An inspiring display of sculpture by Anita Mandl and photography by Steve Russell, in collaboration with Gallery Pangolin, Stroud.
Where would we be in a world without animals and birds? Their beauty astounds, their diversity is myriad. Both Anita Mandl and Steve Russell celebrate these
in their very different ways. The animal world Mandl carves and casts is tightly hewn in form bringing to life the essential character of her avian and mammalian subjects.
Russell explores wildlife large and small with the knowledge of their place into an ecological jigsaw puzzle of immense complexity.
Anita Mandl is already represented in the Nature in Art Collection, with this exhibition being a perfect opportunity to see a larger collection of her work. Nature in Art acquired ‘Prostrate Buffalo’ in 2005, a cast resin marble sculpture of a buffalo lying down. (below). Steve Russell also had a solo exhibition here in 2013.
There will be a preview evening for this exhibition on Thursday 9th May. Please click here to find out more.
Anita Mandl:
Born in Prague, Mandl (1926-2022) trained as a zoologist and studied sculpture at the Birmingham College of Art. She was a Member of the Royal West of England Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Sculptors. Her carvings, mostly in stone, are cast into editions in bronze and
silver. Her deep knowledge of animal anatomy and behaviour informed her sculptures which are skilfully pared down to convey the very nature of a species. Their economy of language, their smooth and lustrous surfaces, together express the essential characteristics of an animal.
Steve Russell:
Born in the UK, Russell (b. 1969) has shot photographs since he was a child, his passion for the camera eventually prompting his father into building him a darkroom. That proved an enlightened investment, ultimately helping Russell transform a schoolboy hobby into an award-winning career. Frequent journeys to East Africa over the last twelve years have provided Steve with huge inspiration and the opportunity to photograph an impressive variety of animals and bird species as well as staggering scenery, from the Rwenzori Mountains of Western Uganda to the Tanzanian coastline. https://www.steverussellstudios.com/
https://www.gallery-pangolin.com/
FULLY BOOKED
Course Suitability: Absolute Beginners – Advanced
Maximum Capacity: 12
Course Description:
Together we will work through a stage by stage process to create a painting of a bird or butterfly in Oils or Acrylics- using an ‘islands to oceans’ method of working. We are aiming to make the eyes come alive and create a painting full of energy and vibrant colour. I hope to inspire you with some new ideas and techniques to take away with you and apply to your own work.
Images will be supplied for you to work from …but if you want to work from your own image please bring it as both a photo and a print out (see below). For good (free to use) reference images see www.pixabay.com
The better the reference image – the better the painting!
Materials List:
What will be supplied:
- 8” x 8” gessoboard
What to bring:
- A colour photograph of your image on an ipad/ tablet. Or printed off at least 5” x 5”.
- A black and white print out of your square cropped image as large as you can make it on an A4 piece of paper eg:
- A selection brushes eg. Rosemary Ivory Short Flats nos. 2,3,5, Ivory Filbert size 0
- A selection of artist quality paints oils or acrylics eg. Daler Rowney starter set.
- Palette knife – eg. Winsor and Newton size 22
- Paper Palette and a box to take your work home in.
- Oils only: A jar and some low odour thinners/ white spirit substitute for cleaning your brushes, some rags or plenty of tissues to wipe brushes clean.
Optional extra items
- ‘Liquin’ painting medium if working in oils
- A ‘Stay-wet’ palette if working in acrylics
Artist’s Profile
Lucy is an oil painter and teacher, living in Leamington Spa. Whatever the subject matter, Lucy encourages students to apply the paint in a dynamic and interesting way: focusing on colour mixing, brushwork and composition. She paints commissions, sells her work and exhibits locally with ‘Leamington Studio Artists’ and has also worked as the ‘Artist in Residence’ at ‘The Artroom’ Gallery in Leamington, painted live at ‘Blenheim Palace Flower Show’ , been a wildcard artist on ‘Landscape Artist of the Year’ and exhibited with ‘Warwickshire Open Studios’. Find out more about Lucy at www.lucyburtonart.com
Course Cost:
A £25 non-refundable deposit is required on booking. Full course price is:
Members of Nature in Art: £55
Non-members of Nature in Art: £69
The annual selling exhibition of the Wildlife Art Society International (TWASI). Over 320 works both 2D and 3D. The society provides a focus for the interests of wildlife artists, painters, sculptors and photographers both professional and part time.
