B L O O M
25 May - 28 June 2024
From Whitweek and throughout June, The Sanctuary Studio and Gallery presents Bloom, an exhibition of painting and ceramics inspired by all things botanical. Incorporating the uplifting beauty of floral still life, as well as wildflower meadows and their attendant butterflies and birds, this exhibition showcases the lush beauty of England in June.
From the 25th May a selection of work from each of the artists will be available to view and purchase on our 'Works' page, click the button below to explore. If you would like more information, photos or video about a particular artists work, please do not hesitate to email or telephone us and we will be happy to help.
Rachel Redfern
Painter Rachel Redfern makes ethereal works based on sketches and memories of time spent in nature. From dreamy summers on the beaches in West Sussex and Cornwall, to a springtime spent restoring her own garden, which was originally created by the 19th century garden designer Gertrude Jekyll, Rachel’s works reflects her deep love of seasonal landscapes.
Mary Liddell
Painter Mary Liddell studied at the Chelsea School of Art and the Central School of Art in London. She works en plein air in the landscape and from first hand observation in her studio with flower arrangements and everyday objects. Colour is the primary focus in her dazzling floral still life works in both oil and watercolour.Mary studied at the Chelsea School of Art and Central School of Art in London in the 1980s under the tutelage of renowned visionary and surrealist painter Cecil Collins.Mary has exhibited widely in England and New Zealand, with solo shows in both Northern and Southern hemispheres, and has works in private collections in the UK, France, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and the USA. The last few years she has exhibited with the Bath Society of Artists at Victoria Art Gallery in Bath, as well as other commercial galleries in England and Scotland.
Sally Stafford
Sally trained in fine art at Stroud School of Art and has been a full time painter since 2004. Sally has exhibited extensively in galleries throughout the UK and has work held in both private and public collections both in the UK and Internationally
Sally uses a wide variety of media and enjoys the interaction between acrylics, spray paints, gold leaf and oil pastel.
Chance and accident are appreciated and included. Natural forms emerge and recede echoing the searching for a memory and the essence of a place and time.
Sally likes to work in series with the seasons, recognising and celebrating the effects of time. Her work is often more about a plant scape than a landscape accentuating the magic and symbolism of overlooked and forgotten spaces.
Irena Kurowska
Irena Kurowska’s floral paintings bring the reflective qualities of poetry and nature together on canvas. Exploring the colour, fragility, harmony and beauty of flowers, by interpreting the innate abstraction of nature’s patterns, she expresses their playfulness, exuberance or simple tranquillity. After obtaining a degree in Fine Art from Hull College Arena chose to do a Postgraduate course in Art Therapy at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh and a further postgraduate course in Integrative Psychotherapy. She worked for many years as an art therapist with the NHS and in private practice but now concentrates full time on developing her art practice.
Ann Johnson
Ann Johnson takes an illustrative, elegantly stylized approach to her still life paintings of floral arrangements. Deep colours, simple linear details, and strong compositions are the hallmark of her rich and emphatic interpretations of flowers.
Ann Johnson’s earlier background was as a fashion journalist on national magazines and newspapers. She has painted and drawn all her life, attending Putney School of Art and Eastbourne School of Art while still working in journalism. An advocate ‘lifelong learning’, she later gained an Open University degree in humanities and art history. She has collaborated with poets, printers and textile artists and her art has appeared in books, magazines and galleries around the country. Several of her paintings have been hung at Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions and her work is mostly in private collections. Foliage has been a much-loved, constant companion subject through her artistic journey.
In 2016 she published ‘Wild Margins, Drawings and Inspirations' and recently, 'Wild Margins 2, After the Storm’, which explores the River Wye and beyond.
Tiffany Scull
Celebrated ceramicist Tiffany Scull has developed a distinctive style of work that is meticulously decorated by hand. Combining her two loves of drawing and clay, she works from numerous sketch books, bringing botanical scenes to life in dimensional relief, along with butterflies, birds and fish particular to each botanical setting.
The Arts and Crafts movement and the natural world are all inspirational finding connections with the
use of both nature and pattern. Gustav Kilmt, Maurice Sendak, Elizabeth Fritsch and Mary Wondrausch are among
some of her other influences.
Sarah Dunstan
St Ives potter Sarah Dunstan has achieved international acclaim for her unique, slab built work and in 2012 was elected Fellow of the Craft Potters Association in recognition of her
contribution to contemporary ceramics.
On completing a degree in ceramics at Cardiff, Sarah returned to her native Cornwall to establish her first pottery in 1993 and has been a professional potter ever since. In 2002 she moved to the Gaolyard Studios in St Ives.
Dunstan is known for her highly decorative ceramics, which are instantly recognisable for their floral and antique patterns, velvety colours and intricate, hand cut porcelain forms. Her works are delightfully nostalgic, exploring half-forgotten memories and images that persist from childhood, from vintage wallpaper to the pattern on family dining plates.
Uschi Arens Price
Uschis path to jewellery-making evolved from a deep interest in art and crafts. Having discovered silversmithing, she was amazed by the tools, processes and materials and enrolled in a jewellery design course at the School of Art and Design in Bristol in the late 1980s. There were many techniques to explore, and her favourites are still fusing and reticulation, using heat and layers of silver to pattern and shape create shapes, Uschi draws from the natural world to explore details to be incorporated in to her designs.
Elected member of the Gloucestershire Guild since 2000.
Over decades Uschi has exhibited in many galleries and exhibitions and regularly shows new work.
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Kate Baugh
Kates pots are both functional and decorative made from stoneware or porcelain clay and decorated with slip and underglaze colours. They are inspired by abstract artists and mark makers including Antoni Tapies bold application of oriental calligraphy, the vibrant colours of Albert Irvin and Miro’s use of line and shape. Kate lives and works from her studio in Newnham.
