Summer Exhibition

About

As a professional artist John Paul Cooke’s love and passion is within the field of abstract art. With an unrestrictive approach he creates passionate, colourful art, derived from everyday visual experiences.

A large proportion inspired by the bright Cornish light of St. Ives and the earthy tones of the Peak District near Sheffield where he grew up.
The dramatic use of colour, texture and form, illustrates his desire to 'capture the moment' and to stimulate the voyeur with an emotion or reaction. With his very distinctive style, technique and approach there emerges a carefully constructed, unique piece of art.

The colours, scale and nature of the landscape provide a constant source for Richard Hatfield’s image making. The paintings are the amalgamation of the remembered, the fleetingly observed and the emblematic motifs imprinted on the retina. The paintings (using oil and acrylic) are constructed using layer upon layer of thin colour that produce an intensity of pigment or create ambiguous veils of paint that vaguely describe the subject. Often painted over a coarse textured ground, layers of paint are added and subsequently removed generating a rich patination of surface.

There is something truly astounding about the way a horse can be transformed says Ellie Hesse, from calm and seemingly domesticated creature, one moment, into an explosion of power and wired emotion, the next. I find this unpredictability and expressiveness, fascinating and a great inspiration in my work. I enjoy experimenting with a variety of different media and techniques, always seeking to create new and interesting surface textures, with the feeling of almost excavating the subject from the work surface.
Ellie was born in New York in 1972, grew up in the UK, spending her happiest childhood moments riding her pony on the Yorkshire moors.

Emerson Mayes is a Yorkshire born artist who has experienced that rarest of things:
success both critical and commercial since the beginning of his career as a
painter. From the day the now 39-year-old graduated from Leeds Metropolitan
University in 1994, he has enjoyed a growing reputation for a fresh, honest and
uncontrived approach to his work. With his roots firmly in the British
landscape tradition, Emerson's work reflects his obvious passion for this vast
and complex subject. Although he strives to achieve a direct response, he is
never tied down by the 'topographical' elements in the landscape. He says, 
'it's the emotional reaction and that sense of place that's most important in a
finished piece, not whether a tree is inexactly the right place'. 

Debbie Barber is a ceramic artist who specialises in Raku and smoke fired ceramics and she works from her home studio in rural Leicestershire. Her art and design training was in textile decoration and embroidery. After 10 years she changed course and returned to college to train as a potter having a lifelong interest in ceramics. She retains her influences from her textile background. She loves pattern and colour and takes inspiration from the natural world – trees, plants and the birds in her garden and the surrounding countryside. She was drawn to Naked Raku as a firing technique as she enjoys the hands on and the dynamic process of Raku firing.  Raku ceramics date from 16th century Japan. As part of the tea ceremony tea bowls were simply made using this fast-firing technique.