Art at Seven

Zina Al-Janabi

I was born in Baghdad, Iraq. I have a Masters degree in Communication Engineering from Al-Nahrain University. I was encouraged by my Mother and her sister but unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances they never had the opportunity to draw. They both supported me and I made their dreams come true by taking up art.

I started practicing by myself at a young age in Baghdad, Iraq. I moved to Amman, Jordan because of the war and decided to take art lessons there.

My acrylic paintings are mostly flowers and landscapes through the eyes of a Middle Eastern woman living in Yorkshire. The one pictured here is ‘Roundhay Park In Autumn’.

I hope you enjoy viewing my artwork as much as I enjoyed painting them.

Shan Walker

I’m Shan from MCR25 Images.

After a long stint as a photographer in which I achieved international success as well as here at home, I became restless and looked to return to my first love of art. As a child I won competitions and loved to paint and draw, so I picked up my pens and brushes and started over from scratch doing paintings for family and friends.

Word of mouth soon brought in many commission requests and things have grown steadily from there. Last year I did a large wall mural in a popular American theme diner in Monton, and I am currently working on a nursery wall in Bury.

I prefer doing modern pop culture themes, especially comic book heroes, sports stars, and scenes from cult movies. I aim to provide affordable art to those on any budget.

Jim Carrie

I was born in Hackney, London in 1947 and have lived in Leeds since the age of 8. In 1972 I studied life drawing with Patrick Oliver at Swarthmore Educational Centre Leeds for a number of years.

In 1988 I started and completed a 3 year Fine Arts and Crafts Diploma course at Leeds College of Art (formerly Jacob Kramer College) under the guidance of Gary Barker.

My work I feel is about discovering interesting imagery by use of line, colour and shape. Quite often a previous work will suggest ideas for the next, although external objects can also be a starting point, but above all it has to be constructed play. A brush with life!

Nat Searle

Nat explores the relationship between strong graphical imagery, colour and scale. Her ideas are distilled into pieces that are beautifully simple.

She runs a multi disciplinary practice so manipulates her own photographs and illustrations to produce artwork for her screens.

Inspiration is drawn from her immediate environment with the resulting work often being ‘localised’.

Pauline Cooke

My work is a mixture of collage, print making and painting on the theme of written language or text. It fascinates me how words and sentences take on so much significance when they are simply marks or shapes on a piece of paper or in a book or on a wall.

They can create whole fictional worlds with characters and places we feel we have known or visited; they give people instructions on who to be or how to behave; they can change our life with sadness, danger, joy, comfort and wisdom.

With these works, I focus on the visual properties of language; as pieces of text apart from their multiple, complex meanings. I regard the symbols as a beautiful assortment of shapes and marks, with a real connection to drawing and an organic, natural quality.

I explore the physical process of hand-writing and the flow of a pen; the patterns of scribble and graffiti in our urban landscape; and the intricate design of digital print in posters and other information publicity. My aim is to liberate the form of the alphabet and its punctuation from its function of communication and control.

Kevin Braithwaite

Kevin is a Yorkshire artist with a background in Art, Design and Print and he has been creating, exhibiting and selling his art for many years in galleries and corporate establishments throughout the U.K. His natural gift for creativity and experimentation within the arts has brought him much success wherever he has shown his work. Kevin works in acrylics, oils, watercolour and textural mixed media. His works explore the use of free movements of colour, light and texture creating fresh harmonious and abstract images which take thieir inspiration directly from nature. Kevin enjoys working ‘al fresco’ as well as in the studio and is constantly inspired by the nature which surrounds him.

