Little Treasures

About

It’s often said that good things come in small packages and that couldn’t be more appropriate for the gallery's latest exhibition. Little Treasures, is a group exhibition of paintings no larger than 30x30cm/12x12in in a variety of media from some of its most popular artists.  Those exhibiting include Gwyn Roberts, Mike Jones and Martin Llewellyn as well as a debut for Ann Oram, one of Scotland’s finest artists in the colourist tradition.  There will also be a welcome return for a number of artists who haven’t exhibited for a while, including Rosa Sepple PRI , Pamela Kay NEAC, Simon Laurie RSW RGI, Sally Muir and Judith Bridgland. 

Ann Oram trained at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) and after her post-graduate year and Andrew Grant Scholarship to France and Italy, she returned to ECA to lecture on the painting school.  She has spent many years living and working abroad, particularly in Spain and more recently Vienna, and the inspiration from her travels helps keep her work fresh and vibrant. 

She is very excited to be showing her small paintings at the Little Treasures exhibition.  She says: “This is a first for me. It’s a great pleasure sending work down to that part of the world. I’ve exhibited in many places throughout Scotland and England, but never Wales.  I very much like who the gallery exhibits and sense a real quality in the work. It’s nice to be included in this gallery.  For this show I have painted of my two of my favourite subjects: flowers and blossom trees. Flowers have always been a passion, and the blossom tree paintings are really an extension of that and my garden paintings.” 

Pamela Kay, who was a student at the Royal College of Art and Canterbury College of Art, is one of Britain’s foremost painters of flowers and still life. Her work encompasses the beauty of humble everyday objects and their unassuming nature.  She is a real fan of smaller works, saying: “I have always thought that some of the best paintings are very small. They do not shout for attention like some big paintings do - rather, they are quiet, modest but illuminating. A bundle of Asparagus by the Dutch painter Adriaen Coorte in the Fitzwilliam, Cambridge, Chardin’s still life with a Copper Pan in the Louvre, Degas’ Head of a Girl - all small, exquisite works of art that are complete statements.” 

Simon Laurie is a contemporary Scottish landscape and still life artist, whose paintings are characterised by references to Scottish life and society, often incorporating fish, boats and religious symbols.  His small paintings convey everyday objects which have been simplified and stylised on highly coloured backgrounds to present bold visual statements. 

Rosa Sepple has had little time to paint since taking office as a President of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours but will feature three beautiful paintings at the exhibition.  She said: “It’s been a while since I last exhibited at one of my favourite galleries. I was delighted to have been asked to participate in the Little Treasures exhibition, presenting three new works in a water based mixed media. They are called ‘Autumn Moon’, ‘Fantasia’ and the cheeky but fun ‘No Peeking’.”