Kathryn Best & Ella Wenzel

About

Kathryn Best

This collection of paintings by art student Kathryn Best are inspired by a summer visit to Sussex landmark Cissbury Ring. Her work combines the curves of the contour lines on the maps of the area with those of the landscape, ditches and ramparts, as well as the colours of the flora. 

The delicate shades of pink and violet, vibrant yellow and orange and are designed to recall the sense of a summer’s day, while the red and green coupled with the contours of the landscape are reminiscent of the South Downs. 

Kathryn began by attending evening classes before starting her BA (Hons) Fine Art Degree course in 2016. She is a mature student at Northbrook Met having studied part-time for the last three years. This year she will be studying full time so that she completes her degree by the end of the academic year.

Ella Wenzel: Life Through Lenses

Ella Wenzel is an avant-garde painter and drawer located in Worthing. Currently in her third year of her Fine Art degree, she is refining her practice more than ever. Not long after beginning her course, she decided to pin one of her ‘mindless doodles’ onto her studio wall because she was running low on ideas, and there was the beginning of becoming a linear-obsessed artist. 

Since recognising the extent of her enthusiasm for linear patterns, she has further-developed her interest by looking into the textures of certain objects (usually organic resources) from a magnified perspective. 

Ella’s process involves using a mini microscope and a camera lense to capture images of pleasing textures (otherwise known as ‘micrography’).  She then works from a printed version of this, aiming to manipulate the image to the extent that an observer won’t be able to recognise what they are really seeing. Through the use of paints, inks, and other drawing/painting materials, she exaggerates the subject matter, often changing its scale or colours. 

The main objective of Ella’s work is to find a sense of rhythm whilst forming irregular patterns, often started by drawing a single, asymmetric line and following on from there. She incorporates this flow into layers by overlapping textures and contrasting colours. As well as using a variety of drawing and painting materials, she works on a range of grounds, including board, perspex, acetate, paper, cardboard and recycled materials.