Gallery opening times

The gallery is adjacent to the main reception area.
Visitors are welcome at any time during the opening hours.

The gallery is open

Monday to Friday		9.30 am – 4.15 pm
Saturday		9.30 am – 12.30 pm

during College term times.

Art in the Gallery Autumn 2010

Yasmin David
Wednesday 15 – Wednesday 29 September
Private view Saturday 18 September 2–5pm

Yasmin David was a landscape painter for over fifty years. The daughter of writer Laurie Lee and Lorna Wishart, and sister of painter Michael Wishart, she grew up with a strong artistic background and sensibility. After very successful early exhibitions in London, she settled in Devon and painted the landscapes she loved there for the next forty-five years – from Dartmoor to the coast.

Her landscapes are dramatic, emotional and often turbulent, conveying the drama in the landscape as she saw it, and perhaps resonating human dramas within them. Her preoccupations are with the immense polarity between light and dark, the sky and the land, with inner and outer states of being, and she seemed to capture the molten, ever-changing quality of nature. Her paintings are forceful expressions of landscape in a constant state of flux – of becoming. Throughout this later period she never chose to exhibit. Perhaps because of this intense privacy she has created a unique voice of her own within the English landscape tradition.

As well as her paintings, drawings, preparatory sketches, poetry and note books which she used in her work will also be exhibited for the first time.

Yasmin David

Green Valley

Big Horse

Julian

Recent exhibitions

The 21 Group

The 21 Group, formed in 1967, is one of the longest established exhibiting groups in Devon. It consists of up to twenty-one practising artists who work and show independently but also exhibit together at least twice a year. Almost all the members have had full time art education and many are, or have been, art teachers.
Their work covers a wide range of different mediums – oil, acrylic, gouache, watercolour, mixed media, collage and many different methods of printmaking. The subjects explored in the work are as diverse as their mediums, varying from detailed figuration to extreme abstraction.

Val Jones

Moira Mellor

Wendy Newman

See more artwork using this link and use this link to read biographies of the 21 artists.

Some members of the 21 Group planning an exhibition…

Wendy McBride

Inside T.R.A.I.L.

T.R.A.I.L. – recycled art in landscapes.
This artist-led initiative drew together practitioners who are passionate about the environment. Each artwork exhibited had to be made principally of recycled materials, or draw attention to issues affecting the globe.
Inside T.R.A.I.L. came to Totnes to share and celebrate five years of the free, public art, coastal trails that are in Dawlish, Teignmouth and Shaldon in July, August and September each year.

Scratching the Surface

Scratching the Surface is a new and diverse collection of artwork from a group of mutually inspired local Devon artists.
We have all had art backgrounds in one way or another, either formally trained or through work, and due to life's normal demands and commitments have put those creative urges and desires on the back burner until recently.
Family life and work can often suppress a creative appetite but we have managed to carve out some time amongst the mayhem to produce a body of work which will hopefully be the first of many exhibitions as a group.
We are quite diverse in our styles, so between us we have been able to create an interesting and fresh exhibition, which will hopefully inspire other suppressed creative types to kick start themselves and realise what they can achieve.

Caroline Wightman

Heidi Archer

Sarah Morgan

Alex Watkins

Emily Parr

The artists are:
Heidi Archer Sarah Morgan
Emily Parr
Alex Watkins Caroline Wightman

Read their artists' statements here.

HEARTS

The Heart exhibition allowed KEVICC Arts Award students to express their talents through an exhibition, taking place during the week of Valentine's Day.
With the theme set from the date, the students showcased their work in a professional gallery, giving each of them experience in arts management and professional arts practice.

People Pictured

KEVICC Foundation students and Kennicott students came together to exhibit work inspired by the figure.

Coupled with this there were life drawing sessions for staff and other groups in the lunch time break or after school.

Nature…Nurture

The exhibitors were KEVICC art department students from all years.

The focus was on landscapes and animals, to bring us a exhibition of their work at each stage of the school curriculum.

South West Sculptors

SWS hosted their fourth annual exhibition at the Ariel Centre in Totnes. The Association was formed in 2001 to bring together Sculptors working and living in the South West to explore ideas about the creativity and practicality of sculpture and give mutual support. The Group meets regularly in members' studios to discuss current work or to have 'hands on' sessions with material that they are not familiar with.
There is a huge variety of work within the group with members working in wood, clay, metal, glass, stone, wire, ceramic and mixed media. Since its formation the group has grown and exhibited regularly; the main shows are at Dartington in the Summer, at the same time as Ways with Words, and at the Ariel Centre in Totnes. It has links with Sculpture Bretagne with whom it has held joint exhibitions both in Devon and in Landivisiau in Brittany.

Beastie & the Golden Cat

Chloë Bardolf-Smith, a former pupil from KEVICC, returned to Totnes to show her artwork at the Ariel Gallery in her first solo exhibition.
The unique exhibition of 24 startling images entitled Beastie and the Golden Cat is the product of two years of work. Beastie is a fearsome animal, a wild cat who hunts herons with his companion the Golden Cat. The series follows his progress and the challenges he faces. Each image is bright and vibrant, and reminiscent of Aztec hieroglyphs crossed with pop art.
I remember sitting in art class in Year 8 and Chris Killock explaining the difference between a variety of pencils, said Chloe. He gave us a still life to start drawing and suddenly it all clicked and I realised that I could do it! From that moment I spent all my spare time making art work. It's really exciting for me to return to where it all started for my first solo exhibition. I'm very grateful to all the staff at KEVICC for enthusing and supporting me then and now. I was inspired to make these pictures by my own cat. He's rangy, loping and lazy, and yet playful, full of energy and slightly scary. When he sees something he wants to catch, his eyes dilate and he becomes totally focussed, throwing himself into the chase with no fear for the consequences…like getting stuck up a tree or on a chimney top. For me, that's what I imagine it takes to achieve something special. I wish I was a bit more like him! But for now, I'm satisfying myself with making lots of pictures which capture a bit of his personality and the spirit of the hunt.

