Member Artists

Gus Farnes is a British artist whose work explores the human condition. In response to geopolitics, the concerns of our times, people movement, alienation, the environment, he sculpts figures using materials selected from his local situation – remnants from a landscape, 3D printed patterns, found objects collaged, bound together, and fixed with wax on both an intimate and monumental scale and, by casting them directly to bronze, creates a body of unique work.

Gus cast his first bronze at the age of 16 which led him to Norwich School of Art in 2000. After leaving Norwich in 2004, he joined Sotheby’s as a graphic artist, where he learned more about art and the art market.

In 2016 Gus left Sotheby’s and London to pursue his practice as a sculptor, setting himself up in a studio and foundry located in Suffolk. His sculptures have been acquired for private collections throughout Europe, the US, Asia and Australasia.

Gus is one of the sculptors taking part in Sculpture in the Valley 2020. You can see more of his work at GusFarnes.co.uk

‘Man with hands in pockets’ is a unique bronze standing at 2 meters tall. “The sculpture is a scaled 3d print of a much smaller pice, the surface modelled with wax and combustible organic material gathered from the marshland surrounding my studio. Once finished the sculpture is cut into sections, an investment mould built and each section placed in a kiln where the combustible material is burnt out leaving a void to be filled with molten bronze.”

Ann is a retired interior designer, very well travelled and has lived all over the world. Her personal passions are Central Asian hand embroidered textiles and she also has an amazing collection of artefacts from many countries, which makes her home an interesting base or museum if you like! She runs The Folly Studio Bed and Breakfast, where you can also visit “The Folly Studio” – Ann’s tiny, pretty art studio, in a secret courtyard garden. Lots of art for sale and if you feel like painting you can join in! Tuition can also be arranged with Ann if you wish.

Dide is an award-winning multi-disciplinary artist, writer and composer/musician/opera singer. She’s interested in playing with genres for deeper causes, for instance, her solo music and visual art show ‘Grey matters, for THOUGHT’ for Mind Charity. She has invented a new method of composing music, currently titled ’Sound Scripts’, and often merges classical instrumentation with natural environmental recordings in her compositions, included in the New Museum of Networked Art’s ‘Wake up! Climate Change!’. She has written seven books, mainly of philosophical fiction and poetry, and has created works of art, from abstract sculpture to portraiture, using different media. She holds an Arts Territory Exchange Award amongst others and has been featured in The Sunday Times, on regional TV, on regional radio, at the Royal Festival Hall, Finnish press and local press. You can view more of Dide’s work on her website at www.didesiemmond.com

Mark Burrell is one of the leading members of the ‘North Sea Magical Realists’ and lives by the coast in Lowestoft Suffolk.

He is a painter of visionary imagination and multiple stories are interwoven throughout the work. But this world does not need to be understood to be enjoyed, because the imagined narrative is always secondary to feeling, atmosphere and color, where jewel like qualities merge with fine detail. This is a land of light and shadow, subtle and mysterious, not just fantasy or dark fairy tale, but more the experience of the human condition. One is reminded of old stained glass windows, as light seems to shine out of the paintings often in the form of sunsets, full moons, or some magical source.

Mark’s work has appeared on television six times. He was awarded ‘First Prize’ by Bill Oddie on the program ‘ Moving Art’ hosted by George Melly and interviewed by Wendy Sister Beckett.

In London, he has won the Lucy Morrison Memorial Prize at the Royal Overseas League and has had work exhibited in The House of Commons and the Royal Academy. Internationally Mark has shown in New York USA at The Interart Gallery, The Jarvis Centre, and Williamsburg Historical Center, and also in France, Norway and Holland.

Closer to home Marks work has been shown in London at The Mall Galleries (Discerning Eye), The Tripp Gallery, The Splinter Gallery, Le Chat Noir Gallery, Logos Gallery, as well as The Fruit Market Gallery Scotland; The Minories Colchester, Chappel Galleries Essex, Assembly House Norwich, and Norwich Castle, and resident artist at The Ferini Gallery Suffolk.

Mark also paints realist portraits and commissions are considered.

If you would like to see more of Marks work, please contact for an appointment at markosart@hotmail.com or see his website at www.markburrellart.com

I’m a photographer. I take pictures for a living, but I’m also a writer and teacher with a little over 25 years experience spent immersed in photography in all its forms. I love it here – I could stay here forever, just as long as I’m still taking photographs, writing about them or waffling on to someone else about them.

During my early years with the medium, I was lucky enough to serve apprenticeships on cruise ships in the Caribbean and environmental expeditions in Tanzania as well as travelling around Europe shooting stock for various agencies and stock libraries.

I’ve also spent many years shooting commercial work for a wide range of businesses and organisations, and had my work exhibited in exhibitions from Mexico City to Nova Gorica. Alongside this commercial work, much of my fine art work has been published in magazines and journals and I continue to work with several international agencies including Millenium Images who represent some of my Norfolk landscape work.

More recently, I’ve been expanding my educational activities by working in schools; most recently undertaking workshops with Creative Partnerships and North Walsham Junior School, and the City of Norwich School, running the Coast Watch Photography Group – read more about it here. I also run my own Courses and Workshops for small group or 1-1 tuition, either at my home base or on location. Teaching and tutoring has benefited my own work enormously and I thrive on the feedback and buzz of a lively class of students and seeing ideas and unique insights develop and grow into finished bodies of work.

www.jeremywebbphotography.com

I am a self-taught mixed media artist with a background in illustration. I use natural materials such as wood, stone, paper and metal, often in a grid format, attempting to create imaginative equivalents to words, phrases and ancient places. I am influenced by poetry, archaeology and music. My day job is running Artbox which provides art sessions for adults with special needs near Halesworth.

www.helenmurray.co.uk

My practice rotates around the notion of change and the processes involved in change. My work often uses moving image, and multiple viewpoints to record a process. I make use of technology in a ‘low tech’ way, using mobile phones and cheap recording equipment to create work. I also use more traditional materials; canvas and paint, paper and crayons. I particularly enjoy working with non-artists in a non-arts environment.

www.wobblymotion.co.uk