TWASI was founded in 1992 and has grown to be one of the leading Wildlife Art Societies in the UK and continues to grow in recognition internationally.
The basic aims of the Society are the promotion of the wildlife art genre in its own right, whilst providing a focus for the interests of all wildlife artists, painters, sculptors and photographers whether they are professional, serious amateur or leisure artists.
There will be demonstrations everyday.
The exhibition will be held in a marquee on the front lawn. Free Entry.
An exhibition of work by Gloucestershire Lettering Arts embracing diverse calligraphy and lettering on the wall, in books, on boxes, pots and textiles. A wide range of styles and techniques transforming words into beautiful works of art. Demonstrations every day.
The group began life as Glevum Scribes, founded in 1991 by professional scribes, sculptors, engravers and tutors, who wished to form a group for people to share their lettering-based interests and to learn from each other. It continues to flourish with a membership of over 60 people.
This exhibition will take place in the Atrium of the Education Centre. Free entry.
COURSE CANCELLED
Course Suitability: Absolute Beginners – Improvers
Maximum Capacity: 12
Course Description:
This fun & interesting one day course will provide an introduction to making origami wildlife – animal, birds, insects, flowers, fungi and other natural forms, including “action models” that jump, flap, fly or just look beautiful.
Origami is the Japanese art of paper-folding, and this course is suitable for absolute beginners through to improvers. Tony will introduce students to, and explore with them, a range of basic and more involved origami techniques, styles and paper types and their application to the art.
Tony has a particular interest in “upcycling” paper products such as tourist leaflets, flyers, post cards, old magazines etc, and these materials will be used whenever possible and appropriate during the day. Expect a hands-on and fun course and leave with a boxful of paper creations, and ideas to explore further.
Materials List:
The tutor will provide the required materials for course participants. *The cost per person will be £3 per person (cash) which will be paid to Tony by the participants on the day of the course.
Artist’s Profile:
Tony O’Hare is an origami artist living in Monmouth. He has folded paper since childhood, and was Chair of the British Origami Society (BOS) from 2016-2022. He has created hundreds of his own designs on a variety of subjects, and has had 4 booklets of his original work published by the BOS. Tony tends to focus on the natural world and subjects close to home, often with a humorous angle to them. Tony’s origami motto is “Keep folding, Keep Smiling”.
See Tony’s website www.smiley-origami.me.uk or his Facebook page www.facebook.com/smileyorigami for more information.
FULLY BOOKED
Course Suitability: Absolute Beginners – Beginners
Maximum Capacity: 12
Course Description:
We will be exploring different techniques in watercolour painting including loose watercolour, wet-in-wet etc. This course is suitable for the beginner so come along and have fun. We will aim to produce a painting of an animal of your choice.
Materials List:
Please bring with you a front facing picture of an animal or bird of your choice.
The tutor will provide the rest of the required materials for course participants. *The cost per person will be £10 (cash) which will be paid to me by the participants on the day of the course.
Artist’s Profile:
Maz is a retired primary school teacher and has been painting and crafting with nature for about 10 years. She regularly sells work at local craft fayres and is a volunteer at Nature in Art where she assists with the teaching of children and adults. Maz has previously run a beginner watercolour course at Gloucester Arts & Crafts Group.
Course Cost:
A £25 non-refundable deposit is required on booking. Full course price is:
Members of Nature in Art: £55
Non-members of Nature in Art: £69
To book a place on this course, please click here.
Course Suitability: Absolute Beginners – Advanced
Maximum Capacity: 12
Course Description:
We will look at arranging and lighting a jar of seasonal flowers with different coloured backgrounds, creating interesting and unusual compositions and colour relationships. We will then sketch out our composition on the canvas, before applying the paint in a dynamic and interesting way: focusing on colour, brushwork and composition.
