Check out 120 West Berks & North Hants artists and makers

Open Studios Insight Exhibition
at The Base, Greenham
until October 10
Review by JIM CROCKATT Pictures by PHIL CANNINGS

Let me give you a verbal tour of this magnificent exhibition, a representation of the 120 artists and makers that take part in Open Studios for West Berkshire and North Hampshire, including myself.

On entering the gallery you in fact enter into the Kintbury Canal, a massive majestic landscape by Richard Gray that hangs opposite two stunning studies of trees by Amanda Bates and opposite a delightful comic study of nautical whimsy by Louise Angus. Opposite is a beautifully executed picture of a girl worthy of such artistry called New Day by Trudy Good.

Susan Kirkman comes up trumps with Dean Village with bold masterly brush strokes and by contrast, a wonderfully-observed study of a giraffe in motion in monochrome by Bryony Wingfield Digby, below which is a plinth supporting a plethora of delicately crafted hats by Emma Moscow, and above an atmospheric study of The Shard by Isabel Carmona as a calagraph, in shades of blue.

Lisa Mounteer-Watson returns triumphantly to the show with Eternity Sunrise, veritably popping out of the wall.

The inner sanctum, a room within the room is dominated in front of you by a large canvas upon which layers of dazzling colour and varnishes entice you into this most striking of pieces by Samantha Emmons.

On opposite walls are large, beautifully printed photographic interiors of rooms in degrade, a work of extraordinary talent and intensity of detail by Gina Soden.

And now for the craft and a lot of it, as varied as it is engaging – 52 ceramic pieces, 10 works in wood, six sculptures, three pieces in glass and a jewellery cabinet, as well as the 106 paintings already visited.

There’s John Brazendale’s wonderfully crafted Blue Ceramic Wall with pieced and impressed abstract design. Cait Gould has produced elegant domestic ware with two white and blue jugs, while Moya Tosh shows ambitious studies of birch bark to great visual effect as does Rebecca Maynard’s Woman with Bird and the joyous Bird or Mouse by Katherine Kingdon.

Woodworker Jon Townsin – prizewinner for this year’s OS INSIGHT Exhibition – superb pieces including a beautifully-crafted lamp. Paul Harvey displayed three stunning birds.

As we leave the gallery through the foyer we are immediately drawn to Ann Hoddinott’s large majestic panoramic landscape The North Wessex Downs. As you depart the show you are challenged by the searing stare of an orangutan brilliantly executed by Claire Howarth and beside this a magnificent Portrait of Chief Commander Yaaba by Joanna Wild.

An excellent exhibition.

The WBNH Open Studios artists are required to be accredited and this is amply reflected in the quality and vision of the work.

https://www.open-studios.org.uk