February 2012
1 post
Brave new season
In the current economic climate, with household-name businesses dropping like flies, and workers losing their jobs and homes, lets face it - you’ve gotta be nuts to own an art gallery! Still, they say that the best art is produced in a recession and we hope that you will enjoy what you find in the gallery this year.
There is a new artist in the gallery to kick off the season. She is a...
October 2011
1 post
Open your eyes - lino!
Often heard at football matches but now being shouted in the streets of Lynton because we have a new artist in the gallery - lino print maker extraordinare, Elizabeth Rashley. Elizabeth has her own Victorian printing press which allows her to print her wonderful large lino reduction prints. The prints are in small editions - normally around 8 or so - and can never be extended or repeated because...
August 2011
1 post
When is a newsletter not a newsletter...?
Answer - when it’s a blog. How hilarious! We have had quite a few subscribers for our newsletter and we have been asked to start tweeting too. Therefore, to keep the work load down a bit, we’re gonna combine the blog and newsletter - the blog will now contain more detail about what’s new in the gallery and the newsletter will simply be an emailed copy of the blog. If you wish to...
June 2011
1 post
To boldly go...
Yes, it’s North Devon Art Trek this month when the creative types across the area throw open their studios to the public so that they can see how things are made, talk to artists about their inspirations and methods…and buy stuff!
There were no Art Trek venues in Lynton last year so we were delighted when a local jewellery maker who exhibits in the gallery approached us with the...
May 2011
1 post
Totnes treasures
Just been on a trip to sunny Totnes in South Devon where we visited the glass blowing studio of Nick Orsler to select some great pieces that we think you will love.
If you are ever down in that area you should pop in and take a look - you can often see Nick and co. at work and you can marvel at his ‘display cabinet’ which is about 8ft tall and 30ft long and full of his work which is...
April 2011
1 post
Life goes on
Phew - what a break! Due to ‘circumstances beyond our control’ the blog has not been updated for a while, however the gallery certainly has been and we have lots of new work from our existing artists and some exciting new artists.
Existing artists - check out new paintings by Sara Dudman, Kate Noble and Duncan Hopkins and some new ceramics from Brian Andrew, including the epic...
February 2011
1 post
Folksy
We are pleased to announce that another new artist has joined the gallery.
Jane Winton hails from Cornwall, she has had a long and successful career in children’s book illustration and is now transferring her talents to canvas.
One of Jane’s inspirations is early US folk art - the images are naive and stylised but very much accomplished. They recall the memories and stories of...
January 2011
1 post
Divvent miss these!
No posts for a while - we decided to go into deep hibernation rather than pay the exorbitant cost of heating oil. However, the temperature has picked up of late and we are now in the process of refurbishing the gallery and getting some new artists on board (more on which to follow shortly) for our reopening in mid February.
We have also been busily taking photos of some of our current stock that...
December 2010
3 posts
Part of the landscape
We have just had the pleasure of taking some work from Leo Davey based on Lynton and Lynmouth’s famous water-powered ‘Cliff Railway’ (whad’ya mean, you’ve never heard of it?)
The Cliff Railway has been running continuously since 1888 and is famous in these parts as being Devon’s No1 Visitor Attraction, in terms of footfall. If that’s wrong, please...
Anyone for tea?
Roger Cockram is an extremely talented potter of international repute, which is why we are so pleased to have some of his new work in the gallery. When we recently visited his Chittlehampton studio, we were struck by a fantastic collection of teapots that he’d recently made and we had to have one. Normally, fancy teapots are the preserve of the glossy pages in the Mail on Sunday colour...
Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer, and Vixen!
Normally I’m a bit of a bah-humbug when it comes to Christmas. However, these latest paintings of red deer by Sara Dudman are truly beautiful and make me think that Rudolph et al may not be that bad after all. Sara has managed to capture the fragility and flightiness of the animals on a frosty morning with perfection. An interesting use of colour and some of the dribbles and splashes of the...
