Burnham-On-Sea’s Mayor has opened a new visual arts studio’s first exhibition of work by local artists.
The Brickworks Studio, just off Victoria Street in Victoria Court, was launched in October by Jacob Dear and George Manchip and is providing a ‘new peaceful place to discover new forms of visual arts and artists’.
Their first day-long exhibition, called ‘New Faces, Different Places’, was held on Saturday (19th December) with Covid safety measures in place to keep visitors safe.
The studio’s Jacob Dear told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “Although the arts community has been going through a very difficult time with the COVID-19 pandemic, we at The Brickworks are still striving to create a developmental environment for the local and diverse visual arts scene.”
“With this in mind, we were excited to hold our first-ever exhibition which was called ‘New Faces, Different Places’ featuring three artists in a one-day exhibition.”
“It was an exhibition exploring the cultural importance of supporting the artist who are at different stages of their careers.”
“The three artists involved were all based in Somerset and are either in the education system or have recently graduated, BA Hons, FDA & A Level.”
Ryan Trower, who recently graduated from Ravenbourne University London, is now based in
Taunton. Ryan’s primary discipline is photography, which is focused on the ‘New Topographic’ movement of the early 1970s. He is producing a project such as New Town Blues, Nuclear Desert & Gable Ends I Have Seen.
Olivia Dollery, currently studying UAL Foundation Degree in art at the University Campus
Weston, is a multifaceted artist, who takes many different approaches to create
her artwork using Acrylic paints, oil pastels, watercolours and posca pens just to name a few. Although Olivia creates her work for ‘fun’, Olivia has also approached difficult subjects matters through her work, such as “Bollocks to Boris” which was her final A-Level project and walked the tricky tightrope of protest propaganda and the punk revolution.
Matt Bartlett, currently studying A-level arts at King Alfred school, is a mixed media contemporary artist who is early in his development as an artist. Interested in the idea of the ‘Holy Grail’ & Mythic artefacts, Matt is a multiverse artist who is currently focused on creating sculptures, Lyno prints and photography that is a visual representation of folklore. In this early stage, Matt is constantly evolving his practices and the inspiration behind his work, currently working with the idea of utopia and hellscape, Matt is finding new challenging ways he can inform his practices.
Mayor Cllr Mike Facey said he was “impressed by the quality and range of art work” on show at the exhibition and he added that the Town Council was pleased to provide support to the new facilities with funding, as we reported here.
