Bean & Menhirs by Hanne Westergaard and Deluges by Paul Dearden
Cupola Gallery is embracing spring renewal with the launch of two new solo shows from Sheffield-based artists Hanne Westergaard & Paul Dearden, as they relaunch their newly refurbished gallery spaces.
Opening night is Friday 28 April 7:30pm, hospitality will be provided and all are welcome.
29 April – 27 May, Bean & Menhirs by Hanne Westergaard in Main Gallery and Deluges by Paul Dearden in the Long Gallery Venue.
Both artists are celebrating their established careers with solo shows of recent and important works. Hanne Westargaard, originally from Denmark, influenced by modernism, is well known for her strong and diverse ceramics practice which has fully embraced sculptural, conceptual and functional works, over her long career.
Hanne explains that she has long enjoyed a love of and fascination for beans of many kinds. Not only is Hanne an expert ceramicist but a keen gardener and nature lover as well. This solo show celebrates not only her skill with clay but her love of beans and nature. This exhibition showcases some recent printmaking alongside the sculptural ceramic pieces.
Paul’s work is his gutsy, passionate expression through paint and mixed media. His ‘landscapes’, often inspired by the dramatic Whitby coastline, are collections of marks, colours, texture and lived experience of the land.
The semi abstract paintings often include a subtle yet magnetic use of light which draws you into the lyricism of his mark making and use of colour; baked, cracked mud, reflected dappled light, sodden earth, biting wind, crisp leaves, deep shadows, sunlit warmth, autumnal glow, brittle branches. Marks and colours which evoke and recall elements of all our experiences of the landscape or ‘place’.
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“As someone who does not overly care for beans, I am still in love with this fabulous work. Giant sensuous broad beans, beans in pods, delicate colourations reminiscent of rare eggs, weighted and sculptural forms of seed pods and forms inspired by nature’s leaves and seeds. Colours are from the earth, quite literally, born of clay combined with natural oxides and minerals. A sensual and visual delight. Items that you long to touch and experience. Wonderful work from a talented artist.” Karen Sherwood, Cupola Director.
Paul Dearden says: “The work in this exhibition represents recent paintings and pieces from my back catalogue which have not been shown previously. It's a theme either unconsciously influenced by my obvious heroes, Turner, "Mad" John Martin, Leonardo etc or a subtle/ feeble attempt to contribute to rage against the ecological crisis which has obsessed me over the years. Now increasingly pertinent in these apocalyptic times of global warming and our collective destruction of the planet.”