Visions – Art Exhibition by Jay Hurst
We are most pleased to announce that the new art exhibition ‘Visions’ by Jay Hurst has gone up at Chester Art Centre!
The private view and ‘meet the artist’ event will take place on Thursday, 10th of March.
We look forward to seeing you at our NOT socially distanced event!!
From surreal and slightly macabre fantasy to the beauty of organic form, with close observation of nature ‘worthy of a Dutch flower painter’ to portraits reminiscent ‘of a renaissance master’, this selection of drawings and paintings by award winning artist Jay Hurst have it all.
“Jay Hurst’s Visions is such a richly diverse collection of images…. a cornucopia indeed.”
Ian Watson, author of the Screen Story for Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence.
“Jay Hurst is that rare creature – a modern fine artist who has mastered the disciplines of anatomy, composition, perspective and chiaroscuro. From hyper-realism to surreal fantasy, his stunning paintings can be delightful, disturbing and witty.”
Bryan Talbot, Writer/Artist, Grandville, Luther Arkwright, Alice in Sunderland
“Amazing…”
Chris Moore, Artist, Illustrator
“These are terrific! After the Wars has a calmness which belies what, to me, is a nightmare post-apocalyptic dream land.”
Julian Baum, VFX Artist, Illustrator
“Great skill and creativity…. Your work is excellent!”
Gary Blythe, Artist, Winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal
“He is clearly not without talent and he fights his corner and might well turn out to be exactly the bolshy young man we need right now, as someone once said of me.”
Michael Sandle RA, Sculptor, Artist
“Extraordinary! Quite brilliant…”
Jim Fitzpatrick, Artist, creator of the original Che Guevara poster
“Portraiture, still life, beautiful pencil work of his home city of Chester, wild science fiction and fantasy imaginings, it’s all grist to Jay Hurst’s churning, hyperdriven brain… he is an artist with a real message”
Jim Burns, internationally acclaimed science fiction and fantasy artist.
“Jay’s raw perspective of our world and sometimes twisted imagination, combined with his deep knowledge of light, surface, and the mediums he works with, is a joy to the eyes.”
Paul Varney, Artist, Game Designer. Credits: Sacrifice, X-Com, The Bards Tale, FIFA and Driver series
‘Surreal Reality’ art exhibition by Greg Forster
‘Surreal Reality’ art exhibition by Greg Forster
We are excited to announce Greg’s exhibition which will take place at Chester Art Centre for two weeks starting on the 26th of April and will run until the 10th of May 2022. The preview evening will take place on Thursday 28th April.
Influenced by the surrealists of the 1920/30’s and cartoonists of the 1980’s, Greg creates bizarre and imaginative colourful worlds with weird and outlandish subjects. Greg’s artwork can be provocative and at times disturbing, with a vein of fun bewilderment that runs through the entire exhibition. Sometimes political, often personal and intimate, with humour and sarcasm being central to his work.
Greg’s imagery asks questions and evokes mystery with detailed complexity of his paintings that encourages an exploration of one’s own psyche. In many compositions, subjects are undergoing a transformation, depicted as they change from one state or identity to another, displaying subjects with anything from angels with heart-shaped limbs to strange fuse-headed monsters.
Using knowledge and skills acquired in his profession in graphic design to shape his artistic vision Greg has put together a collection of images that portray varying perspectives that include love and loss, hopes and fears, lust and power, and the meaning of life. His work draws on his own personal experience personifying bizarre subjects in complex circumstance.
Greg Forster graduated from Swansea Metropolian University in 1992, since then he has worked professionally as a London based freelance illustrator, and latterly in graphic design. Now based in his native North Wales, he uses the knowledge and skills acquired in those professions to shape his artistic vision.
Greg has a keen interest in philosophy and sociology, and has always been fascinated by characteristics, key life events, and situations which compose the essence of human existence, such as growth, emotionality, aspiration, conflict, and mortality. These themes are often recurrent in his artwork and come from varying perspectives that include love and loss, hopes and fears, lust and power, and the meaning of life.
