Oxmarket are delighted to welcome ArtCollect 25 to the Wilson Gallery. ArtCollect25 are a group of five artists all alumni of the Fine Art Department at Chichester University. They currently live in Hampshire and the West Sussex border area. To focus on their work after Covid in 2022 the group met up and started work on a collaborative project on maps using their specialisms in sculpture, textiles, print and paint. Maps are visually appealing and have different meanings according to personal experience. This project developed into using their locality and places where they had previously lived to explore their environment. They have all taken steps on their creative journey and now together present the ‘Voyage’ Exhibition.
Chichester and areas along the South Coast have contributed to a wide range of artistic expression including sculpture, paint and printmaking. Individual artists in the group have exhibited widely from local venues in Chichester, Gosport, Southampton, Portsmouth and London to as far afield as Japan.
‘Voyage’ is an expression of the artists’ personal journey. Visitors to the exhibition are invited to spot local landmarks as they travel around the gallery. All artworks will be available for purchase.
Julie Cleverly works with a variety of mediums including jesmonite and plaster to produce unique sculptures based on lived experiences and historical references. Her work is a n invitation to the viewer to reflect on women’s voyages through life and the expectations society imposes upon them.
Linda Davies is a sculptor in plastic and an occasional painter. She wishes viewers to recognise from her work the destructive significance of waste plastic especially in the sea and to take away a memorable image.
Ann Savage works with paint, print and mixed media and in the ‘Voyage’ Exhibition explores journeys through a combination of abstract images and found fragments. Her unique pieces range from a selection of cards to a large scale mixed media piece of work on canvas.
Janet Woodward uses print, paint and mixed media. Inspired by the lines and symbols of old maps of places lived in and plans from our industrial past she extends, layers and alters the original, emphasising the formal and informal aspects of map form that allow us all to ‘read’ these documents.
Jillian Harvey works in print. Her water based screen prints are a reflection of her artistic journey, influenced by her travels, especially in the Far East where white paper, and the white space play an important role in her compositions. The body of work for “Voyage” is based on the coastline around the South East and uses her imagination and memory.
