We’ve extended this exhibition ‘Looking For The Light’ until Saturday 15th April.
We hope you can come along and view the fabulous exhibition and new work from Pascale.
Pascale writes about her latest exhibition here…
“I am always looking for the light. Not necessarily in its obvious form but more as an abstract, hidden meaning; the leaves of a bush lit by the streetlights, shining golden against the dark night sky. Shells and stones which gleam on the dark slate seashore or the berries which glow like little embers across the grey landscape and the river flowers swaying gently with their delicate colour hues against the river’s edge.
“It’s those tiny lights that touch me and I try to hold and capture them in my paintings in a spontaneous way. My work is an expression of my feelings of what I see and feel at that moment in time and being connected with my surrounding wholeheartedly. They are there, the small lights, no matter how dark and dull a day might appear.
“When we look and feel, we become connected and see those small lights right in front of us. Those lights are magic; I paint them and take them with me.”
Pascale Rentsch RSW, February 2023
Exhibition
10 September - 8 October 2022
Rob Moore
Elements
Come and meet the artist, Rob Moore, at the opening to this exhibition between 12-2pm on Saturday 10th September.
Rob Moore is a Yorkshire-based painter and printmaker with a long career but whose vision remains fresh and unique through his fiercely independent approach to creativity and a need to continually challenge himself and the viewer in terms of intention and content.
One of our first gallery artists at Watermark, he walked in and made work from a love of rural surroundings in numerous sketchbook drawings. He then developed paintings and print in studio-based pieces that echoed his journeys, observations, feelings and histories. Recently Rob has introduced more architectural forms into his paintings and some of these echo his previous understated concerns about the effect of global warming on our landscape and lives.
Rob’s work can be enjoyed for its colour, craft, and often beauty. Quirky structures, altered perspectives, distortions of scale and hints of things not quite as they seem can also be deduced and be subtly suggestive of hidden meanings. The resulting images are intriguing and allow viewers to interpret the work in their own way with Rob lifting a finger and pointing rather than directing a specific response.
“I find it tricky to describe what I make in a simple sentence because the work is accumulative in that it includes many personal thoughts and facets, most of which can only be expressed visually.”
Rob Moore
Exhibition
14 October - 12 November 2022
Andrew Farmer
North Landing
Andrew Farmer is an elected member of The Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI). He lives with his family in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. “For this exhibition I’ve spent the last six months exploring the Yorkshire Coast. I was keen to revisit some of the places I remembered as a child, as well as to explore more isolated locations along the Cleveland Way. I love the beauty and visual range offered by this area.
My painting journey started at North Landing, Flamborough, a hidden gem which boasts striking white cliffs and emerald-green water. As I moved North, often on the edge if the costal path on my bike, I stopped to take in different scenes; sailing boats out at sea, hidden coves and children playing on the beach. My aim is always to capture the characteristics of a place at a particular point in time.
Many of the paintings you see here were created over two to three separate sessions, returning to the same spot under similar weather and lighting conditions. This allows me to dig deeper and build up richer layers of colour and texture in an honest and natural way.
My final painting location was Staithes, the furthest north I ventured and one of my favorites. I love the view over the beck towards the sea from the high vantage point. It’s a great feeling to be continuing the tradition of plein air painting in this region.
When I returned to my studio after each trip, I continued to work on a select few pieces, taking an initial oil sketch made outdoors and transforming it into a much larger and more imagined piece. I also made use of a small number of rare pencil drawings and reference photographs.”
Andrew Farmer ROI
Art & Modern British
Terry Frost
Sir Terence Ernest Manitou Frost RA (13 October 1915 – 1 September 2003) was a British abstract artist, who worked in Newlyn, Cornwall. Frost was renowned for his use of the Cornish light, colour and shape to start a new art movement in England. He became a leading exponent of abstract art and a recognised figure of the British art establishment.
Exhibition
27 May - 25 June 2022
Louise Davies
From City to Sea
Private View: 26th May 2022 6:00 pm
Please RSVP for this event
RSVP‘This exhibition brings together recent oil paintings and prints reflecting my love of both urban and rural settings and my journeys between these two different landscapes.