Working in a mix of contemporary mediums, such as acrylic paint, ink, spray paint, marker pen and pencil on paper, board and canvas, Greg has blended his skills in graphics and illustration with his love of bright colour and surrealism to bring about artwork that depicts life’s pleasures and predicaments in a surreal world. His use of bold colour in this surreal environment allows Greg to challenge the boundaries and explore his own obsessions.
The private view will be taking place on the 28th of April 2022 between 6pm and 9pm and we look forward to seeing you for some bright surrealism and wine!
MAD WORLD photographic art exhibition by Gary Sheridan
MAD WORLD by GARY SHERIDAN
We are excited to announce Gary’s new exhibition which will take place at Chester Art Centre for 2 weeks starting on the 27th of August and will run until the 10th of September 2020. We’ve confirmed the private view for Thursday, the 27th of August, and will be equipped with face masks and disposable cups for Prosecco 🙂
It was whilst studying photography at the University of Wolverhampton in the UK that Gary found his passion for conceptual photography. His work draws on personal experience and his natural inquisitiveness in human behaviour.
He constructs a series of work from a concept, or he will see images in everyday life that speaks volumes to him. Whichever method of construction he uses, he intends the images to be multi-layered and engage the viewer thoughtfully and aesthetically. His work is vibrant, beautiful and seductive, with a vein of humour that runs through its body, just as life should be, yet life is not always a bed of roses and Gary’s work often breaks down the façade to reveal…
The Mad World exhibition features work from his latest award-winning series Waiting for the Tide to Turn, Are Friends Electric and In Dreams.
“In a mad world, only the mad are sane”
Recent Awards
Bronze Award – Tokyo International Foto Awards, Fine Art 2019 TIFA
Bronze Award – Worlds Top 10 Fashion Photo, Fine Art, One Eyeland 2019
3 x Honorable Mention – International Photography Awards, Fine Art Series 2019 IPA
Honorable Mention – International Photography Awards, Street Photography 2019 IPA
Nominee – Fine Art Photography Awards – Conceptual 2019 FAPA
Finalist – Worlds Top 10 Fashion Photo 2018 – Oneyeland
Honorable Mention – International Photography Awards, Fine Art Portrait 2018 IPA
SUMMER EXHIBITION 3 – Marine and Coastal paintings in oils, oil pastel and watercolour by Sue Walsh
This summer we are happy to exhibit Sue Walsh’s fantastic artwork for the third time! Sue’s summer seascape shows are becoming a wonderful tradition at Chester Art Centre and a new collection has been created especially for her 2020 summer exhibition.
S R Walsh is a local artist whose work has recently been exhibited in London, New York, Monaco, St Ives Cornwall and, of course, Chester.
‘SUMMER EXHIBITION 3’ will run from 7 July 2020 until 11 August, with the private Prosecco Distanced Event held on Saturday, 18 July between 1 PM and 7 PM. Due to the social distancing regulations and the size of the gallery, we have decided to stretch the fun across the whole day! Pop in talk to Sue and get a private mini-tour of the exhibition with a glass of Prosecco in your hand 🙂 ! If you can, please do let us know approximately when you are planning to pay us a visit, so we can make sure everyone is safe and happy 🙂
“You are invited to call in to Chester Art Centre to see for yourself why my paintings are chosen by people from all over the world to enhance their homes and offices.
My paintings capture the light, atmosphere and moods that connect us to nature.”
We look forward to seeing you on the 18th of July for Prosecco, gorgeous sea breeze and fantastic artwork!
Take a look at some of Sue’s paintings on her web page www.sue-walsh.co.uk or take a look at some of her work on our new online gallery: www.artexclusive.co.uk/collections/sue-walsh
Playtime – astonishing seascapes by Sue Walsh!
‘The application of paint to canvas or board using brushes, palette knife and fingers result in passages of impasto as well as washes of translucent colour. The trick is knowing when to stop.
The subject matter is often light, air and water. The objective to create pieces that evoke emotions linked to memories’.
An exhibition of fantastic art by Sue this summer is an event we are really looking forward to. Following last year’s success, Sue’s floating and fresh paintings will yet again bring a bit of breeze to Chester Art Centre this summer!
