Ange Mullen-Bryan

Ange’s paintings are inspired by the lakes and forests of a vast Swedish landscape and a very particular and beautiful Nordic light; they also have something of desolation and loneliness in the remote and barren spaces they reflect. As if the artist were looking for her way, these are paintings that plot points on a journey, be it a physical or emotional one, or perhaps something of both. As if looking for a map to navigate her way through this landscape, a land that becomes something closer to a scene from ancient myth or folklore, where the imagination runs away and the uncanny resides. Where the real and imagined co-exist and are often difficult to determine.

 Graduating from Winchester school of Art in 2000, after studying art foundation at Stroud College, Ange has exhibited in both solo and group shows, in a number of galleries, including: Kendrick Street Gallery, Stroud; Tobacco Factory, Bristol; Grant Bradley, Bristol, Innocent Fine Art Bristol, Nature in Art, Gloucester; and Stroud House Gallery, Stroud. Born in Stroud in 1978, and based in Gloucestershire, Ange has a year round open studio at the Painswick Centre, Painswick, near  Stroud. She was shortlisted for the prestigious John Moores Painting Prize in 2008.

This exhibition is the first ever collective showing by the Gloucestershire-based Parkbench Artists: Noela Bewry, Terry Cripps, Marianne Hellwig John, Penny Prince, Sue Rae, and Maggie Shaw.

These talented abstract artists have exhibited locally, nationally and internationally, and the Museum in the Park is delighted to be hosting their first UK group show in its purpose-built art gallery. Its also the first ever abstract art exhibition to be held at this venue.

The Parkbench group was founded by artist Terry Cripps as a web based marketing operation to sell prints of work from the artists’ back catalogue. The website was launched in 2005 and offers hand finished prints direct from the artist. The aim is to promote those involved and deliver the maximum financial reward back to the artists, as well as delivering high quality hand-finished artists’ prints direct to private and public clients.

Colourful, uplifting, moving, invigorating …. this exhibition is worth making a special visit to see. Influences range from the wild northern landscapes of Scandinavia, to the rhythms of contemporary jazz, human gestures and interactions, and the local Gloucestershire landscape. Experience the paintings and meet the artists, who are stewarding the gallery.

Group and school visits welcome

Exhibition admission free
Open Tuesday – Friday 10am to 4pm
Open Saturday & Sunday 11am – 4pm
Closed on Mondays. Exhibition open until 31st October 2010.

www.museuminthepark.org.uk

www.PrintsatParkbench.co.uk

Our personal favourite is the Wellness Skull by Atelier Van Lieshout. The human skull - a universal symbol for knowledge & wisdom – is transformed into a centre for indulgence & relaxation, housing a sauna, bath & shower, delivering a dramatic haze of steam from the eye sockets on the outside.

The exhibition runs until 1st August 2010 www.sudeleycastle.co.uk

July sees Open Air Theatre, Gloucester Carnival & the World Together Festival, whilst August includes Volleyball, Witches & Wizards, Seaside Fun and a celebration of Jamaican Independence Day.

Find out more at www.thecityofgloucester.co.uk/site/whats-on/summer-in-gloucester

‘Pharma’s Market’ is a mosaic installation exploring the contrasting imagery of historical and contemporary farming. Although the setting of the exhibition is a traditional agricultural fair, visitors will experience an exhibition with a distinctly contemporary twist. Cleo Mussi has an engaging story to tell, and her characters, from life-sized ‘robo-rabbits’ to ‘space scientists’ and ‘bucolic farmers’, all jostle for their part in the plot. Her mosaics are made from recycled china, and her stories are derived from the real world of science and medicine, albeit reconstructed through the process of her own particular visual imagination and surreal sense of humour.

Illustrated Talk by Cleo Mussi - Saturday 10th July at 2.30pm – tickets £4

‘Meet the Artist’ (Cleo Mussi) drop in event for families on Sunday 11th July, 2pm – 4pm 

To book call: 01453 763394 www.museuminthepark.org.uk

River Severn ‘Art Walk’ - guided, creative walks with Walking the Land – Friday 11th June & Saturday 19th June.

As you photograph and sketch, our Walking the Land artists will offer creative guidance about subject choice, technique and process.

This month sees the launch of a exciting new photography competition celebrating the beauty of the Cotswolds and giving you the chance to have your image showcased in a six week high profile exhibition at O3 gallery, Oxford Castle.

The competition is the idea of local landscape photographer Sarah Howard, supported by the Cotswolds Conservation Board and Blueprint Imaging of Witney.  Sarah has lived in the Cotswolds for much of her life and has a particular affinity with the region.  She is especially keen to promote its photographic potential;  “Photography has seen a surge in popularity recently and with spring now here there’s no better time to get out there with your camera, make use of its wonderful creative potential, and engage with our lovely surroundings”.

Officially designated as the largest Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the country, the Cotswolds is known for being one of the most quintessentially English and unspoiled regions of the UK.  With its gentle hillsides, river valleys and delightful honey coloured villages there is plenty to offer the photographer.  

The overall winner will take away a 2 night stay (including dinner on one evening) at the historical White Hart Royal Hotel in Moreton-in-Marsh, plus a one day one to one photography workshop in the Cotswolds with Sarah.   There are plenty of other fantastic prizes to be won too, including a fabulous Ricoh R10 camera for the overall youth winner, a half day Photoshop tuition with digital imaging expert Claire Reika Wright, a Manfrotto 190 XDB tripod and Lowepro mini trekker, courtesy of Morris Photographic plus a one years subscription to Outdoor Photography magazine and over £300 worth of Image Seen gift vouchers.   There will also be an opportunity to win a commission for local Cotswolds publication The Four Shires in 2011. 

The competition is open until 15^th October & entries will be judged at the end of October.

Full details can be found at www.imageseen.co.uk/cotswolds-photography-competition

The Plough’s upstairs dining room will be adorned with an exhibition of Jeremy Houghton oil or watercolour Flamingo paintings.  Meanwhile one of the cleverest kitchens in the Cotswolds will be serving pink drinks and canapes. You are invited to view the exhibition from 6 – 8.30pm in the upstairs dining room.

To reserve a place, call 01608 658838 before Monday 26th April.

Broadway Arts Festival

Broadway is a gem of a Cotswold village, very well known to US visitors and this Festival will do more to strengthen the link.  The American painter John Singer Sargent created his masterpiece ’Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose’ whilst staying in Broadway - having fled Paris where his painting of ’Madame X’, had scandalised the art world.

2010′s Festival will be between the 11-20th of June and the organisers have already secured loan from the Tate of important studies for the picture.

Saturday 8 August
Anne Rogers – feltmaker
Sarah Pearson Cooke – Shibori textiles

Saturday 15 August
Richard Bossons and Rita Dawe – stonecarvers

Saturday 29 August
Susan Early – basketmaker – “Willow World”
Val Michael – leatherworker