Materials List:
What will be supplied:
- A jar of Seasonal flowers
- Coloured backgrounds
What to bring:
- A canvas min A4, max A3, rectangular or square
- A selection brushes eg. Rosemary Ivory Short Flats nos. 2,3,5, Ivory Filbert size 0
- A selection of artist quality paints oils or acrylics eg. Daler Rowney starter set.
- A spotlight or anglepoise desk lamp
- Palette knife – eg. Winsor and Newton size 22
- Paper Palette and a box to take your work home in
- A phone or IPAD for taking photos
- Oils only: A jar and some low odour thinners/ white spirit substitute for cleaning your brushes, some rags or plenty of tissues to wipe brushes clean.
Optional extra items
- ‘Liquin’ painting medium if working in oils
- A ‘Stay-wet’ palette if working in acrylics
- A nice vase or jug from home that you may like to paint your flowers in.
Artist’s Profile:
Lucy is an oil painter and teacher, living in Leamington Spa. Whatever the subject matter, Lucy encourages students to apply the paint in a dynamic and interesting way: focusing on colour mixing, brushwork and composition. She paints commissions, sells her work and exhibits locally with ‘Leamington Studio Artists’ and has also worked as the ‘Artist in Residence’ at ‘The Artroom’ Gallery in Leamington, painted live at ‘Blenheim Palace Flower Show’ , been a wildcard artist on ‘Landscape Artist of the Year’ and exhibited with ‘Warwickshire Open Studios’. Find out more about Lucy at www.lucyburtonart.com
Course Cost:
A £25 non-refundable deposit is required on booking. Full course price is:
Members of Nature in Art: £55
Non-members of Nature in Art: £69
To book a place on this course, please click here.
Richard Deacon CBE
This display features work by renowned artists and sculptors and comes from Explorers Against Extinction, a campaigning charity with whom Nature in Art has worked in the past.
Amongst the exhibitors are Richard Deacon CBE, Emily Young FRBS, Peter Randal-Page RA, Andy Goldsworthy OBE, Michael Pinsky, David Nash OBE RA, Eleanor Lakelin, Julian Stair OBE, Jon Foreman, Conrad Shawross, Sebastiao Salgado and Michael Kenna.
Extinction is a new initiative for 2024/25 that highlights the effects of climate change issues through art and will help highlight the work and campaigns of the charity.
Selected sculptors and artists were invited to create a special collection of artworks highlighting climate change, including artworks featuring fossils, artefacts, sediments and landscapes from Happisburgh on the east coast of England where Explorers Against Extinction is based. Some participants have produced video works and others have made sculpture using materials taken from Happisburgh itself. David Nash OBE RA, for example, has made a piece from 800,000 – 1 million year old wood preserved in the early sediments found on Happisburgh beach.
Happisburgh is the site of the earliest known human occupation in the UK, dating back 900,000 years. It will be one of the first UK communities lost to coastal erosion. As its sand cliffs are eroded, relics of extinct species and early humans who lived nearly one million years ago are exposed. Fossils from mammoths, elephants and rhinos are found on the beach, together with ancient flint tools and wood from drowned forests – all made extinct by historic climate change.
Extinction takes these relics and uses them to highlight the devastating consequences of climate change through time. Some works will highlight today’s endangered species, threatened by manmade climate change.
The Extinction exhibition is to be launched in April at the Palace of Westminster and then start its tour at Nature in Art. Later it will be visiting Edinburgh, London and Norwich before being shown elsewhere.
Last September saw the death of Nature in Art’s founder, David Trapnell, aged 95. His interest in art and nature was obvious as a boy and, even though he spent his working life as an eminent radiologist, it seemed inevitable that those early influences would emerge in a profound way at some point in his life. Being married to the artist Elizabeth Gray (also known as Ben Venuto), who died in 2022, was the inspiration he needed to embark on what he called ‘his second wind’ – an enthusiastic passion for discovery and learning in the arts that resulted in the establishment of Nature in Art.
