'Spring' Exhibition - a-n The Artists Information Company

Venue: No 6 Gallery: Oriel 6
Starts: Tuesday, March 21, 2023
Ends: Saturday, April 15, 2023
Address: No 6 Church Street, Llantwit Major, Vale of Glamorgan, CF61 1TF
Location: Wales
Organiser: Curated by Nick Davies at No 6 Gallery : Oriel 6, Church Street, Llantwit Major, Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. Cf61 1TF

Janet Blackman – Caitlin Jenkins – Sarah Lees – Laura Thomas

Building from the initiation of an exhibition space for the ‘These 3 Streams’ Literature, Art and Music Festival hosted in the historic town of Llantwit Major/Llanilltud Fawr in June 2022; Nick Davies is delighted to invite visitors to engage with her 5th curation at the No 6 Gallery: Oriel 6.

This installation involves a serendipitous collaboration with artist’s from various disciplines that come together to celebrate new beginnings and bringing hope for a bright new season. It features a selection of highly skilled, contemporary approaches to paintings, ceramics, wooden sculpture and woven textiles that aptly fit the title of ‘Spring.’

The exhibition offers subtle approaches to each individual artist’s practice that form a coherent group display. Caitlin Jenkins ceramic creations and Sarah Lees paintings are inspired by detailed observations of nature through the agricultural landscape, a sense of place, and the language of trees. Laura Thomas breadth of practice takes ancient crafts and traditional weaving into new territories, and Janet Blackman’s combination of shaping materials are intended to express a sense of balance.

https://www.instagram.com/nickdavies__/

Nicola Davies

After having an extensive career working in the media industry, Nick has spent the past ten years developing her own portfolio of images relating to the landscape, with specific reference to the coastline. During continued study at Masters level (2013-2015), she had the freedom to push personal boundaries with experimentation in printmaking (lino embossing), photography, film and sculptural techniques (plaster casting/carving) which led to a fascination with circles and ovoids found within natural phenomena. Nick’s arts practice is informed by nature and therefore it is her aim to look at reintegrating nature into art through capturing the energy and rhythm of the natural world. Nature has been a fascination for artists for hundreds of years and has the capacity to evoke thought and emotion. Inspired by the landscape, her coastal environment is fundamental to her practice as a visual artist. By stepping outside into nature, she allows herself to become open to contemplation through contact with natural phenomena. Constructed clay forms inspired from organic shapes, or found natural objects (pebbles/rock strata) that are cast with plaster, have focussed her attention to looking at the more physical aspects of fragility and strength in the natural world. During an arts and wellbeing project in 2019, Nick’s readings led her to the subject of ‘hag stones’ (stones with holes) and the spiritual beliefs associated with mystical stones possessing healing properties and used as protective talismans. Other myths acknowledge the presence of other worlds becoming visible through the natural occurring burrowed circles. This has inspired further research with documented theories relating to ‘psychogeographical’ sites, where larger holed stones were used as part of healing ceremonies, The concept of exploring view points seen through a cylindrical aperture of an ancient holed stone has captured her imagination and in turn has raised a curiosity of how geology, archeology, spiritualism and art are interconnected.