Mike Moor

‘City Fragments’ is a series of etchings depicting a motley troupe of itinerants as they cause havoc in the city. The various characters are based on a few of the many sublime sculptures and statues to be found in Leeds’ Museums, buildings and parks. The four etchings shown at Seven Arts (out of eight in the series) also pay homage to artist-printmakers who have inspired me, for example Picasso and Piranesi. The recent ‘Animation Stills’ originated as entertainments for my four year old granddaughter. They quickly developed into a group of paintings equally as entertaining for me, as they hover between ambiguity and obviousness or depth and daftness. www.mikemoor.com

Alan Pergusey

“The people Alan paints are totally involved in their activities. Alan likes to add shapes and symbols to these portraits to emphasise their place in the world. Alan sees painting as a physical activity that can express the energy and rythym of life, and the most direct way of exposing a unique view of the world that is both emotional and thoughtful. Alan has recently exhibited in the region at Dean Clough Galleries, Halifax and at Ripon Cathedral. His paintings are held in numerous private collections in the UK and internationally. He is a director at Leeds Sculpture Workshop and a visiting lecturer at the University of Leeds.” More of Alan’s work can be seen at: Web: www.alanpergusey.com Email: alanpergusey@gmail.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/alan.m.pergusey Instagram: @alanpergy Twitter: @AlanPergy

Alison Flowers

I was born and raised in Leeds. I have loved making art for as long as I can remember: as a child I turned our garage into an art gallery on a number of occasions! I trained as a primary school teacher studying art at my own level for a part of the course. In 1997 after 12 years of living away in Nottingham and London I returned with our young family to live and work in Alwoodley. After decades which involved teaching, pastoring, and raising the family, and having poured myself and my creativity into equipping and releasing others, I found myself longing to step out and make art for myself again. It has been a life giving and challenging journey so far! The work in this exhibition is a collection of pieces inspired by: firstly, my ever increasing love of experimenting with, and combining lots of different media, along with the excitement and freedom of expressive mark making; and secondly, my desire to express the beauty and solitude of unspoilt natural spaces, which reflects both my connection with such places, and the increasing value and depth of inner space and solitude in my own life. Whether or not you like and appreciate my work I thank you very much for taking the time to view it.

Kirn Kaur Jutlla

Manyeyesofindia My tools of choice are a paint brush, a fine marker and a golden pen. My inspiration stems from ancient India, the beauty of the natural universe and magic realism. On my trips to India I was fascinated by the old ruins, temples and life of India, I felt like I wanted to go back in time and see India in its glory before it was colonised. In my art pieces I like to experiment with the idea of what such a time could have looked like. I like to add a mystical side to it, as India holds a lot of spiritualisms and hidden secrets. I feel my work is vibrant in colour and peaceful at the same time; it’s not a calm lake nor is it a wild storm. It reflects my character and personality and the culture I’ve been blessed with. www.instagram.com/manyeyesofindia/

Gilly Boulton

Gilly Boulton is a local artist who has lived and worked in Moortown for many years. Her work incorporates a variety of media including printmaking, textiles, collage and typography. She regards her work as semi-biographical although much of the imagery is abstracted and deliberately obscure. Recurring themes often concern the interplay between imagery and text that hints at storytelling but allows a personal perspective for each viewer. Her work often relies on the play of light, how fleeting shadows and a half –glimpsed narrative can be layered with repeated colours and shapes to create poetic imagery with both tension and harmony. This exhibition documents a year long self-imposed challenge to represent the number seven in a variety of different ways. Images were often made, but primarily found within the local urban and natural environment. This personal project proved highly successful on social media where the posts became celebrated globally. Many followers found inspiration through Gilly’s work, and although all the work here is her own, she has many more examples of the collaborative work it inspired. Aside from her own personal work, Gilly also accepts commissions and briefs from clients. You can contact her at www.gillyboulton.com

Storm Strauss

Storm Strauss was born in Brighton and emigrated to Australia in the 60’s eventually working as a dancer choreographer there, where a love of anything theatrical always coloured his work. However the four pieces exhibited from June 1st 2017 are a far cry from his usual work. These were born of an absolute love of the ocean, which was a way of life in Australia, having always lived on the coast from Queensland to Adelaide.

