City Arts Newbury Generations exhibition a poignant family story
Generations: at City Arts, Hampton Road, Newbury, on Saturday (July 10) and Sunday (July 11), from 10am to 4pm.
THIS weekend City Arts are presenting the work of Caroline Moore and her mother Marianne Van Der Maas. The exhibition celebrates one life’s work and the beginnings of another - two very contrasting styles, but some of them made from the same paint.
Caroline is looking forward to the show, which has a very poignant background. She said: “It is wonderful to have the opportunity to showcase some of Marianne’s work. We have very contrasting styles and this is the first exhibition of its kind. We lost Marianne in 2012 to a stroke and the paints I inherited from her were the ones I used to begin my artistic journey to create my abstract acrylic pieces. I’m very excited to show the world what two different artists can create with the same materials, but with very different mind-sets.”
Twenty per cent of Marianne’s sales will be donated to Hayling Island donkey sanctuary in her memory, so that they can have the better life she wanted for them.
Caroline has been an artist for the last seven years - her work is abstract and colourful, reminiscent of coastlines or views from the sky as paint is poured and puddled and playfully mixes in the canvas. She explains how she came to art through her mother.
"One of my earliest memories I have as a child, was going to an art class for adults during a summer holiday while I wasn’t at school. My mum was a teacher at that point, moulding young minds and pursuing her passion for art while she had a break. I was tagging along books in tow, to keep myself amused while she worked, learnt and created.
"I didn’t mind – I was a child who enjoyed reading. On those balmy summer days I would happily sit outside and immerse myself in a different world. As I watched her mould raw materials into something beautiful, it never dawned on me that I could have joined in. She was always very encouraging, but I knew I could never do art the way she could.
"Towards the end of my 20s, she had a stroke. We were told that if she survived the following year, she might have a chance at a quality of life. Unfortunately, she did not. I remember holding her hand and staring at it, still in awe of the things that hand had created when it could recall how to hold a paintbrush.
"After she died, I received all her art and paints. A few years previously she had finished her fine art degree and had very bright acrylic paints in her arsenal of creativity. I thought to myself: What on earth could I do with them...?
"I started watching YouTube videos for inspiration, searching for methods which use acrylic paints. Preferably a lot of paint as I had so much of it! During this time I discovered fluid acrylic art and from my first piece I was hooked. There was no right or wrong, only what looked interesting. I loved the blending of colours, unpredictable effects and the science of adding things to the paint to get different results.
"I have been painting like this for the last 7 years.
"It does make me sad that there was no overlap. My mum never saw the work I now love to make today, and we certainly never exhibited with each other. Until now."
www.cityartsnewbury.co.uk
