Art Exhibitions
Open throughout the Festival St Marks Church is hosting works from two local arts, Liz Churton and Berris Conolly. The exhibitions are open from 10am - 4pm and at most events taking place in the evening at St Marks. A generous percentage of all exhibition sales will go to the Festival Charities
Berris Conolly
Berris Conolly is a Sheffield photographer specialising in urban and rural landscapes, who has been documenting the changing face of the city since 1988.
Many of the images on show are the result of a commission from Untitled Gallery, concentrating particularly on the city centre and Lower Don Valley, a project continuing to the present day.
The earlier works mark the changes through observing the city through the varied spaces.
As the artist moves from film to digital, in the more recent pieces the attention to detail is now seen within the grand sweep of multiple-image colour panoramas.
For the Broomhill Festival 2009, Conolly has produced the works as framed limited editions, hand-printed to archival standards on heavyweight acid-free media, using pigment inkjet technology.
Also available are two recent publications: one showing a selection of 50 Sheffield photographs covering the last 20 years, along with comparative views from the bridges over the River Don, taken in 1989 & 2009.
www.berrisconolly.com
Liz Churton - Finding a language for the Landscape
Liz Churton's paintings are noted for their vibrant use of colour in response to light and the landscape. The landscape is her prime source of subject matter. 'I grew up in industrial Birmingham, but from as far back as I can remember, I developed an affinity with English landscape painters including Constable and Turner. Identifying with these painters was quite a romantic notion at the time, but it gave me an historical reference point, which has enabled me to appreciate our long line of artists who continue to find their creative energy from the landscape...I can only aspire to become one of these artists'.
Like the artists who initially inspired her, drawing has been at the heart of Liz's work. 'Without drawing, I can't understand what I'm seeing...drawing helps me organise my responses to the landscape on the outside, but also understand my physical feelings and thoughts on the inside.' This is at the heart of Liz Churton's work; the need to find a balance between the inner and the outer worlds - the process of drawing and painting becomes the interface between her emotional resonances and the formal organisation of her growing visual vocabulary. 'I spend a lot of time just looking at the landscape ... but when it comes to making a piece, I am most comfortable when it becomes more akin to the process of composing music.'
Her drawing and paintings are still products of observation, however, rather than trying to reproduce a direct likeness to places, she is beginning to develop her own visual language, showing interpretation and improvisation.