Kim Gunn-Russell

Thanks very much for viewing my exhibition. I currently live in West Park, Leeds but grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne where I studied art up to AS-level and received a lot of praise for my still life, portraits and observation work. After finishing university, I rediscovered a love a drawing as a hobby, initially doing portraits in pencil and then moving on to painting in acrylics. I have continued to paint in my spare time alongside my job as a research nurse. I also come from quite an artistic family, my great grandfather was Scottish landscape artist George Melvin Rennie, who’s most famous customer was the Queen Mother! I love painting scenery and nature in a way that puts the viewer ‘in the scene‘ or brings the subject to life. I particularly love painting places I have travelled such as China, and closer to home, have done some scenes of beautiful Harrogate, North Yorkshire. which can be found on memorabilia for sale in prestige retail outlets such as at the Royal Horticulture Society at Harlow Carr Gardens and Farrah’s of Harrogate in the town centre. I paint using acrylics as I find them very versatile in terms of creating different textures and colours. I hope you enjoy viewing my artwork.

Hossein Amini

Creative activities have always been part of my life.

My art work is expressed by using different mediums, not restricted to using pencil and paints, for me the journey of art is never ending which is why the techniques I use are so varied. I dream my painting then I paint my dream…..

Dawn Carey Jones

My drawings are sketches of the mess around me, made within the confines of a limited time span and palette; an expression of the excitement of looking, mark making, putting a line in completely the wrong place but still enjoying the process, and doing it for absolutely no reason at all!

Magdalena Szymanska

Meet Your Neighbours We are not alone! When we were building our houses, streets and shops, at the same time we destroyed the houses of our neighbours. We destroyed the natural habitat for the rest who live in our area. Lots of them died or moved away but there are some who survived and built new homes just next to us. Don’t ignore the fact that there are less and less trees and wildlife around you. Without nature your children will play on concrete streets instead of grass, eat chemicals, and breathe pollution. Life is beautiful, nature is amazing, wildlife is so interesting and can teach you lots, so please in the rat race for money, stop and take a deep breath and look around. You will be amazed how much positive energy this moment can give you. My photos are only some examples of the nature living in the same area as you (plus one or two visitors from overseas!)

Sheryl Roberts

Born in Leeds in 1971 – Sheryl studied at Jacob Kramer School of Art, then graduated from Leeds Metropolitan University. Several years of teaching in schools and colleges led her in 2001, to become a full time artist – working from her studio in Hyde Park. Sheryl’s latest body of work is directly inspired by the changing chaotic skies in imaginary lands – a place she finds mysteriously fascinating. ‘ A place that evokes emotion as reflective light seems to divide light in every direction’ Sheryl’s work has been much acclaimed through exhibition and private commission throughout the UK and Europe.

Jessica Artistic

Artist and pug owner. I’m 25 years old live in the Chapeltown area of Leeds. I have been painting all my life and for the past year I have focused on commissions of pet portraits. Being such a huge animal lover I have thoroughly enjoyed this. In 2015 whilst making plans for my next travels abroad I painted a range of sunsets and sunrises over Chapeltown throughout the month of October, loving the fact that what I was capturing could have been anywhere in the world. I continued to paint my pugs, Macy and Hugo through the late summer months. Here is where I created ‘artist life and pug love’. I paint on canvas with acrylic and most recently have been producing prints. For the future I am hoping to take my travels, skylines and pugs further into aspects of interior design. For my next collection I am taking inspiration from my most recent travels to Las Vegas, st Kitts & Nevis and Barcelona.

Stephen Willingham

I am a local artist based in Chapel Allerton, producing art more often since retiring in 2004. Just lately, I have explored abstract expressionism in paint, and the pictures on display are a result of that. I like to draw too, and usually produce detailed images, or patterns in pencil and marker. My experience at Bradford art College gave me added stimulus for this, but unfortunately, I never used my training to make a career of it. I like bright colours, as you can see. I think it is very attractive to have powerful colour in my work, and it goes a long way to entertain the viewer. I have been told my pictures cheer people up.

