The Sea, the Sea
Recent paintings by Anthony Garratt Frances Hatch
Janette Kerr HRSA PPRWA & Nicholas Jones
Petter Southall furniture
with ceramics, sculpture and accessories by leading artists, designers and makers
15 May – 10 July 2021
In all its many moods, the sea holds an extraordinary fascination. With a respectful nod to Iris Murdoch whose title we are borrowing, The Sea, the Sea brings together the work of four leading contemporary landscape artists all of whom are inescapably drawn to the sea. From the ferocious storm-torn Shetland seas that energise Janette Kerr’s work to the silent luminous expanses of Nicholas Jones’s Arctic paintings, from the earthy in-the-moment Dorset paintings of Frances Hatch to Anthony Garratt’s dynamic imaginative leaps, each explores and expresses in their work the passions, and the release of passions, that the sea represents for so many of us. All four are brave exploratory ambitious painters, highly regarded for the eloquence of their work.
No exhibition about the sea would be complete without JANETTE KERR. Her study of wave action has been dedicated, inspirational and professional, organising projects with environmentalists, oceanographers, meteorologists, historians, and other artists to enrich her engagement with the action and life of the sea. She loves to work outside capturing the energy of her subject matter in her smaller paintings and studies, bringing them back to the studio as material for much larger drawings and oil paintings. The powerful works that result often invoke a Romantic experience of the sublime – both terrifying and thrilling. She moves between the representational and exploratory contemporary abstraction, her work underpinned by exceptional drawing skills. Janette’s relish for the physical process of drawing and painting can be felt in the dynamic quality of her marks and brushstrokes.
NICHOLAS JONES’s most recent paintings are inspired by Arctic light and space. He is fascinated to see how such a rich and varied beauty can be created in the Arctic from the simplest of elements: ice, rock, water and light. His appointment in 2018 as Artist in Residence for the Friends of the Scott Polar Research Institute took him on a voyage to Greenland and Baffin Island where he was able to immerse himself in the light and landscape, which has been the catalyst for a fabulous new body of work. Nicholas is showing for the first time at Sladers Yard but is well-established at the Crane Kalman Gallery in London where he has had eight solo exhibitions since 2000. He lives with his family in Somerset.
FRANCES HATCH works both en plein air and in her Dorset studio. Her reflective practice grows in ever deeper connection with landscape. Her work is site-responsive, integrating site materials, which she is expert at converting into lasting pigments, with water-based media, gouache, acrylic or watercolour. Her paintings are increasingly sparking attention. The two pieces hung in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (2016) were placed in a gallery described by its curator, Jock McFayden RA, as ‘radical landscape’. Also in 2016, Frances was awarded the Shenzhen International Watercolour Biennial Prize at the RI exhibition at the Mall Galleries. This is ‘an award to encourage innovation and experimentation in contemporary watermedia.’ In 2020 she curated a show of her paintings with ceramics by world-class potters entitled The Common Ground at the Crafts Study Centre, University for the Creative Arts, Farnham. Frances has shown regularly at Sladers Yard since 2015.
ANTHONY GARRATT is an experimental painter of landscape and sea. Working outdoors, he is at the mercy of the elements which are liable to wash away his paint and radically change his painting, however this is part of the story of the piece of work for him. Increasingly he is exploring the human, both political and emotional, within the land and seascapes he paints, alongside the nature of the paint itself. He is interested in landscapes that emphasise the vulnerability of man. ‘Perhaps I regard adversity as a form of beauty, there is beauty in the knowledge that humans are not all powerful and in control of the planet. We are at the mercy of it. If my paintings are able to communicate that beauty, perhaps that is what I am striving for.’ Anthony’s most recent multi-media project was entitled To all at Sea, Anglesey, involving a pivoting double-sided painting whose movements in the wind were recorded and transposed by Anthony into a musical performance. The project commemorated the tragic sinking of a ship off Anglesey which caused the initiation of the Shipping Forecast.
PETTER SOUTHALL is a dynamic designer in wood. He has been making his innovative stunning furniture designs with immaculate craftsmanship and detailing from his Dorset workshop since 1991. His work is in eminent private collections all over the world and in public and corporate collections and spaces. Recently he has enlarged his practice to include outdoor pavilions and buildings. At Sladers Yard we have both furniture and outdoor pieces to view, buy or commission.
CERAMICS at Sladers Yard is a strong strand of our business and we have a remarkable collection of work here by the country’s leading contemporary ceramic makers including domestic ware and sculpture. In addition to the work on the walls, we have a wide range of work available to view on our website and in the gallery by appointment.
CAFÉ SLADERS serves superb seafood and vegetarian/vegan lunches, breakfasts and incredible homemade cakes with great coffee and every type of tea. We have a full wine list with local beers and cider. We also continue to offer Takeaway hot food and dinners ready to heat at home. Check out our menu and reserve a table.
VIDEO INSTALLATION for Dorset Art Weeks
Storm by Tom Hanmer
Showing now and until 5 June 2021
Award-winning film maker and Director of Photography, TOM HANMER has worked in many genres including fashion, music, advertising and narrative film. He is drawn to the world’s wild places. Despite working and traveling around the world, Scotland remains one of his favourite locations.
Tom Hanmer filmed Storm in Melness on the North Coast of Scotland in winds exceeding 100 mph. It was shot using cutting-edge equipment and finished in ultra-high definition. Despite the dangers these conditions provide a bounty to the gulls.
This stunning short film combines footage of the wildest of Scottish waves with the extraordinary agility and courage of the gulls. Watch the film alongside Janette Kerr’s drawing and paintings of light conditions in wild Shetland Isles weather.
Sladers Yard 