John Rank Gallery
Borderlands Artists
The Borderlands Artists are a long-established group of professional contemporary artists who live on the borders of Surrey, Hampshire, and Sussex. The members include painters, printers, sculptors, ceramists, and photographers. They exhibit individually and collectively throughout the south of England. In addition, they meet regularly to draw, critique, and support each other.
This exhibition will showcase each artist’s work and is an eclectic mixture of large and small works from large vibrant abstracts to smaller floral watercolours, large theatrical and miniature still life oil paintings, contemplative acrylics, collage and print, textile wall hangings, assemblages made with found objects and ceramic pots.
Artist Statements
Penny Baker-Remnant BA(Hons) LRPS
I have always collected things that fascinate me. Found objects appear everywhere, found treasures! These can be old, broken, man-made or nature made, they all have different kinds of beauty. The first challenge is to see how they work together, be attached to a backing and then displayed. With my textile background tying, knotting and stitching play a big part, as there are often awkward shapes involved and a line of thread brings another element. The biggest challenge is to turn items of detritus into objects of desire and attraction.
Maureen Banfield Hamlin
I am painter and print maker who works in a range of media.
I am inspired when I look out on my garden at night. The effect of reduced light is much more than simply to reduce brightness. The nature of colour and shape change as our perception alters to accommodate the gloom.
I have long found inspiration also in Japanese horticulture. Some of the work in this exhibition is a reflection of my memories of visiting gardens in Kyoto.
I have had one-person shows in Chicago, and various venues in the UK. I have work in private collections worldwide.
Tessa Christie
‘I studied art in Farnham and at the Slade. My paintings are about ourselves, our effect on the landscape and the waste we leave behind.’
Kim Cody BA (Hons) ATD, Cert Ed.
Born and educated in the south of England, Kim has drawn and painted all her life. She was a teacher of art and design for thirty-five years before moving to Brittany in 2002 where she lived and worked for twelve years. Her paintings are purely abstract but are informed by studies made in the landscape. They are mainly acrylic with applied texture on paper or canvas. Borders and boundaries also play a part, both constraining or containing different areas of the compositions. Kim exhibits regularly in France and the UK, and her work is in collections worldwide.
Meg Harris Williams
Meg Harris Williams uses drawings of the moving figure, together with landscape sketches and photographs, as the basis for painting and printmaking. She has written and taught classes about life drawing as a therapeutic art (http://www.artlit.info/pdfs/LifeDrawing.pdf) and more generally, has published many books and papers in the fields of literature, psychoanalysis and aesthetic experience. Her work is in private collections in this country, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Scandinavia, the USA, Argentina, Brazil, and Australia, and in the New Hall Women’s Art Collection.
Jan Hunter
After art college in the 1960’s and then a career as a designer, I taught watercolour painting for many years, was a member of the Society of Women Artists and exhibited in major London exhibitions. Later a Fine Art Degree at UCA Farnham, resulted in a body of work in the discipline of photography. From there I returned to my first love of painting, using a medium that the subject suggested to me which has resulted mainly in the use of oil or acrylic. This gives me the opportunity to develop the depth to my work that I was looking for. With these paintings I explore the feeling of peace that is often so hard to find in my day.
Ronnie Ireland DA BA(Hons)
My work implies a narrative around how our identities change in different situations. The images arise out of the work process so are never fully pre-determined, allowing time, the nature of the medium and the vagaries of life to contribute the final work. Finally, the viewer determines their meaning and that completes the image.
www.ronnieirelandart.com
Rosemary Miller PVPSWA
I have always loved colour, light and complex patterns of shape and texture and this echoed through my work. I work mainly in pure watercolour or oil and enjoy a wide range of subject matter. Although the body of my work is figurative, I like to explore and experiment with different styles and materials as I believe that this is the way to enhance and invigorate my work
My floral watercolours are a reaction to and a celebration of the joy that flowers bring to our lives and that they continue to move, live and change even when cut.
Graham Mollart
A beach brings me news of the world, its storms, its creatures, and human debris. I reflect and improvise on the whole planet.
Sally Northwood NDD, ATD, BA(Hons)
I taught Art in Trinidad, Tanzania Suffolk and Haslemere. I have exhibited widely, both here and overseas. My paintings have been hung at the RA Summer Exhibition and the National Print Exhibition.
I am an exploratory figurative artist. Draughtsmanship is my strength and I use it to capture the poetry in life. The quality of line is important to me.
Over the years I have painted many plant portraits in watercolour, often enjoying the secret world that can be discovered with a simple magnifying glass. I always work from life.
As a mature student at WSCAD, I drew twice life-size portraits. I used to make etchings in colour and do large paintings. Recently I am revisiting my interest in the world of plants.
Sue Ogilvy
Sue Ogilvy trained originally as a nutritionist and then later as a secondary school science teacher. She has lived and worked in many different countries including Sudan, Indonesia, Japan, Australia, and England. On retirement she was able to pursue her love of painting and gained a Fine Art degree from the University of Creative Arts in Farnham. Sue works in a variety of media including print, pencil, watercolour, acrylic and collage. She works part-time as an environmental field teacher at Chichester Harbour and runs art workshops for children and adults.
‘I am particularly interested in the forms, patterns and colours of the natural world. As a keen gardener, flowers often appear in my paintings. I like to use layers in different media so that a story can emerge. I paint or print paper which then is cut intricately and used as collage’.
@sueogilvyartist
sueogilvy@aol.com
Anna Shutt
Representation is not my main concern, but rather the undercurrent of emotions connected with the experience of shape, form, colour, and materials that convey the essence of subject in abstract form.
I work intuitively and respond to the innate qualities of materials and mediums by layering, excavating, and manipulating surfaces, searching for harmonious combinations of textures and forms that emphasise the process and physical presence of the work.
My involvement with printmaking has influenced many aspects of my approach to painting, especially in the making of various surfaces for painting plates and making stencils. Other experimental techniques have also narrowed the boundaries where the two disciplines seem almost indistinct.
www.annashutt.co.uk annashuttme@gmail.com
Keith Sturgess
My current paintings have as their inspiration the Prairie or New Wave Design for contemporary gardens. This theme is taken from nature using drifts of perennial plants and grasses utilizing repetition and linkage. The paintings have a low visual point and flat perspective, your eye is directed from the foreground into the painting by using linear and gestural marks, and aspects of abstraction.
Recently l have been Artist in Residence at Sussex Prairie Gardens, the largest Prairie Gardens in Britain. 8 acres of stunning drifts of perennial plants and grasses that create a rich tapestry of colour and texture. I studied at the London College of Printing and practised as a graphic designer, working in advertising and publishing. Enrolling as a mature student I graduated in 1994 from West Surrey College of Art and Design with a BA (Hons) degree in fine art.
Chris Sercombe
I studied fine art at Canterbury Christ Church University and graduated in 2003. I have also completed a Master’s degree in painting. Since then, I have exhibited regularly in local exhibitions and galleries, and have taken part in the Surrey Artists Open Studios. I paint small pictures in oils of still-lifes and landscapes. I like to work from familiar surroundings and everyday objects, usually from direct observation.
chrissercombe.com
chrissercombe@btinternet.com
Josie Townsend
My pots are simple sculptural forms decorated in a painterly fashion. I make marks intuitively, using slips, underglazes, and ceramic pencils. I hardly ever use traditional glazes as l want to achieve a matt finish. I mostly paint on raw clay, sometimes burnishing the surface, and or, scratching marks into the clay. I often use white clays or slips to form a background and contrast to black underglaze or black ceramic pencil and any added colour.