21 Group biographies : Ariel Centre

COLIN BIGWOOD
Trained at the West of England College of Art. After teaching in Wales for eight years, he became Head of Art and Design at King Edward V1 College in Totnes in 1960, a post he held for thirty years. In retirement he spends more time painting and playing New Orleans Jazz locally, nationally and abroad. His painting is based upon acute observation combined with memory. Colour structure and picture-making are fundamental aspects of his work.

NICHOLAS COLLIER
Trained at Exeter College of Art. Having taught art for many years he now paints full-time in his studio in Lamerton. He has shown work in mixed exhibitions in London and the West Country and had a number of one-man shows. His work exploits the expressionist possibilities of surface and pigment, inspired by the layers of mark-making on the earth surface, by field systems and ancient settlements in the Westcountry landscape.

JEAN-ALICE COOMBE
Trained in London and taught for many years in Devon. She has exhibited widely in the South West and beyond. Her work focuses on the effects of light on and in observed forms. Recent work concentrates on the River Dart and its surroundings experienced in different qualities of light.

SALLY COTTIS
Trained at the Slade and taught art in London and South Devon. She has exhibited widely in both solo and mixed exhibitions in the South West and elsewhere. She works slowly and carefully from nature, usually landscapes in watercolour. 'I take my watercolours into a wood or an orchards, or onto a river bank or a beach at low tide and I paint what I see. Back in my studio, I use those images as the basis for oil paintings or various sorts of printmaking. A kind of tranquillity recollected with emotion.'

LAWRENCE FREIESLEBEN
'The only art that interests me attempts, in whatever form, is the impossible. Literally it tries to 'see' or 'feel' outside time; it attempts to still the evanescent. Nothing is more beautiful or inspiring than certain scenes in nature. But perhaps art must try to be a force of nature, not try to mimic it? So that's two impossibilities: to be a force of nature outside time!'

MARY GILLETT
Trained at Bristol Polytechnic, then specialised in etching on a postgraduate course at Brighton Polytechnic. On returning to Devon, where she grew up, she has taught etching at her workshop near Tavistock. Her etchings interpret the landscape of Dartmoor, exploring surface and texture to create painterly images of intense mood and atmosphere.

SOPHIE GURNEY
Daughter of French painter Jacques Raverat and the English artist Gwen Raverat. Sophie trained first as a musician, but started painting in her thirties. She has exhibited in Cambridge where she grew up and in the south West, where she has lived for nearly forty years, painting and recently printmaking.

ANNE HINKINS
Studied at South Devon, Somerset and Farnham Colleges of Art. She works in all media, usually to a theme – portraits, allotments, gardens, cafes and bars. Boutiques and antique shops are among her current themes.

WENDY McBRIDE
Trained at Plymouth College of Art. Her work is inspired by the coast and countryside of Devon and Cornwall in all its changing moods and seasons.

MOIRA MELLOR
Trained at Glasgow School of Art, specialising in interior design. Worked in London as a designer and, after winning a national competition, as a design and fashion journalist. Since moving to Devon she has concentrated on painting and printmaking. Her work largely seeks out patterns within the man-made landscape.

WENDY NEWMAN
Trained at Bournemouth and Poole and Ravensbourne Colleges of Art and has taught art at King Edward College in Totnes for many years, as well as exhibiting regularly in the South West and beyond. Her work focuses on the landscape, particularly that which has been 'tampered' with by human presence. Her paintings are started outside, working directly on to canvas in the open and are finished in the studio where memory and feeling for a place change the initial marks and colours.

JENNY PERY
Trained at St Martin's, the Byam Shaw, Exeter and Camberwell Colleges of At. Has exhibited widely in Britain and abroad and also writes on art and artists. Her work is abstracted from studies of landscapes seen locally or on her travels. For many years she has specialised in monotypes, a halfway house between painting and printmaking.

PENNY ROBINSON
First trained as a dancer, joining the London Ballet Company in 1961. Later she studied drawing and painting at the London City Literary Institute. In 1979, she settled in Devon where she has taken part in many exhibitions in the South West and elsewhere. She enjoys working with pen and ink and oil crayon, also making monoprints and etchings – often combining all these mediums together.

RITA SMITH
Studied painting at Camberwell and the Slade and won a scholarship to travel in America. In 1993, she won the Guinness Award for the best first-time exhibitor at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. While living in London, her work was abstract, based on urban landscapes, but after moving to Cornwall, she has concentrated on still life and interiors in watercolour and oil. Etching is also an important part of her work, mainly based on architectural subjects.

STEPHEN TAYLOR
Studied art and design ad Dartington College of Art, and cultural studies at Middlesex University. He taught a cinema studies course at Plymouth Arts Centre in 1985 before becoming a member of the Association of Illustrators. He has three pieces in 'The Encyclopaedia of Coloured Pencil Techniques', and has completed various commissions as an illustrator. When multiple sclerosis made illustration difficult, he became a painter and has exhibited widely in the South West and elsewhere.

CLODY WAIN
Trained at Torquay and Cardiff Colleges of Art. After moving to Devon, she worked at the Hydrographic Office editioning and hand colouring 19th century prints, and ran workshops in schools, colleges and art centres. Her work reflects an affinity with specific places at particular moments. She does not wish to represent, but rather to evoke a memory by tonal depth and atmospheric play of light and dark.

VINCENT WILSON
Born and raised in North Wales, deeply influenced by the hills and moors of that area, especially in winter weather. He now finds inspiration in the countryside of Devon and Cornwall, evoking rather than describing. He has lived in the Plymouth region for over forty years, teaching in school and art college.

This page was last updated on 22/04/08.

In the event of any query, please email; webmaster@arielcentre.org.uk.