Studios now open, come on in
INSIGHT 2024: Open Studios exhibition at The Base, Greenham review by LIN WILKINSON
THE Open Studios taster exhibition was buzzing on the opening morning, testament to the fact that it not only stands as a show in its own right, but helps viewers decide which artists’ studios they might like to visit this month.
There’s a lot of 3D work this year, predominantly ceramics.
Kevin Akhurst’s Vessel 2 has delicate bands of blue and earthen hues, with an irregularly shaped rim. Charlotte Glynn’s Woven Vessel gleams in its materiality; Julia Bowes contrasts the multi-coloured metallic body with the flat-black neck of her glazed raku pot.
Sally Courage’s asymmetrical ‘spotted pots’ reference the form of ancient pitchers.
Diana Barraclough’s Flow is a pleasing column made up of ceramic elements. As ever, Ursula Waechter’s functional tin-glazed earthenware is beautifully made and decorated.
Martin Eastabrook’s ceramic jug is striking in its scale, simplicity of form and restricted colour. Shirley Eccles shows superbly conceived and crafted glass bowls, the large platter stunning in its monochromatic minimalism. Painters are always wellrepresented. Georgina Bouzyk’s impressionistic painting has a real sense of warm light.
One of Kevin Scully’s small oils is built round the dazzling yellow of a rape field under a brooding sky of soft-edged rectangles – mauve, blue and emerald green.
In the thoughtful Adrift, David H Jones continues to interrogate the
... it not only stands as a show in its own right, but helps viewers decide which artists’ studios they might like to visit this month
visual effects of the placement and overlay of small colour elements. The steeply vertical perspective, limited but vibrant palette and black outlines are central to the dynamism of Sydney Klugman’s acrylic Forevermore.
In Summer Light, Gill Banks pushes into abstraction in a composition of shape, form and colour, as does Jane Baikie’s mixed-media seascape, which exudes a sense of water in flux.
Elizabeth Baldin’s ink and watercolour Back to the Lakes combines a sense of tranquillity with compositional positivity.
In a diversion from her usual practice, Samantha Emmons shows a collaborative work, an excised wooden column by Jim Crockatt coated with Emmons’ trademark glossy polychromatic surface. Amanda Bates’ ink and watercolour composition Interwoven, a tangle of tree roots, is a masterclass in draftsmanship; Brian Marchant’s charming black and white pen drawing shows a similar concern with detail.
By contrast, Emma Clifton-Brown’s pencil drawing The Space Between is an elusive, drifting image; Helen Lunn’s coloured ink composition
speaks of movement.
In Hilary Arnold-Baker’s small collage, irregular forms are held together compositionally by two crossed scarlet strips.
Joan Crawford’s Winning Ticket is built round sharply linear elements; Secret Garden by Rachel Davis is a riot of rich colour with a sense of enclosure.
Emily Barrett’s Mayowa Sleeping is boldly expressive; Jill Hobbs teams vivid acidic colour with a stylised approach in Jack the Lad.
Kusum Shabong’s ‘all-over’ composition of fading flowerheads attracts with its colour balance and delicacy.
Jon Townsin’s contemporary lamps are as much sculptures as functional objects, with pierced wooden housings, one in oak, the other in black walnut and rippled sycamore, containing the light source.
Gavin Wilkinson shows multi-media sculptures concerned with physicality and balance, and a conceptual demolition of Trump – if only…
Woodworker Colin Underhay surprises by moving from his familiar outdoor benches to showing three shallow wooden vessels, with blackened, burnt areas.
All still reflect his unmistakeable approach; truth to materials and a sense of monumentality.
Emma Green’s assemblage of curiosities draws parallels with the work of Peter Blake.
Flora Gare contrasts the physical reality of copper elements with the painted features over which they hover.
Tom Cartmill’s work is recognisable by his use of black and white: the cracking on the surface of two
‘Grids’ suggests depth.
Among the photographers, Karen Bennett’s black and white image of a grey horse’s bowed head and neck, contextless and in profile, talks about universal equine qualities. Nick Collins shows two resolved black and white images, including the nicely seen and constructed Escher Staircase.
Gina Soden’s large, mysteriously impressive digital photograph Hotel Bedding begs the question; is this a ‘real’, a constructed or a composite image?
There’s much to enjoy in Pam Hardman’s two composite collagraphs, Rhythm 1 gentle and limpid, Rhythm 2 deeply coloured, with an underwater feel.
Sarah Martinez’s silkscreen print Shark’s Alphabet exploits out-ofregister printing to visually disrupt. In Mark Bijak’s Pop Art-inspired giclée print, a physical element is combined with print.
A strong showing by jewellers includes Paula White’s striking, heavily clustered neck-pieces in silver, bone and semi-precious stones.
Erica Adams’ basket-work succeeds on both a small and a large scale. Helen Mortimer’s hand-painted silk scarf with linear motifs pleases, as do Sue Cook’s sustainable textiles, which use natural dyes on banana fabric, with gestural mark-making. Emma Moscow’s imaginative hats include the irresistible Deco Cocktail hat. Black with gold thread, it unmistakeably alludes to that era. The exhibition is open daily (10am till 5pm) until May 27.
Free, but booking required (www.thebasegreenham.co.uk; 01635 522733).