A Summer of Art.
Welcome to the latest blog from Cath at Emerald - I hope you're all well and have been enjoying a beautiful summer.
I have been lucky to spend some of this summer visiting wonderful places. Many of my destinations have included a stop to enjoy exploring fabulous art, some new, some familiar. I thought I'd share with you some of the beautiful artworks that I enjoyed during my days of summer breaks and exhibitions.
I have chosen three venues from my adventures:
The first location was to the City of York.
I sneaked a couple of hours at York Art Gallery right inside the city walls. The was lots to see - beautiful collections including a current floral exhibition called ‘Bloom’, which sadly I didn't have time to enjoy. However, I did enjoy ‘Wall of Women’, beautiful ceramics displayed in the centre of ceramic art (CoCA). I also got to see an Andy Warhol screen print (I loved the colours) one of the colourful Marilyn’s which made me smile.
Contemporary and traditional art was side-by-side throughout the gallery, and I enjoyed the placement and contrasts between the frames and the art. Check out this Lowry painting below an amazing oil painting in a beautiful swept gilded frame - I loved the contrasts in display and style.
My second visit was a trip to the Royal West of England Academy of Arts in Bristol – Wow, what a place!
If you like a good building, you must check this place out - the architecture is stunning (grade 2*listed) – it is a bit of a hike up hill to get to, but definitely worth every step. The gallery hosts five areas and is full of beautiful paintings, sculptures and blown glass alongside a ticketed exhibition.
My favourite discoveries were the beautiful pre-Raphaelite paintings that were in one of the gallery spaces. The strong blue painted walls were spectacular laden with fabulous huge, gilded frames - absolutely beautiful.
Light and airy, with so much going on – taking a look around the building and enjoying the art is definitely worth a couple of your hours if you're ever in Bristol.
And speaking of Academies, my art spot was to the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy in London.
I've been to this show several times but this year was special, as I was fortunate enough to attend the exhibition and see a special painting on the wall.
Many of our readers will already be familiar with the fabulous work of Ali Mackie. Ali is an Amersham based artist who has exhibited with us at Emerald Gallery a couple of times over the last few years. Ali is also our gallery manager - looking after all our artists and our gallery space, so is a very special person and very dear to me and to Emerald.
I was absolutely delighted to learn that Ali's painting submission - Sleeping Satellite had been accepted into the Royal Academy show and I had to go to London to see it on the wall for myself. Sleeping Satellite sat in amongst all the other beautiful paintings and as I took a few photos I found joy in watching people seeking it out and chatting and admiring the artwork.
Ali’s work was selected as one of a select few to be printed as postcards to be sold at the Royal Academy during the exhibition.
What a wonderful thing 🧡
There's always so much to see at the Royal Academy Summer Show and it's always very busy and the walls are packed. You can spend hours trying to pick out your favourites, debating what to buy, or just enjoying the submissions and discovering the weird and the wonderful.
Here is a selection of landscapes and seascapes that I found during my visit which gave me a little moments of joy ⬇️
I was also able to pop into the Young Artist Summer Show this year, which was stunning - just one room packed full of beautiful children's art. Here's a couple of artworks that caught my eye - ‘Unity’ by Grace aged 6 and ‘Not again, the cats in my pram’ by Agnes aged 6.
The Summer Exhibition has now closed for the year, and all my art adventures were just amazing, thanks for letting me share them with you ……
So that's my update on my art filled summer - Any recommendations for where I can where I can visit this Autumn?