THE GALLERY ABOVE - TREE THEMES EXHIBITION IN LINTON
Sarah Jenkins’ mysterious tree pot, thrown at he studio at Debden Saffron Walden
The Gallery Above in Linton has romped through the tangled landscape of restrictions and revisions of permitted gallery openings to succeed in an exciting show centred around the idea of trees. Trees are ubiquitous as a theme this Summer and appear to embody the hope and solidity of the natural world, but gallerist Rosemary Wellings has explored the theme in an arresting array in different genres.
Above is a ceramic expression from the Debden studio of Sarah Jenkins - Rosemary says of it, “Here the artist witnesses the enduring landscape exposed to the weather, the changing seasons, the progress of wild creatures in the margins, and ponder the various traces of human life”
Complex work by James Ravilious.,son of renowned artist Eric Ravilious joins the show, He trained as a fine artist but made an abrupt transition to photography inspired by the work of Henri Carter Bresson - he worked in Devon for nearly two decades, recording the lives of DevonIan farmers and their landscapes prior to extensive modernisation. Almost an elegy for trees, his work betrays his artistic heritage as well as creation of a style unique to his own choosing.
Hardly in need of an introduction is this extraordinary award winning basket by Debbie Hall which confidently dominates the plinth. Debbie Hall declares its tree origins as inspiration in her striking work:;
“Conceived with tree in mind, the tall straight open uprights speak of slender trunks, the open zig-zag weave of dappled light through leaves, the base has the solidity and rootedness of the tree. "
The exhibition also features the remarkably David Hockney-esque tree paintings of another Debbie - Baxter. Her work declares her Gallerist” celebrates trees in all their variety and beauty. their majesty and colour and urges us to love and conserve, protect and propogate trees as a key part of our ecosystem essential to our physical and mental well-being. Her" Silver birch walkway"is a painting you will want to pick up - and take the forest home with you. And it does have all the impact- in paint not lights - of the newest Hockney oeuvre - although I suspect Ms Baxter has worked on it for longer and before the new-style revelations of Mr. H.
More luminous and transcendent than impactful is the work of Pauline Jackson who studied at The Slade. She learned wood engraving and etching there. Her work is characterised by her use of the natural grain in the wood which she used to beautiful effect . Contemplate her dreamy evocations of the deep life of trees and leaves presented in a quasi-abstract miasma of paint.
Finally Carol Sinclair’s tree work finds a pride of place in the gallery show .Featured elsewhere in The Cambridge Critique this month, Carol has a unique take on nature to add to the depth of this extraordinarily brave exhibition.
Just as a bonus and a sign of tree commitment, the Gallery Above offers a ‘Baby Tree’ to every purchaser of a work of art. Inventive and original. Like all the work in the gallery.
Now open as part of the Open Studios Scheme, throughout July, the Gallery Above is in Linton.
