Open Studios provides a platform for local artists to share their work, giving access to studios and workshops not normally seen by the public.

This year we will be opening our studios in and around Totnes from 23-26 May.

Please check out the website for more information.

Three Exeter-based artists explore the different and varied directions taken in response to the landscape.

Rod’s paintings explore the energies and changes he sees and senses in the natural environment, combined with his memories and feelings of particular places.  He has a particular interest in surface and unites a variety of media whilst deconstructing and reassembling work as it progresses.

Each of Liese’s paintings has gone on a unique journey which can have take weeks, months, and even years to resolve.Rich in layers, and with and authentic surface, each painting has its own story to tell; their history only appreciated in the flesh as these layers reveal themselves.  She is inspired by her local coastline, obsessed by the colours and shapes she sees around her.

Thorie’s new paintings offer impressions of her recent encounters with a new, unique vertical landscape, so different from the wide open vistas of her Canadian prairie childhood.  Line, colour, texture, movement and space come together to create new worlds.

The words for the title of this exhibition come from a poem which was inspired by the ancient writings of early Buddhist nuns*. The extract speaks to me of the intimacy, connection and reverence I feel as I encounter the vibrancy of the landscape all around me.

The 50 or so paintings shown here are all inspired by my immersive walks on the Dartington Hall estate. Using oil paint on paper and a deliberately small scale, I have tried to distil my experience of each walk, be it of awe and liberation as day turns to night, joy in the exotic beauty of Magnolia blooms or gratitude for the dense heaps of compost and their regenerative powers. 

Fellow painters have described my paintings as intimate, jewel-like, verdant, botanical, rich, dense, mysterious, joyful, and earthy. They are offered as objects of love and contemplation and I am excited to share them with you.

All are welcome.

 * The first Free Women: Original Poems inspired by the Early Buddhist Nuns by Matty Weingast