Programme
Forthcoming exhibitions at the Wharf Gallery are shown below.
Please contact us if you would like to exhibit your work. We particularly encourage local artists and actively promote new talent.
All paintings are for sale – please enquire at the Wharf Box Office.
For invitations to private views, or if you would like to exhibit at the Wharf Gallery, please contact Chris Burchell, Art Director, on 01822 613928, email chrisburchell@tavistockwharf.com, or fill in our enquiry form.
Dorothy Harris – Photography
Monday 4th – Friday 29th November 2019
A professional photographer living in Tavistock, Dorothy Harris graduated from The London College of Printing in the 70’s and after a career in film and later as a freelance photographer in London, relocated to the South West.
She enjoys seeking out locations that show potential and then revisits the sites regularly in different seasons and weather conditions until composition, colour and light all come together.
Harris finds the local variations of landscape and cloudscapes fascinating, and the technical photographic side challenging. She derives great pleasure from capturing the final digital images which are available as limited edition prints.
A member of the art group ‘Drawn to the Valley’, Dorothy Harris is represented by Art Gallery SW from which prints from her portfolio are available.
Email: dorothyharris244@gmail.com
Joan Moncrieffe BA – Paintings
Monday 2nd December 2019 – Friday 10th January 2020
Joan Moncrieffe is an East Devon artist/designer-maker. Born in Leamington Spa, she spent time pattern making and drawing from a very early age.
Later graduating with a degree in three-dimensional design, she went on to having her illustrative work published and continued to work to commission, exhibiting in various locations under her birth name, ‘Joan Prowse’.
Having spent time living and exhibiting in France, she returned to the UK in the ’90s. Now based in Exmouth, she continues to exhibit her work regularly and enjoys working to commission, giving talks and holding workshops.
Recently married, Joan is launching various new works under her new name and introducing oils into her repertoire.
Paul Longland – Paintings
Monday 13th January – Friday 28th February 2020
Based in the coastal town of Swanage, in the South West of England, Paul Longland is an artist who mainly works in oil, but who occasionally works in acrylic or watercolours.
His work may be best described as abstract with figurative overtones.
He is inspired by the sea that surrounds the Isle of Purbeck area, where the countryside, with its fascinating terrain, pushes right up to the edge of the sea. Framed by the magnificent cliffs and coastline features of the Jurassic coast and coupled with its history of industry and maritime wildlife, the area is an infinite source of interest and inspiration.
Radiant light falling across the ever changing mood of the surface of the sea interacts with the landscape providing a profound element of uniqueness.
This exhibition represents a snap shot, a kind of cross section representing Paul’s travels, capturing the essence of the local terrain in his paints, over the past couple of years.
From the alpine lakes of France, to Paris and London, he has embraced the sometimes calm, sometimes frenetic pace of these locations and allows them to imbue their mood into his work.
Paul Longland’s output is studio based, where he either works at his home or his studio on the coast.
Tony Homer – Paintings and Prints
Monday 2nd – Friday 27th March 2020
Based in Devon where he has been living and working for the last 35 years, Tony Homer derives his inspiration from the local landscape.
He describes his work as a semi-abstract process via sketchbooks in which he collects ideas from locations within the area near his home.
Back in the studio he explores these themes to see how he can achieve an impressionistic sense of the places he has visited.
The techniques and processes he uses can often result in colour combinations that are distorted or enhanced to express the emotion and structure of the scene. This can mean that whilst some paintings appear somewhat abstracted in appearance, they still express a feeling of authenticity inspired by the original site sketch study.
Merle Sild – Paintings
Monday 30th March – Friday 1st May 2020
Merle Sild considers her art to be a tell-tale, looking for emotional content even if it reflects ugly problems. Paintings are mostly based on her experiences of different places and countries, where she lived and worked as a self-taught artist.
This engagement encouraged her to work for an Arts Degree from Plymouth College of Art, where she is now an MA student.
Merle uses painting as a tool to explore places that no longer exist or have not yet been created. Her use of paint enables her to present emotion and objects through the construction of layers, painting in abstract or semi-abstract ways which offers her imagination the freedom of the ambiguity of paint.
Merle is extensively influenced by the Old Masters and the creativity of the Impressionist School.
Merle believes that creativity engenders a responsibility to harness that ability to the greater good, bearing in mind humanity’s paradoxical aptitude for destruction.