November 2010
1 post
Feed the flame
Have you ever seen one of those old cowboy films where there’s about to be a shoot-out and there’s nobody and nothing on the street except for a ball of tumbleweed blowing along and the sound of a church bell chiming in the distance?
Welcome to Lynton in November!
As we prepare for the Christmas rush, we have just received some new blown glass from Nick Osler, who has a thriving...
October 2010
3 posts
Moo kids on the block
Another new artist has joined the Gallery @ 500ft stable (or should that be cow-shed?). Alison Jacobs paints her cows and bulls in a highly realistic but engaging way which emphasises their personalities. Conversely, some of her work explores how the animals work together as a crowd. The paintings are beautiful but the way in which the animals are removed from their natural landscape challenges us...
Keeping it local
Work by Mark Woollacott, our specialist in representational local views, has been very popular recently as people look to take home a reminder of where they holidayed in the boiling cauldron of sunshine that is North Devon. We’ve therefore taken some more pieces from Mark which we hope will be just as popular…
From top to bottom: Coastal path near Hartland; Lee Bay nr Ilfracombe; East...
Making waves
During the summer we sold two fantastic wave-themed abstract paintings by Sara Gilbert and we have had people come to us since to say they regret not buying them while they had the chance. Good news folks…Sara has recently given us some new work and one of the pieces is another in this series, entitled ‘Ultra Marine’. Also check out Sara’s section on the website to see two...
September 2010
4 posts
Working horse
Just taken some more work from Melanie and had to highlight this fantastic ‘working horse’ which is attracting many people into the gallery. From memory it stands about 27cm-ish tall and is about 32cm-ish in length - a real statement piece.
Iron sinew'd and satin skinned....
As a new gallery it will take us a while to build a collection with the perfect balance of different art forms. At the moment we are looking for more sculpture and that’s why we are delighted to have Melanie Deegan on board. Mel sculpts animals in wire and other mixed fibres and then adds a layer of jesmonite - a fine art material made of gypsum and acrylic resin that is light but...
Trying to keep up....
Always difficult trying to keep the website up to date as work sells and new things arrive on a daily basis. Here’s some new work from Mark Woollacott who specialises in representational local views in acrylic on canvas (mostly). The Watersmeet House painting has already sold but the other two are in the gallery right now.
From top to bottom: East Lyn River (framed canvas - approx 50 x...
A good night
Official opening of the gallery was held last night and a good time was had by Mr and Mrs 500ft and, we hope, everyone else present. A nice opportunity for our artists and craftspeople to swap notes and some of the artists took the opportunity to bring along some fine new work so I’ll be listing that here soon. Meanwhile, some pics….
August 2010
4 posts
Another new artist for the gallery
We are pleased to welcome another new artist to the gallery. Splitting her time between her native Midlands and the delights of Ilfracombe, Maggie Davies’ work is inspired by her surroundings. An exhibition of her work can feature paintings of Ilfracombe harbour and its yachts or a gritty cityscape of downtown Birmingham. As much as we love Birmingham, we have chosen some great harbour pics...
Lepus leaped in and straight back out again
Brian Andrew, our local very talented sculptural-ceramicist and all-round good egg delivered a very nice ‘leaping hare’ mounted on a polished slate slab. The Latin for hare is lepus lepus hence the title of the piece ‘Lepus leapus’.
A lovely shape with fine blue veining, fresh out of the kiln!
After only half an hour on display, however, some visitors to the area had...
North Devon Journal
There is a short piece about the gallery in this week’s North Devon Journal (published Thursday 12th August). Photos in papers aren’t always the most flattering and I’d just like to say that I don’t, in fact, wear a toupee and Katherine is not an American Footballer.
You can read the article here:
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New artist at the gallery
We are really excited to have Kate Noble providing us with her new work - life studies in mixed media and fascinating character studies in oil. Kate is massively academically qualified (with an MA from the Ruskin School of Fine Art, amongst other things) and is returning to painting after a short gap of 20 years (!). Her latest piece, now in the gallery, is ‘Jean Martin Contemplates Her...