HTAG Guildford - HTAG Art Exhibition Information

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HTAG Art Exhibition Information

The group was formed to "foster a sense of community" and some of the strongest work is inspired by the local landscape. Pick your viewing time carefully, however; the gallery is also a popular cafeteria and it's packed out at lunchtime.

A visionary view of his back garden at 5.00 am painted in oil by John Freeman is one of the most striking exhibits. A shed and slide are transformed into glowing beacons by the rising sun, while a statue and shrubbery are still bathed in shadow. Bright touches of gold, brown and blue add richness to the scene. Even more glowing, is his oil painting "The Shimmerings: towards Byworth from Petworth". There are echoes of Turner's impressionistic paintings of Petworth Park in Freeman's atmospheric depiction of a glittering wooded path.

Jane Allison celebrates the sweeping panoramic view from The Chantries in a masterly oil painting dominated by lush foreground trees standing in a buttercup meadow. More intimate, is her smaller oil painting of the winding lane to Pewley Down bordered by brilliant poppies, while Merrow Downs inspires a delightful watercolour by Wendy Caligari of rolling grassland foaming with cow parsley.

There are some excellent portraits, notably Charlotte Bourne's affectionate oil painting "Nick1", a freshly painted close-up full of character.

Barbara Beaumont is represented by an eerie split canvas composition in oils of a drab grey man dwarfed by the serried ranks of branchless tree trunks in a mysterious wood, richly carpeted with glinting brown leaves. Pushing the frontiers,

Lizzie Hill builds bold abstract statements out of loops and swirls of finely stitched black, grey and white threads."

Beatrice Phillpotts