Barrie Whitney

I am a retired teacher who has lived in Chapel Allerton for 26 years. I enjoy nature photography , travel and literature. My interests inform my painting decisions and are definitely a work in progress. I have always admired the post impressionists so am not in any way a modernist or avant garde. I hope people enjoy looking at my paintings as much as I enjoyed painting them.

Rachel Hinds

Rachel’s work explores colour, form and the painting process. Her subjects include landscapes, portraits, abstracts, and work which combines several of these elements. Her experiments with the painting process, with their expressive sweeps of paint, drips and strong colours, are visual manifestations of internal ideas and concepts. The theme ‘light’ – in both nature and the scientific world features frequently in her work. She is continuously developing her figurative painting by studying nature and long dead painters, favourites include Velazquez and Turner. www.rachelhindsart.com Facebook Rachel Hinds

Graeme Wilson

Graeme Willson is probably the U.K.’s leading mural artist, with a distinguished track record of award winning commissions. These include works for York Minster and the well known “Cornucopia” mural by the Corn Exchange in Leeds. He has received Arts Council Grants for his art in public places and the Royal Academy Award for Mural Painting. Over the past two decades he has carried out a series of murals for Wm. Morrison Supermarkets at sites ranging from Glasgow in the north and Hadleigh in the south of England. Examples of these in the form of limited edition prints are on display in the current exhibition. Leo Carrie is the agent for Graeme Willson; if you are interested in purchasing a print, or set of prints, please telephone Leo on 07944 852534

Gina Gordon

After graduating from Leeds Art College, I decided to use my knowledge… and hopefully skill…to experiment with all types of media. I have no exact path… material/paint/print/wire/…anything and everything inspires. My current work is made from acrylic paint and a material called Tyvek. It is always exciting to see what emerges, as no two pieces are the same.

Liz Owens

After a long working life in education, specialising in the creative and expressive arts and latterly working in care and mental health settings I  retired. After retirement, I was pleased to have an exhibition at Seven of life drawings that people enjoyed.This urged me on to keep drawing and try out working in print media. Most of the prints currently on show are of the Tees estuary and are a homage to the demise of what was once during the 50’s 60’s and 70’s when I grew up and lived there, a real Northern Power House, employing thousands in the steel and petro chemical industries, in Redcar, Middlesbrough and Hartlepool.These wonderful blast furnaces will, in a few years, no longer be on the horizon.

Simon Dobbs

Simon Dobbs was born in Leeds. He studied at Bradford Art College and Falmouth School of Art. He works in oil on canvas and his paintings reflect the people, places and culture of his home town. His work addresses traditional themes of still life, landscape and life painting, employing vivid colour with an expressive handling of paint. Simon is a studio holder at Jackson’s Yard, Leeds.

Niki Roach

The Big Trip In November 2013, Niki and her husband Rew packed their life into 4 large storage crates and boarded a train to Heathrow…first stop Rio! 189 days, 32 flights, 23 bus trips, 18 train journeys and 15 countries later they finally came home to Leeds. They had the most extraordinary adventures and the one constant over the 7 months of their travels was the camera strapped to Niki’s hip. This exhibition aims to share a sense of the amazing cultures, people and landscapes they had the joy of experiencing. Niki Roach is an amateur photographer with a serious case of wanderlust living in north Leeds (mainly). She is interested in photography as a legitimate excuse to talk to people about their lives whilst exploring the world. Images are professionally framed & printed with archival quality inks. All prints are also available unframed (limited edition). You can find out more about Niki’s work or contact her via her website. eyehartphotography.com Twitter @eye_hart Instagram eyehartphotography

