Branch Arts | Exhibition
Twelve Female Artists + Makers from Vigour and Skills
Emma Alcock | Kate Boucher | Mouse Cazalet | Susan Derges Sarah Gillespie | Jelly Green | Nina Murdoch
Jemma Powell | Hannah Tilson | Kelly Washbourne | Liz West | Lisa Wright
To celebrate the Spring Equinox and twelve hours of daylight, Branch curated an exhibition of female artist whose work depicts light or is influenced by different lights. Internationally acclaimed artists, showing alongside each other in Gothic House, an arts and crafts house in the centre of Charlbury, included wonderfully curated craft by Vigour and Skills. The exhibition welcomed over 1,000 visitors, hosted a dynamic programme of events and talks and ignited exciting collaborations.
As Chloe Ashby stated in the catalogue essay, For centuries women artists were confined to the shadows; this exhibition puts them in the spotlight – centre stage.
And now? Each of the twelve women featured in this group show reflects on light in different ways. Like that clutch of plucky artists with a radical approach to picture-making in 19th-century Paris, the photographer Susan Derges is intent on capturing its changeability, the way it moves and morphs from dawn until dusk. For Liz West, whose practice encompasses sculpture, architecture, painting and design, colour and light are inextricably entwined. The painter Emma Alcock would say the same for light and dark, an intimacy that plays out on her meditative canvases in the form of shadows, silhouettes and the gently glowing splinters in between. Nina Murdoch’s blazing paintings reveal light’s ability to make the ordinary extraordinary.
For further information about the exhibition or to view the works on sale please visit Reflection on Light
Robin Lane-Fox, Financial Times
“Jelly Green, a protegee of Maggi Hambling and my pick of the show. The light she represented is the light that keen nature lovers most relish’, the changing light and shadows in the green shade of a green forest.”
Tim Richardson, The Idler
“A country gallery of a different kind that’s also worth seeking out for its occasional exhibitions can be found in Charlbury. Gothic House is the home of artist and photographer Andrew Lawson and sculptor Briony Lawson. It’s filled with their own work as well as others. Their daughter Susie runs the curatorial consultancy Branch Arts. Catherine Cazalet’s landscapes are colourful, expressionistic and graphic in style – like linocuts, only achieved in goache and coloured pencil.”
Muddy Stilettos
“Branch Arts founder Susie Lawson has mastered the art of using private homes to show artworks in their best light. She recently held an exhibition called ‘Reflection on Light’ at Gothic House in the centre of Charlbury. It’s been the home of her two artist parents since 1982 and is filled with paintings, ceramics and handmade furniture, so it was the natural backdrop to celebrate 12 female artists whose work explores the theme of light.
The idea is that staging exhibitions in unconventional or domestic settings, like private homes, studios and gardens, helps buyers picture how they could live with an artwork, and tells the story behind each piece too.”