Dorset’s rich and varied landscape has been captured on canvas by a trio of artists who will exhibit their work this summer.
Caz Scott from Dorchester will be showing her paintings from June 17 to July 1, alongside fellow Dorset artists Rita Brown from Frampton and Pearl Gatehouse from Yetminster in Walking the Land at Fine Foundation Gallery, Durlston Castle, Durlston Country Park and National Nature Reserve in Swanage.
Then from July 16 to 21 from 10am to 6pm daily Caz Scott and Rita Brown will be exhibiting at Eype Centre for the Arts, Bridport.
Profiles for each artist:
Caz Scott
“I believe there isn’t a place that compares to the one where the world has come alive to you, where you know every rock, every path, and now all these images are held so clearly in my mind,” says Caz. “At the edge the power of nature is so clear and to stand at the sea’s edge and know how that landscape has been shaped, 500 million years of history, changes so massive, yet looking and feeling so permanent and unchanging. Knowing it will all disappear and reform and reshape. There at the edge I can see so clearly, the light takes on a different quality.” In her work Caz aims to reflect the strength and structure of the land. “When I look I see everything is perfectly placed, nothing untidy, no jarring notes, great harmony. I can’t improve it but I only aim to reflect. I want my audience to look, nearly as hard as I do when I’m out drawing.” Her paintings are literal, as she doesn’t feel that she wants to try to improve on what she sees, simply interpret. The canvases are flat, with no texture because when she looks at the land, always in her imagination she can stroke the landscape, run her hand across, to feel it and touch it and she can do that across her canvas.
Pearl Gatehouse
“I am excited by my current work, which is both atmospheric and expressive, the culmination of many years of self-learning and development of style,” says Pearl. “Each work is unique and works on several levels so that its appeal will be lasting, long retaining new discoveries and a sense of mystery. Inspired by emotional reaction to a place, I spend time mark making, feeling the atmosphere, looking for rhythms in nature, elegant lines. When painting I aim for expressive freshness and luminosity in colour and a sense of movement through space and time. I love the wide sea and landscapes of Dorset where I live; open spaces with the imprint of human effort but retaining a sense of the wild; the transient movement of light and cloud shadows gliding over.” Among many others, major influencers include Piero Della Francesca, Turner, Diebenkorm and the emphasis on elegance and simplicity in Japanese art. Since completing a foundation course at The Slade, Pearl has exhibited at the Mall Galleries with the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and successfully in Dorset and the West Midlands.
Rita Brown
Rita Brown is an award winning artist who has pursued a long career in art: living, painting and teaching art in London, Hong Kong and Singapore. Although she was trained traditionally in fine art, her work is a fusion of direct observation, emotional response and experimentation. Her passion for the landscape and the human form are re-occurring themes, from figurative to abstract. Her recent paintings are firmly placed in the landscape. Created from the memory and experience of walking the rural and coastal footpaths of Dorset observing and recording along the way. Rita’s paintings reflect her continued fascination with the ever changing light and impact of the weather on the landscape, sea and sky; the ancient eroded surfaces and evidence of what was once there. All these aspects feed into recreating the atmosphere of being there through the medium of paint. A two-way conversation happens between artist and work. Although there is often an illusion of coast and landscape scene there is a strong abstract element to her work: images may start as a depiction of a certain place but during the painting process they take on a life of their own. Layering of paint, scraping and scratching as changes are made create an archaeology beneath the painted surfaces. A memory of place, a response to the medium, the feel of contour and walking experience, smell, touch and the physical sensation of being in the landscape come into the conversation. A fluidity of process with harmonious and linear considerations come in to play until the work feels authentic.