Judy Sale

All Sorts The paintings for this exhibition at Seven Arts, Leeds, W. Yorkshire for the month of October 2015 are a selection of works made after my recent travels to Thailand, Laos and Bali as well as at my past home in Italy and now here in Yorkshire. I have led a rather nomadic lifestyle all my adult life living in 8 different countries; always on the edge of any given culture – a traveller or an immigrant/ex-pat forever on the move. It has given me a different perspective about the world’s environment. Beauty is everywhere but it is not for me to merely record what I see. I want to create a new presence, a unique expression that both the viewer and I, the painter, can share and relate to. These works incorporate my own marks and methods from a previous more abstract style but with the introduction of digital photos I have taken on site. I’ve used oils mainly but sometimes acrylics, charcoal and pen too – applied freely using my favourite tools, palette knifes and fingers! www.judysaleartist.co.uk Facebook: JudySale twitter: @judysale Instagram: @judysale12

Greig Ness

Abstractions Greig’s photography reflects a passion for what can be seen around us in everyday objects, life, and the landscape we travel through. The selected pictures show an interest in both the detail and natural beauty of the often unobserved that surrounds us. He has a wide range of images and his exhibition takes as a focal point the abstract detail and beauty of these things. www.13monkeys.co.uk

Paul Hannah

I was born in Leeds and have always loved Art, Rock Music and Sport. My artwork brings together two of my great passions – portraiture and rock music. Most of the musicians I have drawn I have seen perform live or are part of my record collection. My Tessellation Portraits are influenced by the work of M C Escher and Chuck Close. Each individual tessellation shape being an abstract drawing that makes up the whole. My “Big ’Ed” portraits came about from a desire to draw the bands and music fans I have met during my years of attending rock gigs. I have exhibited at various music festivals including Kippertronix Festival, Ravenstondale Fesival, Kirkby Lonsdale Festival. I have also exhibited and curated the Artshow at Strummercamp Festival in Manchester for the past 4 years. My work has also featured on album covers and tour posters.

Paul Harris

Mother, Sister, Daughter Women throughout the world give the dominant form and shape to the fabric of society. Women do 70-80% of all agricultural & food production in the world. Women are responsible for well over half the world’s cash income and their role as compassionate powerbrokers and decision makers is gaining long overdue recognition. We should be continually reminded that ‘girl power’ is older than mere 21st century pop culture. Women have always been at the heart of any community and it’s women who have their fingers on the pulse of daily life. Relying on their hospitality and organisational savvy has frequently meant the difference between success and failure on many of my travels and photographic projects. Mother, Sister, Daughter’ is a collection of images from 25 years of travelling to remote, rural and ethnic communities around the world. “ …women are nowhere passive, helpless, despairing beings crushed by patriarchy. They are sometimes accomplices; at other times manipulators; what they seem to intuit early and everywhere is that the system must be subverted if one is not to bruise oneself by beating one’s head against its stone walls. Goddesses and sorceresses are known, after all, to be capable of myriad transformations and transmutations, surviving by disappearing and by unexpectedly reappearing.” Essay on women by Anita Desai. www.paulharrisphotography.com

Walter Lewis

I seek out times and places which offer space for deep reflection. In particular I seek to find a new sensibility which is contemporary yet restores emotional connections back to the earth. In many ways it is a search for contemporary enchantment. Allenheads is a small village situated at the head of Allendale, a remote valley in Northumberland. It owes its existence to a number of lead mines which were worked in the 18th and 19th centuries and which were clustered around the village. It was a desperately hard life and even today, the spirit of the miners seems to haunt the land, challenging our contemporary disconnection with the world on which we depend. I spent the first week in April in 2014 on a communal residency by Mimeses North at Allenheads Contemporary Art Centre in Northumberland. I guess the images which I made there are my personal homage to the men, women and children of the mines.

Molly Ovenden

Colour, line and how light affects everything it touches all fascinate me. I love focusing on details. Everything I create is an experiment to gain freedom from my need to be in control. Much of my work is inspired by this quote, ‘The only real tragedy in life: to not use the gifts and talents that God gave us…’-Unknown. I believe that we are all made to be creative. I don’t ever want to take for granted or waste anything that God has given me—I don’t even want to waste the last bits of paint. Most of my painting is done with acrylic.