I studied Painting at Central St Martins followed by an MA in Printmaking at Camberwell College of Art. I am a fellow of the prestigious Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers and regularly exhibit at their home at Bankside Gallery in London.
I spent my childhood living in Bath and the villages around it and then by the sea in Devon. I came up to London when I was 18 and have stayed ever since. However, I still have a yearning for the countryside with its peacefulness and natural beauty. In this show I wanted to bring together my love of both city and countryside and the impulse to respond intuitively to it through paint or print. I feel the paintings and the prints all connect with the strong use of vibrant colour and the language of my individual mark making.
Enjoy the journey!’
Louise Davies RE, May 2022
Art & Contemporary Art
Babs Pease
Babs Pease is an artist and printmaker who specialises in the relief print method, hand carving and hand printing linoleum to create intricate limited edition prints. Working from her studio in a converted farm building on a small farm in Perthshire, Babs is surrounded by beautiful flora and fauna in the surrounding countryside. Most of her print ideas start out as sketches taken on long walks in the surrounding areas.
Babs Pease exhibited in our NEST 2022 exhibition which included a variety of artists using birds as their inspiration and subject matter.
Our NEST exhibition is celebrating birdlife and the arrival of Spring, with an exciting and vibrant show bringing together eight talented artists, renowned for their studies of the avian world.
Richard Allen SWLA, Brian Dawson, Kittie Jones, Emerson Mayes, Andrew Morris, Babs Pease, Jennifer Tetlow and Darren Woodhead SWLA, are contributing to the multi-media exhibition which includes paintings in watercolour, acrylic and oil, printmaking, stone and wood carving.
Each artists’ style is imbued with a combination of close observation of the natural world and an individual, imaginative approach to composition and use of materials. The combined collection of works reinforces the majesty and wonder of our feathered neighbours as we welcome in the long-awaited Spring.
“Why do you try to understand art? Do you try to understand the song of a bird?” Pablo Picasso
Preview Evening
Come and join us on Thursday 7th April, 6-8pm for an opportunity to see the exhibition before the opening. Please RSVP to harrogate@watermarkgallery.co.uk
Exhibition
4 March - 2 April 2022
Pascale Rentsch & Michele Bianco
Off The Beaten Track
The theme of this exhibition celebrates new work created by two artists: Yorkshire ceramicist Michele Bianco and Scottish-based Swiss painter, Pascale Rentsch. Both are inspired by getting out into hidden areas of the countryside and observing the landscape around them.
From time spent on long-distance walks and the coastal paths of North Yorkshire and Northumberland to the Western Isles and Scottish Lochs, both artists draw on the effect of the elements on those environments to seek out compositions and shapes to inform their work.
Bianco’s hand carved, ripple vessels in their distinctive cobalt-blue glazes reflect the result of centuries of erosion by water and wind on rock. Rentsch, whose works are created en plein air, capture the immediacy of changing weather and light through the seasons, often working in challenging conditions.
This exhibition runs from 4th March – 2nd April inclusive. Artworks can be seen on this website or in our Harrogate gallery.
Private View: 28th January 2022 6:00 pm
21 Artists | Over 60 new works | All under £500
We’re launching our 2022 season with an inaugural Small Painting Show, which opens on Friday 28th January.
This exhibition features 21 artists from around the UK, all of whom have created new, original work exclusively for Watermark Gallery. There is no set theme but all work had to be an original painting, less than 40 x 40cm, unframed and under £500 to buy.
As well as including work by our well known artists who usually paint in a larger format, such as Jill Campbell and Pascale Rentsch, we are delighted to include paintings by several of our popular printmakers, such as Jason Hicklin RE and Jane Walker.
We hope you’ll enjoy this fantastic opportunity to acquire a unique painting by a new or favourite artist at a genuinely affordable price.
Our preview night for this exhibition takes place on Friday 28th January at 6-8pm. If you would like to come along please just let us know by sending an RSVP to harrogate@watermarkgallery.co.uk. We look forward to seeing you there!
