 JUDITH HARRISON
Bird on a Rock
Mixed media | | LOCKDOWN
As the UK lockdown continues, we hope all our subscribers are keeping safe and well. What a fantastic job our doctors and nurses are doing (not to forget all our key workers), and let us hope that strong science-led actions will bring this virus under control.
While the gallery remains closed, our team continues to work proactively to support local art, and our digital channels remain open to ensure you are kept up to date.
Meanwhile, we're delighted to report that we have been successful in our recent application to the Government's coronavirus business grants programme. The grant has come through swiftly and will help enormously through the current crisis. The gallery would otherwise have faced a huge and possibly insurmountable challenge. | | | A number of small independent businesses share our address at 56 Willow Street, and in these challenging times we're wishing all our fellow-tenants well... - At the Willow Eatery, Lindsay and her team
- Rachel at the Therapy Centre
- Beauticians Denise and Karen at Top to Toe
- Harry at Better by Design
- All the boys - Shaun, Nigel, Mike and Dan - at Avenue four Bespoke Furniture
| | | BUY ART ONLINE
We present an extensive selection of artwork as well as items from our shop online and can take telephone orders. We also have our Own Art scheme, allowing you to spread the cost over 10 monthly payments with no interest. Go to willowgalleryoswestry.org for full details. | |  | | LINDSAY DAVIES
From the Cycle Track 2
Acrylic on paper |  | | SUSAN MULCOCK
Pillar Rock, Stiperstones
Felted wool | | | For your sweetheart,
a handcrafted, one-of-a-kind present
SARA PIPER HEAP's amazing locket of mixed metals is inscribed with the words Home is wherever I'm with you | |  | | EILEEN HARRISSON In a Breton Garden Watercolour
Painted in the garden of Eileen's gîte in 2018 | | | This garden is at a lovely gîte in Southern Brittany very close to the Nantes-Brest Canal where I have stayed several times with my family. It is a very good location for me because, as a wheelchair-user, to go for a walk, all I need do is take the tree-lined path from the gîte to the canal. We have often had lovely weather during our visits, wonderfully enjoyed in the gîte's beautiful garden where we could drink in the sun and listen to the birds and sounds of water flowing over the weir on the nearby canal. The gîte's owners, Françoise and Hervé le Moëlle, have become our friends over the years and they have developed the garden into different areas to explore. I have made several sketches of the garden and its plants, and a sunlit morning drew me to paint this watercolour of the garden's trees and woods beyond, flowers spilling over onto the path that leads to the little back gate and, in the near ground, the archway through which you step into an enclosed area, meditative in its sheltered tranquillity. This is the garden in early September and some leaves are just beginning to take on the bronze tones of their autumn colours, but many retain the freshness of their greenery - and, with a sprinkling of flowers in full bloom and the whole bathed in warm sunlight, I felt that, despite its late-summer setting, the garden was still an appropriate image to share with everyone as a celebration of spring, new growth and hope. Eileen Harrisson, April 2020
ARPILLERA DOLL VIRTUAL EXHIBITION
| |  Eileen is also currently taking part in a virtual exhibition centring around arpillera dolls by makers from all over the world. Arpilleras are traditionally made in several South American countries, depicting landscapes, village life, nature scenes and other subjects in patchwork, appliqué, and embroidery. People also made arpilleras as a form of political protest.
Featuring dolls embodying a vast range of actions and emotions, the exhibition can be seen online at www.roevalleyarts.com*. Eileen's doll (RIGHT) relates to a stitched artwork by Basque textile artist Edurne Mestraitua based upon Picasso's anti-war masterpiece Guernica.* In Its non-virtual form, the gallery is situated in Limavady,
a market town in County Londonderry | | | NEW WORK FROM ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE DAVID BANNISTER | | | DAVID BANNISTER
Peaky
Oil on canvas | David's varied portfolio moves through landscapes of great depth and often mystic quality, abstract, graphic art and drawing. He also has a particular knock for portraiture, his many subjects including national and international political figures. He undertakes portrait and other commissions, and also practises and teaches Tai Chi.
