Ironbridge Fine Arts Winter Exhibition 2020

Ironbridge Fine Arts are very excited about the launch of our Winter exhibition. Unfortunately this year due to Covid 19 restrictions we are not having our annual Christmas exhibition open evening but we are open to the general public (as per the Governments’ tier system). The exhibition will run until 28th February and our normal opening times are Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm and Sat 10am-3pm.

Our Winter exhibition will be a collaboration of newly invited artists to our gallery, alongside some of our long-standing core artists. This exhibition is a celebration of the incredible local and international Artists featuring a plethora of Etchings, Linos, Canontypes, drawings, ceramics, Glassware, and jewellery.

New to the gallery are Full Circle; an artistic collaboration between Emma Bowater and James Millichamp.

‘We have always shared a fascination for the built environment, and particularly urban decay and dereliction. Over the past two years we have been working together to exploit this theme through various processes, cross-pollinating and stimulating each other’s practice. We endeavor to capture the atmosphere of a space or object, alluding to the history lost through the process of decay. A disused building can act as a symbol for the contemporaneous nature of man’s achievements, or as a metaphor for emotional abandonment. Through the works, we seek to document the vacant and transient environments of architecture, spaces and things. Empty spaces, devoid of human life, freeze and reaffirm human existence. Detailing remaining relics of human presence, the images emphasise a sense of isolation and abandonment; echoing the emotional anxiety of absence.’

Emma has exhibited in group shows in Aberystwyth, London, Birmingham and Wolverhampton Art Gallery. Based on her own artistic and teaching practice, Emma wrote a research paper on the educational applications of the process of cyanotype for the Merchant Taylors’ Company and continues to explore its properties as a means of photographic recording. She holds a first-class honours degree in Fine Art. Emma is Head of Art at Wolverhampton Grammar School, where she runs her own exhibition programme at The Viner Gallery.

James is an artist and educator, working from his own studio in Shropshire. He grew up and studied in Wolverhampton and achieved an MA in Fine Art. He has exhibited across the region and nationally and recently completed a residency at the School of Art, University of Wolverhampton. James curates and has organised many exhibitions around the West Midlands and beyond. He is Head of Art at Shrewsbury High School.

As well as exhibiting, Emma and James run workshops and lectures on a variety of specialisms and also offer courses for art teachers.

Returning to the Gallery

We are pleased to announce the return of Liz Sommerville to Ironbridge Fine Arts Gallery. Her beautiful hand-embellished Lino Prints once again fill our Gallery with incredible detail and colour.

‘There’s always a story to the scene, the intention is for the viewer to enter and find it. This appeals to my deep-seated enjoyment of all the illustrated stories I read at as a child. I’m also drawn to the lie and flow of the land,

unexpected colour, traces of past use (modern or ancient), texture and form:  the melding of print and paint gives a fluid quality to the image, as opposed to the sometimes static nature of a conventional print.’

Liz graduated from Winchester School of Art in 1988 with a degree in textile design and spent sixteen years working as a designer in London, before moving to Dorset and becoming a full-time artist. Her work has been exhibited widely in galleries and exhibitions within the UK, including The Royal West of EnglandAcademy in Bristol and the Russell-Cotes Museum in Bournemouth.

Ironbridge Fine Arts Gallery owner and specialist printmaking Jenny Gunning will be displaying her brand new body of Intaglio Etchings and Lino Prints. Jenny is a passionate printmaker, forever challenging traditional methods to push the boundaries to create work with an incredible depth of tone as well as boundless passion.

Internationally recognised and highly collected Artist, Dave Gunning will be displaying his latest collection of Graphite on paper original works from his travels around the globe, including some of his signature monuments.

We will have a rich plethora of work on display from our longstanding core Artists including Liz Gunning’s beautiful range of Earthenware and Raku Pottery, Aquatints by Diana Wayne, Pottery by Paul Gooderham and new collections of Fused glasswork by Janice Locker, Greg Anston Race, Geraldine McGlouchlin. There is an incredible display of Sterling Silver Jewellery by Liz Simmons and Jo Mollart-Highfield. Last but by no means least, Anna Pearson continues to produce incredible Tarraiums which can be found throughout the Gallery not only on plinths but handing from the beams!

With such a huge array of local and international Artists, we truly have something to suit all tastes and budgets.

For more information please contact us on 01952434033 www.ironbridgefinearts.co.uk