Martin is a former graphic designer, and is now a self-taught landscape artist, having sold paintings to collectors world-wide. He takes his inspiration from the beautiful British countryside; something he’s had a love for since childhood, through his passion for angling.

With an incredibly visual, active mind, British contemporary artist Rachel Ducker has an insatiable desire to create and make. Well practiced in life drawing and with an appreciation of the human form and the emotional dynamics of human nature, combined with being originally trained as a jeweller, lead her to experiment with wire as a medium for sculpting the human form, capturing something ephemeral, either emotive or active.

Her pieces are untitled due to her belief that everyone sees something different in the sculptures and her lack of suggestion leads them to live that moment she portrays in their own particular way, therefore expanding the piece of work further with every viewer.

The translucency and form of her work allows rather dramatic shadows to be cast and with the right lighting, can show the three dimensional form on a two dimensional level creating an effect resembling a pencil sketch on the wall.

Rachel uses no model and she doesn’t form the shape around anything. The posture is first designed and then the pieces are carefully molded by hand and then gradually added to, wrapping wire, layer by layer. Her satisfaction with the posture can be instantaneous or take days and every angle important right to the tip of the finger and to a millimetre of adjustment until just right. She discovered that the slightest movement in the angle of the hand or fingers, or the tilting of the head changes everything the figure is portraying.

Her sculptures being featureless leaves the posture to say all, expressing the feeling. The hair creating the scene, making all more turbulent, dramatic, adding latent movement and tenacity. She is very focused on people watching and body language and how people express themselves physically and all goes along side her keen interest in psychology.

Her inspiration may come from the human form, but she is also greatly inspired by different materials, found objects and new techniques and is keen to combine mediums, finding it often leading to new ideas, which Rachel is never short of!
The wire work keeps her more than busy, supplying over twenty galleries in the UK alone, various exhibitions and numerous private commissions globally. But Rachel tries to keep her active mind diverse in it’s creativity. She still makes her silver cast  jewellery to commission and enjoys experimenting with painting, life drawing monoprints, photography and is keen to try animation with the wire figures, as well as constantly moving on with the sculpture.

Julia Brown – Biography, CV and Artist Statement 2024

Biography
Yorkshire based artist Julia Brown works primarily in oil painting. Initially completing her Fine
Arts degree in 2000 and practicing for 3 years, Julia reluctantly drifted away from painting
full-time, first working as a concept artist, graphic designer, then running her own book
design and illustration business. The return to her Fine Art roots came gradually but
passionately, culminating in the decision to commit full-time to her practice once more in
2018 after growing interest in her work.
Moving to a new studio near her home in West Yorkshire in 2023, Julia’s work continues to
evolve. Alongside working en plein air, Julia frequently gathers inspiration by using ‘random’
photography as a passenger moving through a landscape—often capturing unexpected
fleeting moments and unique atmospheres that work their way into her contemporary
landscapes.
Julia was shortlisted for the New Light Art Prize (2020/21), the Cooper Prize 2021, and the
Tarpey Open 2021, the latter leading to regular appearances with the gallery. She continues
to build her career by showing with several galleries across the UK and running her own
website selling original artworks.

EXHIBITIONS/SHOWS
Galleries:
Tarpey Gallery, Castle Donington, Derbyshire/UK
The Sculpture Lounge (Pop Up/Online only)
Cupola Contemporary Art, Sheffield, South Yorkshire/UK 
The Look Gallery, Helmsley, North Yorkshire/UK 

Group Shows:
2023 – Contrast and Connections Tarpey Gallery, Castle Donington, Derbyshire/UK
2023 – The Sculpture Lounge Summer Exhibition, Holmbridge, Holmfirth/UK
2023 – Cupola Contemporary Art, Sheffield/UK
2022 – Degrees of Abstraction, Tarpey Gallery, Castle Donington, Derbyshire/UK
2022 – The Sculpture Lounge Summer Exhibition, Holmbridge, Holmfirth/UK
2022 – Meet the Locals; Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield/UK
2021 – Tarpey Gallery Open 2021, Tarpey Gallery, Castle Donington, Derbyshire/UK
2021 – 30th Anniversary Show, Cupola Contemporary Art, Sheffield/UK
2021 – The Sculpture Lounge Summer Exhibition, Holmbridge, Holmfirth/UK

2021 – The Cooper Prize, Cooper Gallery, Barnsley/UK
2020/21 – ‘Ubuntu’ Cupola Contemporary Art, Sheffield/UK
2020/21 – New Light Art Prize Biennial Exhibition (Touring/UK – Scarborough Art Gallery;
Tullie House, Carlisle; The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle upon Tyne; Bankside Gallery, London)
2003 – Affordable Art Fair, London/UK
2002 – Affordable Art Fair, London/UK
2000 – In Gallery MODE, London (Graduate Showcase)
PRIZES
2021 – The Cooper Prize – Shortlisted
2020/21 – New Light Art Prize – Shortlisted