Along with all our art classes, David's two workshops scheduled for this spring have had to be cancelled, but we hope to reschedule them when we re-open.
Check out more of David's work on his website. | |  | | DAVID BANNISTER Cataclysm Oil on canvas | | | NEW LINOCUT BY IAN PHILLIPS  The ruins of St Non's Chapel, near the village city of St David's, are accessible from the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path. In the centre of a neolithic stone circle, the chapel is held by tradition to be the birthplace of St David and named after the saint's mother. From here you may also be able to spot choughs, puffins, seals and dolphins.
Artist and printmaker Ian specalises in limited-edition linocuts, and his work is infused with the outdoor world, the subtleties of weather and the natural drama of the landscape. Some images are available as greetings cards, and he runs regular workshops. Find out more about Ian's work here. | | | CHILDREN: WE WANT YOUR ART! We are encouraging young artists to submit artwork in response to Covid-19. The art could express your own feelings during lockdown and the impact it's had on you, your family and friends - or be a thank you to the NHS and key workers. Your artwork will be displayed in our Dunbabin Room once we are up and running again. We also plan to start a Children's Art Page on our website.
All young artists welcome. Parents/Guardians are asked to scan or take a picture of the work and send it as an attachment to willowgalleryoswestry@gmail.com. The original artwork can then be brought in once we are open. | | | The Willow's volunteer finance officer Dr Mike Willis enjoying his garden during lockdown. A retired GP, under normal circumstances Mike is with us one day a week to ensure all day-to-day financial matters are dealt with in an organised and timely manner. Pianist and singer Mike also gets a great deal of pleasure from his music even while staying at home and cut off from his choir. If you are still working, thank you for keeping things going. If you're locked down at home and/or unable to work, we hope you are finding something to enjoy. | | |  The Repair Café is closed but is operating on a 'virtual' plane as described in the attached message from co-ordinator Elaine Locke. | | | ARMCHAIR TOURS OF THE WORLD'S TOP MUSEUMS | | A revelation - and no bumping into anyone! From the confines of your home, take a virtual tour around some of the world's best-loved museums and art galleries. For a taster, see 12 World-Class Museums You Can Visit Online. Or explore many, many, of the mostly free websites of individual galleries such as New York's Guggenheim or Florence's Uffizi. Indulge in your favourite art - classical, Old Masters, modern, abstract, contemporary sculpture, Impressionist delights, ethnic, there's something for everyone. Full of treasures, many smaller museums and galleries offer virtual tours too. |  MARK ROTHKO
Untitled (Violet, Black, Orange, Yellow on White and Red),
Oil on canvas
Guggenheim Collection, New York | | | GRAYSON'S ART CLUB Turner Prize-winning ceramicist Grayson Perry hosts six weekly programmes from his Islington studio in strict observance of lockdown rules, encouraging viewers to have a go at painting, pottery, sculpture and photography. The series started on 27 April: you can catch up on All 4 and see future programmes at 8pm on Channel 4. You can also submit your own artistic endeavours. | | CAPTAIN TOM HONOURED WITH BANKSY-STYLE MURAL
The Yorkshire-born World War II veteran has raised, to date, £30 million for NHS Charities Together after completing 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday (April 30). The mural celebrating his efforts was unveiled in Pontefract, West Yorkshire and was the creation of local artist Rachel List. | | | DAMIEN MAKES BUTTERFLY RAINBOW IN TRIBUTE TO NHS  David Hirst & Science Ltd This can be downloaded free from the artist's website and displayed in a window. A limited edition of the work is also being produced and will be sold with all profits donated to the NHS. | | Tel: 01691 657575
email: willowgalleryoswestry.gmail.com
Website: willowgalleryoswestry.org
Facebook: Willow
Address: 56 Willow Street, Oswestry, Shropshire SY11 1AD Editor: Hilary Moorcroft \ May 2020 | | | | | |
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