Wolds Village Summer Open Exhibition

Earlier this week I paid a visit to the Wolds Village Summer Open Exhibition in Bainton, near Driffield. I was very inspired by seeing all the works on display, and especially so at the works from the children at Pocklington School.

It was nice to see work from people I know in this area, too - and interestingly, two of my paintings were positioned next to Lorna Storey's and Rob Soar's! I managed to to take a few photographs to show you some of the work on display.

I don't recall whose paintings are the large ones in the photo above, but the brightly coloured one at the top on the right is one of Rob Soar's, then mine is just below it (We Will Remember Them) and below mine are two by June Hammond. I have met June a couple of times, I remember her doodle styled ink drawings from the Beverley Art Fair we both exhibited at in May 2009.

Pupils from Pocklington school, aged 13 & 14, were displaying works that they'd created using the starting point of African Masks. I particularly liked this area of the exhibition and thought that the children had all done an excellent job. Some of their creations were very reminiscent of my time spent in Africa, therefore I felt a connection to these pieces:

There was also a selection of paintings from younger children - I think also from Pocklington, although I may be wrong as last year's exhibition featured work from children at Warter Primary School. Whichever school they were from , I loved seeing their work. They had all written comments next to their pieces, some of which were priceless! One child had written "I like the art group because I like drawing" - that says it all, really, doesn't it? Another child had put a joke onto his written accompaniment which I really can't resist sharing. As all these children's works were related to the adult exhibition theme, coastal, the joke was along those lines, too. "Why did the sand cry? ............................Because the Sea weed" I did actually chuckle at that! Here are a few of their paintings:

The children's work was all in the smaller room at one end of the gallery, along with a few entries from adult artists, too, as can be seen in the next photograph:

Here you can see my work (Coastal Contemplation) sandwiched  between two of Lorna Storey's pieces - coincidentally, two of my favourite paintings of hers, which look even better in real life than on the computer monitor, as artwork always does in my opinion.

The painting above ours, of the penguins, is done by Frank Thompson, inacrylic. I haven't managed to find a web-site for him, so you will just have to enjoy this lone image for now! I think it is a lovely painting and I like the visual impact of his landscape shaped canvas against our much smaller ones beneath. In fact, I think the layout of the whole exhibition was really well done.

Another of my East Riding Artist colleagues whose work was in the exhibition was Debbie March. I have met Debbie several times at various fairs and exhibitions in the area - she makes some gorgeous jewellery as well as creating glass paintings, which are stunning. I'm afraid the photo in this instance really does not do her work justice. However, you can see more of her work here.

Debbie's glass paintings are hanging on the left of the photo, I don't remember who did the other pieces, although I have a feeling one of them may well be Sally Brealey who runs the Wolds Village Gallery.

My painting (Spurn Point Inspired) can be seen towards the left of this photo, above. Also on here I can see a painting done by one of my ERA colleagues, Steve Dove. Steve works very quickly in acrylic - I watched him complete a painting in a couple of hours one afternoon at an exhibition last year in Beverley, and photographed him at various stages of the process. I then created a slide-show of the process with suitable captions and gave it to him the next time I saw him. He has paintings in galleries across the East Riding of Yorkshire and is a very active exhibitor who also happens to be really good company. He usually exhibits with two other ERA artists, Penny de Corte and Selina Fennell. I like and respect both these artists and their work. Penny creates some lovely tactile ceramic pieces which she loves with a passion that just pours out of her whenever you speak to her. Selina is a very talented pet portrait painter, but she also creates really unusual "found object" style paintings, using many items she finds on the beach in Hornsea, where she lives.

You can see two more of Steve's paintings in this photo top and bottom in the corner position. The painting sandwiched between the two of Steve's was a very intricately painted acrylic painting which was very delicate and calming to look at. The artist was one I've not heard of before and I've even forgotten her name, I'm afraid!






Penny's ceramic work was on display throughout the gallery in various glass cases, also she had this lovely bowl on the table in the entrance area.

Here are Selina's driftwood styled creations:

You can see more of Selina's work on her personal website here.

The exhibition at Wolds Village lasts until 1st July and is open daily between 10am and 5pm. It's worth a trip to the gallery, but be warned - there's also a very fine restaurant/cafe on site, as well as a wonderful gift shop that you could spend a small fortune in! It's always busy, especially in the summer months and it has a great atmosphere, too. I am very happy to be part of such a varied exhibition.