Catherine Aldred

Catherine Aldred (Gleisner) BA (Hons) is an illustrator whose interest lies in capturing the world around her through pen, ink and watercolour drawings and printmaking methods. She has a particular interest in the architectural detailing of buildings in both urban and landscape settings. Catherine studied at Leeds College of Art and Illustration at Camberwell School of Art (University of the Arts London). Catherine has exhibited widely in both group and solo shows, in spaces as diverse as The Institute of Contemporary Arts and Association of Illustrators in London; the Design Innovation Centre, the Brahm Gallery, Leeds University gallery, the Henry Moore Institute library and Leeds Art Gallery; Kentmere House Gallery, The Mansion House, National Railway Headquarters and the city art gallery in York; Holmfirth Art Week; Headingley Arts & Enterprise Centre; and the Fondation Coubertin, Yvelines, near Paris. Her limited edition Gocco prints are available in Chirpy in Chapel Allerton.

Alex Keating

Alex Keating delves in to the depths of the surreal in his collection of striking prints. Starting life as a sketch, Alex’s striking works are transformed through digital software to achieve his recognisable style. Inspired by Salvador Dali, Jason Brooks and ‘everyday encounters’ A lex developed his unique style by experimenting with surrealism using variations of shades of grey and black. Alex believes when creating art ‘it is easy to replicate what you have already done… If you produce something new and exciting it will stand out from the crowd. Good artwork will always draw attention.’ Over the last year Alex has been working on a new set of images using ‘cloud-like textures’. A few pieces of this collection have already been produced; The calm before the storm, Misunderstood, London calling, A bridge too far and the Serene shark.

Joe Rocky Holey

http://www.joerockyholey.com/

Ben Skinner & Nat Searle

Ben Skinner Ben trained as a dancer at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance and fell in love with Yorkshire. His interests lie in investigating different forms of process and design, whatever artistic discipline they happen to fall inside. Ben’s latest adventure has been creating ‘Otter and Ink’, a sustainable screen printing initiative. He sources pre-loved frames in keeping with his ethos. He meticulously draws each piece before producing his screens. He gives character to each animal and paints into many of his prints to complete them. Some prints are available unframed, contact Ben directly for details. contact: otterandink@gmail.com www.otterandink.co Nat Searle Nat explores the relationship between strong graphical imagery, colour and scale. Her ideas are distilled into pieces that are beautifully simple. She runs a multi disciplinary practice so manipulates her own photographs and illustrations to produce artwork for her screens. Inspiration is drawn from her immediate environment with the resulting work often being ‘localised’. Nat sells her work unframed, but can advise on framing. contact:  info@natsearle.com www.natsearle.com

Alice Denny

Alice Denny explores the meaning and effect of every day objects of society through treatments of themed images. She anthropomorphises objects with a view to technically exploring and researching different ways of representing them. She is interested in the potential and pitfalls of the human condition through the metaphors of consumer goods. Alice uses different approaches in mark making. Stencils are employed as an artificial constraint for the exploration of mark making within them. Alice plays with the traditional role of framing to break up the unity of her vessels, the intention being to encourage a contradictory sense of falling and balance within the work. Contact :  alice1denny@gmail.com

Jo Dunn

Jo paints mainly in watercolour, but sometimes in oil or gouache. This summer she worked in black and white using Chinese ink. These pictures are a bit different to her watercolours and she’s looking forward to seeing what people make of them at this new exhibition. “I paint a lot of landscapes, some are expressionistic and some are almost abstract”, said Jo. “Most of my current work is about where I live, near to Gledhow Valley Woods. The woods are a great source of inspiration as they change with the seasons.” The official opening of the exhibition is on Wednesday 15th October, 6-8pm, all welcome. www.jodunn.co.uk