Base ‘taster’ for Open Studios West Berks & North Hants a refreshing insight to artists work
Insight 2025: Open Studios taster exhibition
at The Base Greenham
until May 26
Review by LINWILKINSON
THIS year’s Open Studios’ taster show, thoughtfully curated and hung, pleasingly includes many new names.
As you enter the gallery you are confronted by Karen Bennett’s tightly cropped, imposing photograph of a grey horse, neck flexed. Pin-sharp, accentuated by the soft grey-rose background, this portrait has the sense of Classical statuary.
Gina Soden shows two photographs of the empty and decaying interiors she favours, one utterly Baroque, the other the surprisingly colourful wing of a disused gaol. Brian Daws has two strongly composed black and white photographs, one a bearded cross-legged man with a piercing gaze, the second a centrally placed small boat beneath moody clouds.
Hilary Arnold Baker’s two small bowls in gessoed papier-mâché have an Ancient feel, one shining with copper leaf. Kevin Akhurst’s two elegant vessels, one pit-fired, the other smoke-fired, both have attractive amorphous markings. Moya Tosh shows two irregularly shaped ceramic pieces, Stone Circle suggesting the Ancient world.
Andrew Haselden’s work always references his time at Aldermaston Pottery. His beautiful glazed tondino bowl is rimmed with swan motifs; his Two-gallon Jug, with an octopus motif, evokes Ancient pots.
Helen Long’s trio of porcelain vessels bear delicate markings; Sally Bettridge’s Homage to JM, a square earthenware vessel with coloured marks, is a stylistic departure. Teresa Munn’s collection of ovoids on a ‘folded’ base are redolent with memory.
Several artists have taken Donnington Castle as a motif: John Brazendale in two coloured stoneware tiles; Nick Collins, with a linear approach in ink and watercolour; and Isobel Carmona Andreu in a pleasing collograph.
The sea is the inspiration in the saturated colours of Rosemary Derwent’s silk scarf, and in Anne Sayer’s lively glass platters. Shirley Eccles, ever inventive, presents two bowls and a platter in milky white glass, each with a wide slash of bright blue. Simply stunning.
Of the jewellers, Sandra McArdle’s very pleasing silver napkin holders stand out, along with Deborah Mallam’s two pendant sets in silver with enamel.
Among the painters, Gaila Adair’s two moody oils, in strong but subtle colour, have impastoed surfaces. Tracey Clarkson shows a colourful vortex, delphiniums the original motif; Deborah Caulfield’s pleasing abstracted acrylic has collaged elements. Medium and approach coalesce in Simon Pink’s almost Pop Art treatment of two brightly coloured seascapes.
Conventional subject matter is superbly handled as always by Tessa Kirby, every brushstroke carefully considered in her watercolour of roses and fruit. Of Shirley Cartey’s two seascapes, the small scale of the mixed-media drawing Svalbard, Archipelago works particularly well.
Fine draftmanship and detail in Demi Lang’s Parisian boulangerie, and in Amanda Bates’ ink drawing of gnarled trees. Hyper-realism in Amy Malikov’s still life, skilfully rendered in strong, warm colour.
Rachel Davis shows the softly pleasing Hollyhocks, and in Fell Victoria Calder has pushed into almost total abstraction. Jill Hobbs’ busy mixed-media works are composite images of boyhood. In two works, David H Jones continues to investigate the retinal and perspectival effects of carefully placed stipples of colour.
Tom Cartmill’s monochrome, cracked, grid-like, pencil-on-paper pieces have a sculptural quality and a quiet presence.
Sarah Martinez’s colourful screenprint shows fish forms on a formal background of squares; the whole has a sense of fun and movement. Unusually, she also shows a ceramic platter, with linear decoration.
Johannes von Stumm’s rigorously conceived and superbly made sculptures include One, in interlocking glass and limestone. Diana Pattenden’s bronzes Oryx and Zebu are finely crafted.
Kathy Ross shows Detritus, a creature-like form made with found materials. Mair Edwards shows stitched textile pieces, one emphasising the ubiquity of the mobile phone, here tucked into the back pocket of a pair of jeans. Emma Green’s wall-piece Curiosities, a wooden-framed assemblage of myriad compartmentalised objects, is reminiscent of Peter Blake’s work.
Woodworkers Malcolm and Suzanne Henwood’s Milk Pear Table has a rustic feel; David Goss has crafted a large platter from a recycled oak kitchen worktop. Colin Underhay, here working on a small scale, shows three wooden pieces, including Crescent, with its pleasing form and solidity, and the burnt and incised Black Bowl.
Open daily 10am-5pm.