Lu Ormiston & Paul MacAlister

Lu works in mixed media, water-based paint, oil pastel and oil paint and has developed a way of working over a number of years letting herself be led on a creative journey by her intuition. Lu responds to energy, colour, line and form as her inspiration and from the images depicted and can learn and revisit the essence of the moments expressed. The results of her original works can be ordered as Giclée prints.

Paul's photographs, which often appear to be semi-abstract or abstract images, are in fact, no more than photographs of what he sees in the world around him. The images are not digitally treated or manipulated and are as observed and recorded at a given moment. Paul doesn't provide the viewer with much subject information; if they work as images, he wants them to speak for themselves.

Howard Jones – Cascade's Rhymes' series and landscapes
Wendy Jones – A Personal Response to Natural Forms

The paintings selected for the Cascade's Rhymes element of the exhibition are embedded in observations of Dartmoor streams, particularly the River dart and the Beccka Brook. There I find the constantly changing pace and mood of the river has parallels with life itself. At times appearing calm and reflective and at others it is full of confusion and disorder but always moving. For me these very beautiful places have been further focussed and energised by reading the poem under the Waterfall by Thomas Hardy.

The landscapes have been created in many places including Provence, the Pyrenees and the moors and coast of the Westcountry. These landscapes continue to be inspirational in all their different moods and seasons. I hope the exhibition will provide an opportunity to share my responses associated with very different landscapes that have, for me, a very particular and special sense of place.
Howard Jones

Most of my paintings are inspired from nature. I am excited by complex and detailed structures which can be interpreted in different scales and compositions. My responses frequently lead to exploitation or change in colour and I am always seeking to develop the inherent character of my subjects. These decisions govern my choice and use of media. I frequently work in series to fully explore the potential of my ideas.
The exhibition includes paintings based upon plants, lichen, abalone shells and other natural forms.
Wendy Jones

Wendy Jones Abalone Whirlpool

Howard Jones Dartmoor Cascade

Written In Stone: Devon Monuments in Words and Images

In the exhibition Written in Stone John Daniel's poems were responses to Michael Carter's black-and-white photographs of memorials and commemorated places associated with people or events in Devon's South West. Ranging from the imperious vigour of the Drake monument in Plymouth to General Buller straddling his horse in Exeter, the show includes the Agatha Christie bust in Torquay, the Wills obelisk in Totnes, the historian Froude's tomb in Salcombe, and Berry Head House in Brixham, the home of the Rev. Lyte, who wrote Abide With Me.
John and Michael's work was joined by that of poet Jane Spiro.

Use this link to read more about the exhibition.

detail from Plymouth Naval Memorial

Art Foundation Show

Totnes Art & Design Foundation Course exhibition of drawing work from their first term.
The first cohort of students from the Art Foundation graduated with flying colours. The course is designed to enable Post A level students to build up a portfolio of diverse work enabling them to apply for different art and design courses at degree level.
They have followed courses in painting, photography, sculpture and textiles and have attended workshops in life drawing and a three day residential visiting many art galleries and Chelsea College of Art.

Kaya Hyslop and Rachel Wilcox

Landscape painters from different regions, one local and one Bristol-based, both with work created from the inspiration of South Devon.
Kaya's work is an exuberant, spontaneous response to interactions and experiences with nature and the local landscapes.
www.kayahyslop.co.uk
Rachel's series of drawings and paintings explore the sensations experienced when gazing at the glittering reflected light on the surface of the sea; sensations of hypnotic patterns and sparkling rhythms – contemplative and mesmeric.
www.rachelwilcox.co.uk

Rachel Wilcox

Kaya Hyslop

Rachel Wilcox

Rowan de Freitas

Rowan is a year 11 KEVICC student who staged a short exhibition in support of her studies to gain Arts Award. This exhibition of mixed media and includes painting and photographs with subject matter focused on young people.

As well as producing the artwork and photography, she organised and arranged the event, including the entertainment for the opening view.

Use this link to see more of Rowan's artwork

Ireland 1

Lighthearted

Five artists who are exploring the diverse and constantly changing effects of light on landscapes and people.

Mary Hall	In recent years I have been moving away from drawing and watercolour towards oils and mixed media. However my real interest for painting people remains. I will continue in this vein incorporating it with my more recent landscape work. Mary Hall	Diana Booth	I have lived in the South Hams for many years and always gained inspiration from this beautiful part of the country. Recently the natural wonders of New Zealand and Australia have fuelled my imagination. Diana Booth
Maureen Fayle	I base my work on sketches done in the open air and my own photographs, some watercolour paintings being completed on the spot. Recently I have also been using oils with acrylic under-painting for my landscape paintings. Maureen Fayle	Andrea Bray	On retiring from teaching, Andrea returned to her first love of painting. She has recently been inspired by the natural beauty and element of mystery in the garden of Greenway, Agatha Christie's former estate in Galmpton. Andrea Bray

Elaine Best

Open Eyes

This exhibition was a showcase for the work of past and present students of Photography at KEVICC.
Many of our students have gone on to study at the most prestigious photography courses in the country and we hope the exhibition will enthuse and encourage the next generation of photographers at the College.

The photograph shown, taken by Alice Carfrae, is entitled
Boys with gun photographed on the Northern Sri Lankan border which is patrolled by the Sri Lankan Army and the Tamil Tigers – 2006