Members Exhibition

North Somerset Arts are excited to showcase the wonderful creativity of our artists at our biennial Members' Exhibition on Friday 17th - Sunday 19th May at Failand Village Hall. North Somerset Arts represents over eighty artists and creatives throughout the county who work with a wide variety of media from ceramics to textiles, painting to sculpture - there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

Over the weekend we will have talks and demonstrations from some of our members. This is a great opportunity to meet local artists and find out more about their process and inspiration.

For our younger visitors, we have some fun craft activities as well as a new children’s pocket money stall. We want to encourage the next generation of creatives to begin developing their own appreciation for art, so all the pieces on this stall will be available exclusively for children to choose and all priced under £15.

We will also have a tempting selection of homemade cakes and refreshments!

Entry is free and our opening times are:

Friday 17th May preview 6pm-8pm

Saturday 18th May 10am-6pm

Sunday 19th May 10am-3pm

Join us to support your local artists and discover the beautiful work they have to offer.

Programme of Events

Friday 17th May

7pm - Claire Hall

Claire will give a talk about her work, inspiration and unique processes that she uses.

Claire Hall is a glass artist and educator working from her studio in Brockley, North Somerset, with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art and a PGCE in Education. Her glass installation, wall art and sculptural vessels are exhibited throughout the UK and internationally and reside in many public and private collections, most notably the Imagine Museum in Florida. Her glass art has been selected for the past three British Glass Biennales, showcasing the most innovative and outstanding glass made in the UK.

Claire captures remembered sensations and experiences within the landscape. Working in abstraction she creates instinctively, beginning with deep reflection and thought. Drawing, painting and photography are integral to her practice -  making becomes a cathartic and meditative process enabling the unconscious mind to flow. Duality is a recurrent theme; fragility and strength, light and darkness, spontaneity and control, of the material itself and of the human condition.

Saturday 18th May

11am - Hamish Young

Hamish's talk will explore the meaning of the nests that frequently appear in his work, including in the monoprints in this exhibition.

Hamish is an artist, author and educator who studied at the Royal College of Art (1996-98). He became a Royal West of England Academician in 2021 and a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors in 2022. Hamish's work is held in the Victoria & Albert Museum collection and has been exhibited at Royal West of England Academy, Royal Academy of Arts, Saatchi Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum. His work is regularly selected in prize exhibitions including the Wales Contemporary, Wells Art Contemporary, New Light Prize, ING Discerning Eye and Trinity Wharf Drawing Prize. He was the winner of the Visual Arts Open in 2019, awarded first prize for three-dimensional work at Wales Contemporary in 2022, the Bath Society of Artists Drawing Prize in 2023 and longlisted for the Aesthetica Art Prize in 2024.

12pm - Eric Maggs

Eric will be doing a demonstration of his painting technique.

Eric is a landscape painter with many years experience working with oils and acrylic. He creates expressive paintings with an atmospheric and vibrant colourful palette plus abstract designs with a strong passion.

2pm - Olwyn KW

Olwyn will be talking about how she creates her porcelain vessels.

Olwyn was intrigued by clay from an early age. After a ceramics degree and teachers certificate she taught in a wide variety of schools but finally became disillusioned and left teaching. After a varied career, Olwyn has returned to her first love - clay and she now works in the converted basement of her home overlooking the Bristol Channel.

Working in porcelain she makes functional and decorative ceramic pieces drawing inspiration from a variety of natural forms, exquisite flowers to robust seed heads. Lidded forms reference artichokes, open vessels are inspired by water lilies, moon jars reflect magnolias. Porcelain requires exact handling at each stage of production, it has great strength and yet may appear elegant and delicate. Olwyn’s work exploits the subtle differences that can be achieved in form and texture when using the most challenging of clays. Pots are thrown on the wheel, intricately carved, then sections are polished or glazed to create contrasting surface areas.

Sunday 19th May

11am - Val Newman

Val will be giving a demonstration of her ink with watercolour techniques.

Val had her own pottery business for 20 years making handmade figurines and cottages. In 2018 she obtained a first class honours degree from Bath Spa University in contemporary art with professional studies. She specialises in impressionistic contemporary landscapes in oil, watercolour and mixed media.She has exhibited widely locally including at the RWA, worked as a tutor for Seasons Art and also runs classes from her studio in Banwell.

12pm - Sarah Boden

Sarah will be giving a talk about her recent art retreat in Spain.

Through paintings and prints, Sarah creates a sense of place and feeling by abstracting the form and colour in the landscape. Rather than replicating the scene her work relies on the metaphorical, patterning, and semi-abstract, each a visual poem informed by sketches, watercolours and memories. Living and travelling overseas, particularly in Asia, has provided a wealth of inspiration which can be found in the details, colours and textures of Sarah's work.

Since returning to Bristol in 2017, Sarah has received an MA, worked for Saatchi and Arnolfini and as the Administrator for NSA. Her award-winning paintings can be found in private collections both in the UK and overseas or through The Sanctuary Gallery, Newnham and Handmade in Painswick.

2pm - Caroline Cunningham

Caroline will be giving a demonstration of her charity needlepoint tapestry “Marguerite”.

Caroline is a professional silk painter, textile and glass artist with many years experience designing for craft magazines and rug companies. She has also organised art exhibitions at the Bristol Guild, The Curzon Cinema, Clevedon Pier, plus many other venues. She enjoys teaching craft workshops and organising art events to raise money for charity.

Her current project is a needlepoint tapestry inspired by the stained glass windows of Clevedon Community Centre. All the names of stitchers will be printed on the back of the work. When finished it will be framed & auctioned in August during their 75th anniversary open weekend.