Open Studio Event

PRESS RELEASE
THE FORGE OPEN STUDIOS
Saturday and Sunday
21st and 22nd May 2016
11am - 5pm
A CREATIVE hub in Digswell, Welwyn announces a chance for the public to see new
works in May during a weekend of Open Studios.
Open Studios at The Forge is a celebration of the visual arts and creative process, offering
a unique opportunity to meet a wide variety of artists in their studios, which are only open
to the public during this event.
The diverse group of artists at The Forge, who exhibit both nationally and internationally,
will reveal their latest work and will be on site at the purpose built studios to meet visitors.
The artists are part of the renowned and long established Digswell Arts, which provides a
platform for artists to explore new ways of working and reach new audiences. Each artist
at Digswell takes a unique approach to their practice and exhibits widely.
A wide range of contemporary work will be on show, as well as individual pieces for sale
at the large purpose built space set in beautiful countryside. The Forge houses ten artist
studios as well as a print studio, equipped with one of the largest etching presses in the
country.
Visiting artists and complete beginners interested in print techniques will also be able to
talk with printmaker Sally Tyrie who runs popular print workshops at The Forge and an
‘Open Access’ programme.
Please contact Mandy Wax on 07753 672 731 for further information.
We are available for interviews or features.
Further information on the artists on the following pages.
The Forge
Hertford Road
Digswell
Welwyn
AL6 0BU
www.digswellarts.org
ARTIST PROFILES
Hideki Arichi is a British born Japanese artist, his work has primarily been
concerned with printmaking, drawing and painting. In 2014 he received the
East London Printmakers Prize at The National Original Print Exhibition at
London's Bankside Gallery.
Recently he has started to work with ceramics and enjoy the interplay of the
relationship between 2 Dimensions and 3 Dimensions.
Caryl Beach’s work represents the transient nature of our world. With a
beauty that lies in imperfection; impermanence; and an appreciation of the
simple integrity of natural objects and processes. Her work focuses on
observing and recording traces of the layers of history that echo a universal
theme of transience, absence and presence. She has recently exhibited with
Hertford Art Society and as part of exhibiting group ‘Praesentia’ at Parndon
Mill in Harlow.
After six months of intense experimentation, Sandy Campbell will be
revealing her exciting new body of expressive abstract paintings and
sculptures, entitled ‘Resistance’. The work reflects the artist's ongoing
engagement and fascination with materiality and surface, chronicling the
development and refinement of her evolving practice as she creates deep,
richly textured, complex surfaces full of meaning.
Jane Glynn’s work takes the form of drawings, paintings, books and
animations exploring stories and memories; she also makes diary and
calendar based work, using the ephemera of everyday life to create visual
records of passages of time. She is interested in recurring themes and
characters in traditional fairy and folk tales and in the way these enter our
subconscious and have a bearing on the ‘stories’ we relate about our own
lives. She will be showing new prints, books and animated stories.
Veronica Grassi makes three-dimensional abstract drawings. She works with
a wide range of materials from iron wire and steel rod to the finest silk and
invisible threads. Having had a busy year exhibiting in 2015, Veronica is now
working on new projects – ‘Tender Constructions II’ in the last year of her
Fellowship at Digswell Arts.
Julia Holt’s work focuses on the physicality of mark making, the play of light
on objects, and the beauty of the natural world and the way that we, as
human beings, affect it. She begins by reading philosophy and drawing from
nature, en plain air. The paintings go through a process using different
medias and are often multilayered. Julia uses oil paint, acrylic, pastels, pen,
pigment and collage and works both on canvas and paper but has a special
relationship with the absorption and playfulness that paper allows, creating
an uncertainty in her work which feels lively and energised.
Alex McIntyre will be sharing abstract landscapes inspired by a process of
walking, running and drawing areas of Hertfordshire and the UK. Her recent
work in ink and gesso on board focuses on light and seeks to communicate a
sense of what it feels like to be in, and travel through, the landscape. Visitors
to her debut at The Other Art Fair in 2015 commented that the work made
them feel calm and energised. Her forthcoming two-person exhibition with
sculptor Alex Harley will be at The Stone Space, Leytonstone from 23 June -
17 July 2016.
Sally Tyrie creates mixed media drawings and paintings working primarily
with multilayered printmaking, collage and machine stitch. Her work is
currently on show in a number of galleries around the country and is held in
many private and public collections. Most recent notable exhibitions include
‘Discerning Eye’, Mall Galleries, London, ‘Focus on Print’, Cardiff and
‘Eastern Approaches’, St. Albans Museum where her mixed media prints on
book pages won the ‘Best Applied Arts’ Prize.
Mandy Wax’s textile and installation work focuses on her interest in the
relationship and transition between states of anxiety, tranquility, and security.
She is interested is disrupting and distorting assumptions of comfort, luxury
and reassurance. Since the beginning of 2016 she has been working on a
new project ‘The Silent Rooms’, exploring in 3D what can and cannot be
spoken about. The first of her ‘rooms’ will be unveiled at The Forge open
studios.
Printmakers Simon Abbott, Mary Down, Suman Gujral and Itziar Olaberri
will also be showing a wide range of their prints at this event.
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