David was always a collector. He said that his first collection as a boy was ‘stickers off bananas’(!), but in later life his collecting interests included fossils and stones (which he also polished) to buttons and bottles, clay pipes to bird skulls, postmarks (for which he was an acknowledged expert and published many books and papers) and eighteenth century newspapers to orchids. Even though, for a long time, he was not involved at the coal face at Nature in Art, he was a trustee until his death and was always cheering and encouraging from the sidelines and looking for new additions that might be considered for the collection.
Just a few months before he died, he saw an intriguing door finger plate (made by Spode) with a nature inspired decoration. He wondered whether there were any collections of these items anywhere and set about contacting national and local museums to find out. It seemed not. There also appeared to be no books on the subject either, so he began collecting as many nature inspired finger plates as he could, trawling the internet and finding people to drive him to antique fairs and the like. At the same time he began to undertake research for a paper or booklet on the subject. Sadly, he never got the chance to see that project to its conclusion, but the small selection of finger plates that he did acquire will soon be part of our collection. Some will be included in this display.
Most Friends of Nature in Art will know that the idea of Nature in Art was born in 1982 at a time when David had no money, no collection and no building – just what he hoped was an inspiring idea. He set up a charity to establish and then own and manage a museum. Soon he was winning over hearts and minds, and he did the difficult thing – he got the Nature in Art ball rolling from nothing, so effectively in fact, that within 6 years we had got to the point of opening our doors to the public, following the purchase of Wallsworth Hall in 1987. Then, in 1988, after a huge amount of work, HRH Princess Alexandra opened the museum, which was free of debt and had the beginnings of an unrivalled collection.
Many of the items had been generously donated by artists and private collectors, but David, a treasure hunter at heart, also spent a huge amount of time searching out items that might be added to the collection (and for which funding had to be found too).
That instinct to always be ‘on the hunt’ and looking in new places, stretching our outlook from, for example ‘wildlife’ to ‘nature’, and from just fine art to embrace decorative and applied art too, opened up huge possibilities. That broad view underpins our mission to this day.
So, this exhibition will highlight some of the items that David personally found for the Nature in Art collection, some of which we secured funding for from the likes of the Art Fund, V&A Purchase Grant Fund and others. Of course, there were other occasions when items were found and we could not secure funding or, if they were in an auction, exceeded our budget, but treasure hunting always involves disappointments too!
The stories behind some of the exhibits are recalled in David’s book, ‘Following the Dream’, published last year, priced £14.95.
In addition to some of the items he chose to include in his book, will be other items that have helped broaden the depth and diversity of our collection. As we hope is the case when any visitor comes to Nature in Art, we trust that you find amongst this selection work that you expect to see, but also others that may be unfamiliar, broadening your appreciation and passion for the arts.
An evening talk has been arranged to accompany this exhibition
Unfortunately this course is now cancelled due to Liz having an operation.
Course Suitability: Absolute Beginners – Improvers
Maximum Capacity: 12
Course Description:
In this course Liz will teach a simple, modern interpretation of Sashiko stitching. Sashiko is a traditional Japanese decorative stitching technique, originally used to reinforce clothing. As an art form, it can be used to create a beautifully textured and melodic textile.
You will create a fabric panel of appliqued shapes with Sashiko stitching, which can be a stylised landscape or a repeat pattern of your choice. After the course, it’s up to you how you use the panel; it could be a centre-piece for a special ‘memory’ textile; applied to a cushion or a bag, or framed as a piece of artwork! These are great ideas for presents for others or a keepsake for you.
Materials List:
- Photographs of landscapes or patterns to take ideas from
- Cotton fabrics which you may like to incorporate into your Sashiko stitching to create a ‘memory’ piece.
The tutor will provide the rest of the required materials for course participants. The cost per person will be £5.00 which will be paid to Liz by the participants on the day of the course.
Artist’s Profile:
Liz is an exhibiting textile artist and teacher. She has more than 40 years experience of teaching children and adults in all types of educational and community settings. She delivers art workshops in her studio and further afield, including at national events. Liz is delighted to have been Artist in Residence several times at Nature in Art, including in October/ November this year. She has also lead large textile projects, with local and national participants, for a regional arts festival. Liz’s passion for natural landscape is expressed in her colourful and textural textile artwork.
https://www.lizrobertsontextiles.com/