Artist’s Statement
My current work is a response to the environment around me. I get swept up with elemental
nature surrounding me—changing seasons, light and weather, as I muse on humanity’s past,
present and future relationship with our landscapes whilst out walking or running. Even in the
quietest, most windswept and unpopulated places, human presence can be evident: an
overgrown path, tumbledown wall or rotted posts: signs of interference—past or present, an
echo of what once was. My paintings explore this relationship—whether it’s a story of decay
and return to the earth, or one of building a sustainable future for our planet.
Alongside working en plein air, I frequently gather inspiration by using ‘random’ photography
as a passenger moving through a landscape—often capturing unexpected fleeting moments
and unique atmospheres that work their way into my paintings back in the studio.
My work often evolves quickly from thin, layered washes of oil paint daubed onto the primed
support, allowing the pigments, solvent and gravity to help with the mixing process on the
surface of the work. Making decisions about whether to intervene is key. Passages of
moving paint remain, others are wiped back with rags, before repeating the process and
building the paint further with different tools and techniques.

Lucy Kinsella’s work ranges from delicate table-top bronzes to life size and monumental sculpture. Her work aims to express the gestures, personality, character, and spirit of her chosen subject. Some of her sculptures take on dynamic, interactive forms, while others convey the serenity or brooding presence of a static form. Kinsella’s trademark lies in her expressive handling of materials, which beautifully captures the movement and energy of her chosen subjects. 

Obsessing over technical experimentation has informed the abstraction of my sculpture. In truth I am an abstract artist working within the framework of animal or human figurative. This muscular canvas holds my expression. To create a sense of intimacy, to draw you in to my personal aesthetic. I hope to preserve our sense of self value through a reflection of the human experience.

Graeme has been sculpting for many years, and is self taught in figurative sculpture. In the early 90s, he built models for theme parks before progressing to prop-making.  He has been exhibiting his own sculptures  for the last 20 years. He sculpts in clay and fibreglass. His recent figurative works are surreal, and provocative.

Graham won the 2023 ‘sculpture of the year’ award at the Cotswold Sculpture Park, as seen in the profile image. This was awarded for his sculptures ‘Wolves’ and ‘In Haste’ working as one installation. 

Renée Kilburn is a professional ceramic artist, who moved from Sweden to
England in 1994 to study Ceramic Design at Central saint Martin’s College of
Art and Design in London.

Deciding to stay in the UK, she now lives in Weston-Super-Mare and creates
unique brightly glazed work by making a basic shape that is either coiled, slab
built or press moulded. Hand modelled details are added to give each piece a
sense of movement and it is not important to copy nature, but to evoke in the
viewer a smile that one automatically gets when seeing the wonders of colours
and shapes in nature.

Renée’s chosen material is a high fired white stoneware clay that makes every
piece frost proof and suitable for display outdoors. Every detail is hand painted
with shiny, brightly coloured glazes that make the pieces come to life in the 3 rd
and final firing.

Ed creates eye-catching recycled stainless-steel sculptures for the home and garden. They depict iconic and well-loved animals, particularly birds. He is inspired by his local wildlife that lives along a river estuary in the South Hams. He gets to see a breadth of animal life that spans from Dartmoor to the coast. Ed takes his encounters and brings them here for you to enjoy today. Realism and the use of negative and positive space are two techniques that form his style.

He prefers stainless for its highly reflective surface and the ability to recreate delicate and intricate forms. The use of second-hand metal offers Ed the opportunity to honour his environment and add an extra layer of curiosity.

He first constructs the sculptures from cardboard and then tig welds them together. The metal is collected locally from charity shops and industrial estates.

He prefers wild animals, as it is a subject that is widely appreciated. Wild places are where Ed continuously goes back to for rest and solitude. Animals are what catch his attention the most. They are neutral subjects that allow him to detach from himself and enjoy a greater perspective on life.

At school he studied Art and Design and Product Design and received a Distinction on a Diploma course in Art and Design at Derby College. He is currently a member and exhibits with South Hams Arts Forum and South West Sculptors. His work has featured on his local BBC news network Spotlight and for several years has exhibited in several locations in England.

Ed’s parents gave him the opportunity to practice his interest of welding at home alongside his studies. His skills were later enhanced by a Tig welding course at Plymouth College.

Looking to the future, Ed plans to continue using recycled stainless and his style of realism and negative space. He would like to: Expand his portfolio of bird sculpture; Explore different ways they can be perched and how they interact with their environment; He would like to create larger sculpture and other ways to capture motion.

He is interested in the conservation of his local river estuary and would like to study a wide range of animals that are important in the eco system. He would like to help bring them to life and further into the public domain.

Jill is an Essex based sculptor and puppet maker. She has exhibited extensively, mostly in the UK, including RA Summer Exhibition,  Discerning Eye, Society of Women Artists  and Royal Society British all at the Mall Galleries, RWA Annuals Bristol, Made London, Sculpture Gallery Leeds, and group exhibitions as a member of ArtCan. She has won the VAO Sculpture prize and Sculpture and Founders prizes at the Discerning Eye. She works as a commercial sculptor in a wide variety of fields but has always continued her own practice.