hell’ sits in the Yale Collection of Contemporary British Painting.
Sean places the viewer as a ‘still point of a turning world’ - alone, momentarily, then watched as they look on. The scene switches between mundane - what is evident and what impacts on our environment, and how we barely see it - and suggesting something may be about to happen.
@swseanwilliams
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
Midwinter Farm Work (2022)
Acrylic on card
33 x 29cm
£600 (framed)
Standards of Living (2022)
Acrylic on card
41 x 31cm
£700 (framed)
A Storm That Passed Me By (2023)
Acrylic on card
40 x 31cm
£800 (framed)
SEEUN KIM
B.1992 SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
Seeun Kim is a UK-based South Korean metal craftswoman, visual artist and educator. From her perspective, she believes that the human hand is a gift from human evolution. Even though today there are several technologies, handicraft products have a high scarcity and sophisticated beauty compared to mass produced products. Furthermore, there is an inexpressible complexity in the handicraft world that a machine cannot imitate.
Seeun loves making things and believes in their value. Also, she pursues to keep the balance between the tradition and the modern in her work. As a result, she has completed various art history jewellery projects, that have combined her delicate metal skills with fascinating art histories beyond the Western and Eastern cultures.
Feathers
Acrylic on canvas with natural gemstones and synthetic gold leaf
45 x 55cm
£100
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
SHIZA SYEDA
B.1998 PAKISTAN
Shiza (b.1998, Pakistan) is an artist based in London. She transforms recycled polythene into contemplative pieces. Her work is a demonstration of sustainable creativity. She earned her bachelor’s in fine arts (with distinction) in 2022. She has earned her place in numerous group exhibition across United Kingdom, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Currently she is practicing in London, recently participated in exhibition ‘fraction’ at Fox-yard gallery, and wimbledon art fair 2024.
The artist’s practice has emerged through a series of experiments with discarded plastics. Her work represents a merger of internal and external realities. She discovered similarities between the ways inanimate materials hold traces of emotions and the ways these emotions manifest in the human body. Just as polythene damages and accumulates on land, in the ocean, and within our bodies, psychological rubble accumulates in one’s body and mind. She is captivated by the influence of the unseen within us—what is hidden and carried inside, knowingly or unknowingly, and the emotions and experiences that layer up, affecting our present psychological state. Through her work, she attempts to map these interior layers, assembling the emotions experienced at different life stages into a cohesive picture.
@syedashiza_
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
Anxious Maze (2024)
Recycled plastic bags on paper
73 x 53cm
£380 (framed)
Merging (2024)
Polythene hot-pressed on paper
53cm x53cm
£320 (framed)
Blue Veined (2024)
Recycled plastic hot pressed on paper
44 x 61 cm
£350 (framed)
SIMON FITZGERALD
B. 1980 NOTTINGHAM, UK
Simon FitzGerald is an abstract artist based in Leeds. Having previously worked on large-scale abstract pieces and also hyper-real modernist collages Simon is currently creating a series of acrylic free-flowing abstact formations. These pieces manipulate pure geometrical shapes with inverse shadow play and hard edge techniques to create images that are as compelling as they are illusionary.
@the.line.of.sight
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
T-12 (2024)
Acrylic on board
30cm x 30cm (framed)
£275
T-19 (2024)
Acrylic on board
30cm x 30cm (framed)
£275
STUART RUSHWORTH
B.1961 MIRFIELD, UK
Stuart Rushworth is an autistic fine art landscape painter whose work often explores memory, influenced by his background as a bursary poet. He received ‘The New Beginnings Award’ from Yorkshire Arts in 1993 for his poetry.
After graduating with a BA in Fine Art and an MA in Visual Arts from Bradford School of Art, he was awarded ‘The Joan Day Painting Bursary’ in 2014. For the past twentythree years, he has collaborated with deaf photographer and artist Nats Riggan.
@stuartvernonrushworth
For enquiries please contact the curator via www.courtspencer.com
76
£375
Bus Journeys Back And Forth Between Bailiffe Bridge And Huddersfield (2023)
Acrylic on stretched canvas
x 46cm
(unframed)