In this month's newsletter we are looking ahead to what we hope will be an exciting and positive year for everyone. Last week, the gallery artists met via Zoom to review, plan and share ideas. It was wonderful to work together again and we are really looking forward to sharing new work with you in 2021.
We've had a fantastic response to our online sale and as a result we've decided to extend it till the end of the month, so if there is a painting or mosaic that you have had your eye on, now is the time to revisit our online shop! Currently we have over 45 original artworks for sale at 25% off, use the code Sale25 at the checkout.
Our social media following has grown considerably over the last couple of months and we've decided to set up our own Open Studio week on Instagram and Facebook. From February 1st, we will be sharing photos and videos of our working spaces, giving our followers an insight into how we work. If you don't follow us already, there is a link at the bottom of this newsletter. We will also be including some of the footage in next months newsletter, as well as information about our new 'Spring Collection'. Watch this space...
This month, Claire gets to interview the multi talented Visual artist and musician Adrian Lane. We get to discover how Adrian's music and art are connected, how he manages to produce work alongside teaching full time and his plans for the future.
The first time I came across Adrian's work was about 10 years ago. My husband and I had visited the gallery (when it was next to The Grove), I was enjoying a systematic browse of the walls whilst my husband was drawn like a magnet to Adrian's work and made a beeline for it. The beautiful textures, Asian influence and calmness of the work he had on show had pulled him in. I have since bought my husband one of Adrian's paintings and although it's quite different to the other art work we own, it sits beautifully in our lounge and we never tire of it. This is an interview I have been really looking forward to as there are so many questions I want to ask!
What is your background in Art and when did you first start painting?
I studied at Winchester School of Art, BA (Hons) and started selling my work shortly after that in the early 1990s, but have been painting and drawing all my life and would often sit for hours as a child producing art work of some kind. I worked for around 10 years as a printed textile designer, but whilst doing so also produced paintings as a antidote to the constraints put on me by the commercial work. After getting into teaching in 2000, I stopped the design work, but continued with my painting and have been painting regularly ever since.
What genre of music do you create? Does it inspire your art (or vice versa) or are they independent from each other?
I feel that the music and artwork I create are part of the same thing; visuals often inspire pieces of music and vice versa. I think, essentially I am aiming for the same thing in both the music and painting; both being atmospheric, calming and somewhat enigmatic. The quote by the Dalai Lama sums up my thoughts nicely “The quality of art is that it makes people who are otherwise always looking outward, turn inward.” The music I produced has been described as cinematic, which obviously has a lot of visual connotations. My music is instrumental and if I were to put it into one genre it would be neo-classical, my music has been played several times on BBC Radio 3.
Who are favourite artists?
My favourite visual artists are Shinro Ohtake, Antoni Tapies, Anselm Kiefer, Russel Mills, Ian Walton, Franz Kline and Frank Bowling to name but a few. My favourite musicians/ composers are Philip Glass, Steve Reich, David Sylvian, Olafur Arnalds, Johann Johannson, Max Richter and Arvo Part, and there are many more I could name as I buy albums almost on a weekly basis, so have a huge collection of music I love.
How do you manage working full time as well as creating art and music? It must be a struggle.
Sometimes it is a struggle to find the time, and most importantly the energy to produce music and artwork. After a day of teaching 25 or more teenagers, I am usually exhausted; my students are lovely but it is tiring work. Especially in the current situation with crowded classrooms, no possibility of social distancing where there is a constant feeling of underlying tension. Therefore I only aim to produce work that I really believe in, at least in the sense of the journey of producing it (although that doesn’t mean I am always 100% happy with everything I create). If it is not something that I feel inspired to do, I won’t do it. I do accept commissions, but only if I believe the work I produce will be interesting and worthwhile. If I feel inspired to create, I find it gives me the energy, maybe it is the adrenaline that comes with genuinely exciting projects.
What plans do you have for art in 2021?
In terms of painting I have recently been enjoying working with a very limited palette of mainly black and white and may well continue with this for a while, but I’ll see what evolves. Having said that I also recently produced artwork for the covers of a couple of albums and these were not black and white, but I enjoyed reacting to the excellent music. In terms of my music I have two albums coming out this year; the first in February on a label called Preserved Sound and the second later on in the year, for a label called Whitelabrecs. Both albums will be released on Cd as well as digital, so it is a nice opportunity for my music and artwork to come together in the packaging.
You can listen to some of Adrians music below...
Releases 05 February 2021
Finally, we would like to wish everyone a very happy and healthy 2021, thank you for supporting our Gallery.