Email: orchideis@hotmail.com
Alan Gregory – Paintings
Monday 4th – Friday 29th May 2020
Alan lives and works in Shaldon, Devon and has been drawing, painting and collecting art for many years. Having had a successful career as a senior academic, in 2014 he made the decision to work part time in order to devote more of his life to art, following which he become a full time painter.
His work is informed by the natural landscape, particularly the South West coastline with its ever-changing light conditions. For him, painting is about helping the observer appreciate the beauty of the natural world, and to celebrate the environment that surrounds them. But this beauty can sometimes be elusive, or not obvious at first glance, and it is this hidden element that he also seeks to explore.
As Alan puts it: “Whatever the subject, my intention is always to share the sense of uplift that I feel when looking at the landscapes from which I draw my inspiration. In this regard, I hope that my work reflects an emotional response to what I see”.
Recent exhibitions include the “Flying Colours” Exhibition at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter in May 2016, the North St Gallery (Ashburton) December 2016 Exhibition, The Observatory Exhibition at the University of Exeter in 2017, The Artizan Gallery “Power of Three” Exhibition in August 2017, the “Tor to Shore” Exhibition at Birdwood House, Totnes in August 2018, The Pavilions in Teignmouth in April/May 2019, and 4–5 Gray’s Inn, London, February to May 2019.
More information... | Facebook page
Mike Nuth – Paintings and Collage
‘The Innocent Primitive’
Monday 1st – Friday 26th June 2020
Born in London, from 11–18 years old Mike Nuth attended Moseley School of Arts and Crafts, Birmingham.
Mike obtained a BA(hons) degree in Fine Art and an MA degree in painting from Birmingham College of Art.
Nuth set up his studio in Birmingham and exhibited widely, with many solo and mixed shows, including Arts Council touring, New Contemporaries, art centres, art galleries and museums.
Although he has always painted, he has worked as a shepherd in the Black Mountains, as a musician and as an art tutor, though he has tried many other things.
Some years ago he upped sticks from his base in Yorkshire and walked to Devon. For the past few years Mike has travelled on the continent with periods of living in Barcelona. He is presently living and painting in South Devon.
Mike Nuth’s work is generally based around the human figure. An interest in tribal art, prehistoric art and the art of young children is evident in his work. He describes his work as ‘direct, simple with, at times, a physical presence’.
Alexandra Lavizzari – Painter
Monday 29th June – Friday 24th July 2020
Born in Basel, Switzerland, Alexandra Lavizzari has spent most of her adult life travelling and living in various Asian countries such as Nepal, Pakistan and Thailand, before finally settling down in Somerset in 2009.
She was originally a writer, having published several novels and volumes of literary essays. Her poetry in German, her native language, is particularly well regarded.
When she is not busy writing or being creative with her camera, she spends her time painting, using soft pastels, oils or acrylics.
Painting for Alexandra offers a means to explore the interaction of colour and form in order to create particular moods and emotions as a response to particular natural environments, especially the sea. She finds painting and photography offers a very challenging and rewarding alternative to writing, and draws much of her inspiration from the local Devon landscape.
Alexandra is member of 'Somerset Art Works' and 'Swiss Artists UK' and mostly exhibits locally and occasionally in Geneva, Switzerland.
Charmain Hebbard – Paintings
Monday 27th July – Friday 28th August 2020
Charmain has been painting and drawing for many years, belonging to a painting group in Bishopsteignton which meets weekly.
She draws her inspiration from the diversity of landscapes and seascapes experienced when out walking on the South West Coast Path, or exploring the varied UK countryside. The diversity and colour of foreign landscapes also provide further inspiration.
Charmain is drawn to quiet places which have a special resonance for her. She also enjoys painting flowers, trees, gardens, villages and old farmhouses. On holiday she always takes a small sketchbook to try and capture the essence of a place ‘en plein air’.
Drawing is a discipline which she enjoys; pen and ink or pencil, as well as the loose effect which can be obtained from bolder brushstrokes when painting. Back in her studio she works up her sketches into larger oil paintings. She likes the challenge of working out a pleasing composition and ‘making marks’ to create a vibrant and colourful painting.
Lucien Freud said, “the picture, in order to move us, must never merely remind us of life, but must acquire a life of its own”.
