Gallery News

Hello all of you lovely art lovers and a very happy Summer to you all! 

It has been some time since our last update with good reason, much has been happening in these recent times, both exciting and sadly tragic. Firstly, let’s catch you up on the more pleasant events of late, that being our rather popular exhibit by ‘Louise Prior. This was our first guest artist to fill out our exhibition room (the garage gallery) and her first exhibition, we here at the Gallery couldn’t have asked for a better artist to kick off this shared adventure of ours with the local artistic community. If you sadly missed this lovely exhibit then fret not! A good number of the paintings will soon be available for viewing on our website and whilst they won’t be available for purchase through us, we highly recommend that you contact the artist to enquire if a print or the original painting can be purchased directly loupriorart@gmail.com. We are excited to see the new paintings Louise makes in the future and if you are too, you can follow her works at Lou Prior Art Facebook. Following Louise’s exhibition is our new exhibit by Gina Marshall and Jeneta Bird, two seasoned artists from the Southwest, showing a mixture of fine detailed and enthusiastically cheerful landscapes featuring the Dorset coast and surrounding landscape. This exhibit is one that you simply can not miss if you are a fan of seascapes or find tranquility and nostalgia for those lovely Summer trips to the beach. All paintings, prints and some limited edition cards will be available at the gallery until the 17th August and on our website for the foreseeable future.

Now it’s time for the update I’ve been dreading. It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you all that core member of the Gallery family, sculptor and website manager Mark Ricketts has passed away at the age of 59 on the Summer Solstice after a sudden battle with cancer. He was a kind and passionately creative man who strived to make the Gallery the best it could possibly be. Going forward we will be dedicating the planned sculpture garden in his memory, filling it with some of his personal projects that never quite had the chance to be completed and officially naming the garden the Mark Ricketts Sculpture Garden. He will be sorely missed. In addition, our resident artist Bridget Penn-Berkeley has recently suffered serious illness and whilst she is keeping in high spirits given the situation she is on the path to recovery, we must inform you that for this reason we have had to pull out of our planned Art Experience Sessions during the Quayside Festival and must postpone our Art Experience Sessions for the season. We ask and thank you for your patience and understanding during these difficult times. If you wish to make a donation to the Sculpture fund, the gallery has set up an account to help fund the costs for constructing Mark’s virtual projects into sculptures for the garden we are planning a go fund me page – please look out for the details – which will be posted on the website soon. 

If you would like to make a donation, the account sort code is 09 00 00, account no. 00050005, role/ref X15048198PEN, which must be quoted. Many thanks.

---

Another month has just rushed by here at the gallery as we celebrated Valentine’s, toasted to the Chinese New Year and weathered the recent triptych of storms! Whilst we haven’t come out of it unscathed, our trusty builders helped patch us up in no time! The weather most certainly isn’t the only excitement we’ve had this month, quite the contrary! We have had a great number of events and firsts happen this month from our new signs and heart felt Valentine’s display (so lovingly added to by local artist Nicky Farrell’s adorable glass hearts (look forward to seeing more of her work in the future!)), to our terrific tiger display for Chinese New Year and the excitement of being welcomed into the Bridgwater Cultural Partnership!

Fresh stock is always arriving at the gallery, ready and waiting for their new home. Among these are some new creations by our terrific wood turner Gerry, a duo of miniature solar powered lighthouses and a pair of bird feeders ready to hold a feast for your avian friends. This lovely gent is welcoming to commissions, so do check his other work out at The Wood Twiller on Facebook and let him know we sent you! Accompanying Gerry’s work is some newly arrived fused glass pieces from our local glass artist and good friend to the gallery Sheila, if you’re looking for some pretty and unique coasters or something eye-catching that glistens in the Sun, then look no further! Can’t find exactly quite what you’re searching for? Then let us know and we’ll place an order just for you! Now of course what kind of a gallery would we be without some paintings or sculptures? A boring one – that’s what! Now I won’t spoil the surprise of getting to see these new arrivals first hand for yourselves but a teaser never hurts, amongst our arrivals are; a plethora of works from local artists, beautiful landscapes of both rural and urban locales, numerous mushrooms for all of you who find them to be real fun guys and a metallic maiden who just can’t wait to be shown off to fellow bikers. As an extra treat we have a few creations by the talented painter Tony Machin recently arrived here on the levels, to whet your appetite for his upcoming exhibition in the garage gallery this August!

That’s all from us here at the gallery, you folks take care and we eagerly await your next visit!