Evolver 117 - September and October 2020

SOMERSET OPEN STUDIOS 2020 SOMERSET OPEN STUDIOS 2020 • 3 between his studio practice and his involvement with sustainability and renewable energy projects. He feels the combination of an artist’s role as a communicator and his fine art training makes him uniquely placed to bring a different approach to product development. It allows him to reach a wide audience and make a positive impact on people’s lives. Commuting to London over the last ten years he has regularly taken photographs of the landscape, and these, alongside his very private sketchbook drawings, feed into his memory bank of material for his paintings. During the lockdown he has been working on a series of small paintings placing graphic signifiers of male and female figures in the landscape. Normally he works on canvas, using a combination of household and oil paints, but these recent paintings were small enough to allow him to work on paper, a surface that has a strong appeal for him because of the way that he can move the paint across the surface. Close Ltd, an arts consultancy and contemporary gallery, has been a staunch supporter of Somerset Art Works’s Creative Pathways programme, which nurtures emerging artists. It is one of the venues that will be open to the public during the open studios event, and it will be showing work by early career artist KATHERINE PERRINS. Her beautifully understated paintings of domesticity are perfectly attuned to the current times when much of the world has been confined within four walls. Her sense of composition, the focus on small apparently insignificant details of mundanity, her ability to capture the intimacy of interior space using a delicate muted palette, suggest an affinity with the work of Gwen John. The Somerset Open Studios digital brochure will be available from the beginning of September and will detail all of the venues, with features on each of Somerset’s five creative regions and details of Family Friendly weekend events and workshops. Fiona Robinson somersetartworks.org.uk KATHERINE PERRINS (VENUE 12) ANGIE ROOKE (VENUE 78) KAY LEWIS BELL (VENUE 61)