Charmain Hebbard’s work has been included in these recent exhibitions:
| 2010 | Exeter Art Society | Castle Street Gallery, Exeter |
| 2011 | Exeter Art Society | Mint Methodist Church, Exeter |
| 2012 | Exeter Art Society | East Devon Art Academy, Sidmouth |
| 2013 | Exeter Art Society | East Devon Art Academy, Sidmouth |
| 2015 | In Nature’s Colours | TAAG Gallery, Teignmouth |
| 2016 | Flying Colours | Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter |
| 2018 | In Nature’s Colours | TAAG Gallery, Teignmouth |
| 2018 | Dartmoor Artists | Ashburton Town Hall |
| 2018 | Torbay Art Show | Torquay Boys Grammar School |
This is her first solo exhibition.
Clive Richards – Landscape Paintings
Monday 31st August – Friday 2nd October 2020
Clive is a Devon-based landscape artist whose reputation is growing fast.
He has mounted highly successful exhibitions in Exeter Cathedral and is a regular contributor to the Dartmoor Artists Exhibition and the Devon Open Studios event. His Alpine paintings have also found a very enthusiastic reception in Courchevel, France.
People also enjoy viewing his work at his studio in Mamhead near the Haldon Hills.
“I make sketches with colour notes and also take photographs of the subjects I choose, then interpret the scene onto canvas in the warmth of my studio. Having spent much time in inhospitable places during my service in the Royal Marines, I rather relish the luxury of interpreting the wonderful sights nature provides in a degree of comfort.”
Having said that, Clive can still be seen in good weather using his treasured Series 3 Land Rover as a mobile easel throughout the county!
You can view more of his work at www.cliveartist.com or text ART to 07976 885143 to hear more about arranging an informal studio visit.
Tim Saunders – Paintings
‘Social Animals’
Monday 5th – Friday 30th October 2020
Tim Saunders is an artist who draws from life (literally and metaphorically) but also uses imagination to explore visual expression.
Social Animals is an exhibition of figures in cafes and bars. Such scenes have a long tradition in art going back to 17th century Dutch painting.
As he sketches from life Tim is a hidden participant in the scenes. He brings back to the studio an experience as well as drawings which then become the paintings.
Tim has worked as an artist since 2005 and now works entirely from drawings, watercolour sketches and imagination. On occasion he travels to explore the landscape of Europe but he finds plenty of inspiration here in his home county of Devon.
More information...
Christopher Woodfield BA Dip. Arch. – Paintings
Monday 2nd – Friday 27th November 2020
Chris Woodfield has always loved to draw and paint, but his career choice took him in a different direction, graduating from Canterbury College of Art in 1982 as an architect. Apart from architecture the College also ran courses in fine art, sculpture, graphics and fashion. Students were encouraged to participate in these extra curricula activities and expand their arts education.
In between his architectural studies, Chris enjoyed filling his time with ‘en plein air’ painting, life drawing and photography.
He moved to Devon in 1988, starting a family and a career in architecture.
He has always lived on the coast and has sailed boats since childhood. As a family they have walked mountains, coast and countryside. This did not leave much time for painting so five years ago and with the children independent, he left architecture to pick up painting again, using the coast and countryside to provide inspiration.
Chris draws and photographs subjects when out and about. Back in the studio these references are developed to create colour compositions in oil paint to convey to the viewer something of the memory, experience, action, mood, season, weather and the time of day.
Claire Kinsey – Paintings
Monday 30th November 2020 – Friday 15th January 2021
Claire Kinsey has lived in Devon for nearly 40 years. Her art is influenced by places she visits and the things that catch her eye when out walking.
Sometimes her pieces just evolve after many colour changes and much removal of paint. Claire reckons that she probably take off more paint than she puts onto canvas. Colour is vitally important as it evokes emotion and feeling.
Claire admires the works of Franz Marc and Clarice Cliff. Art Deco and Stained Glass provide further inspiration. She says that her Art provides endless possibilities to express herself and to escape into the world of her inner imaginings.
Claire has two styles. Whilst she tends to be tight and precise in execution, she often breaks the habit to work on a looser, more instinctive piece. Claire then paints, prints, overpainting layer upon layer, then removing and adding paint until she is happy with the result, or the piece tells her it's finished.