Sue Walsh was born in Liverpool and grew up on the farms of Oxfordshire, the Lake District and Cheshire. She studied Art and Education at St. Katharine’s College in Liverpool in 1972-1975 and then became a Teacher of Art and Crafts in Liverpool. Sue then moved to Chester and continued teaching and painting. She is an Associate Member of The Penwith Society of Artists and a member of St. Ives Arts Club, (Sue used to live in St. Yves for a quite a while) and a lot of her work is inspired by the breath-taking views of Cornwall. Sue is a prolific artist and has successfully exhibited her art for many years. One of her paintings was shortlisted for the 2018 John Moore’s Painting Prize.
This July, a beautiful combination of the Coastal theme, People theme and Interior will showcase some of Sue’s finest pieces. Water, air, sand and rocks mixed with Figurative and slightly surreal paintings celebrating the miracle of existence…
A MUST SEE!
The exhibition will run between 23 July and 19 August with the private view taking place on Thursday 25 July between 6:30 PM and 9 PM. Join us for some coastal breeze and a glass of wine!
Sue’s Recent exhibitions:
2012
Penwith Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall
Associates’ Show (group)
2013
Penwith Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall
Associates’ Show (group)
2014
Salthouse Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall
Two person show.
Penwith Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall
Associates’ Show (group)
2015
Salthouse Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall
Two person show.
Little Picture Gallery, Mousehole, Cornwall
December exhibition (group)
2016
Affordable August Exhibition, Penwith Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall
(group)
St Ives Arts Club “Coast” exhibition
(Three person show)
2017
St Ives Arts Club “Setting Sail” Exhibition
Two person show
Salthouse Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall
(Two person show)
2017 – 2018
Chester Art Centre, Chester, Cheshire
(Group show)
July and August 2018
Solo Art Exhibition, Chester Art Centre, Northgate St., Chester
September 2018
Salthouse Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall, Arts Festival.
February 2019
Parallax Art Fair, Kensington Town Hall, London
ArtUPClose digital exhibition, Manhattan, New York and various international locations through the year.
Space Dive – Art Exhibition by Luciana Hermida – private view
Luciana Hermida is a visual artist and graphic designer from Buenos Aires (Argentina), based in Chester UK.
Luciana brings a unique approach to mixed media art. Through her series ’Space Dive’ she looks to challenge the way we perceive reality. In this series there is also a prominent protagonism given to the creatures of the deep sea, a very deep passion of hers. These creatures are put in unusual environments alongside unusual elements in order to create imaginary worlds and challenge the mind. The creatures swim into space and vice-versa. There is no set narrative. The space, the sea and land are merged in order to allow the creatures move around freely.
‘Space Dive’ invites the observer to let go of natural ways of perceiving the world and dive into space with the imagination.
Seduction, metamorphosis, transformation, after life, time travelling are some of the topics that appear in Luciana’s artworks present in the series ‘Space Dive’.
Her art is visually stimulating as well as an imagination stimulant. Bright bold colours are embraced, giving each piece a very contemporary and fresh feel.
We look forward to seeing you for Luciana’s Space Dive private view on 23 May, 2019, between 6:30 and 8:30!
The exhibition will run until 6 June 2019.
RESURRECTION by PT MADDEN art exhibition Private View
PTMADDEN is a London artist who creates calligraphy, paintings, screen prints, fine art photographs, artist’s books, literature and sound recordings.
His photographic piece SEXPISTOLS APRIL 1976 was shown in 2014 at London’s premier East End Wilkinson Gallery (who represent that work at art trade fairs internationally). The piece was shown in the 2018 SEX BEATLES 1976-1978 exhibition at the research laboratory in Liverpool’s John Lennon Art and Design building and is currently on show at the Hornby Library in Liverpool’s Central Library as part of the British Library’s highly acclaimed touring exhibition PUNK.
His first solo painting show was at Liverpool’s View2 Gallery in 2014. During the summer of 2018 all of his work was displayed at CAC pop-up Gallery 118. During the run Sex Pistols’ guitarist Steve Jones bought a fine art photograph from SEX PISTOLS 1976 and four screenprints entitled TheImpossible#1. The gallery was visited by Elvis Costello who bought a portrait of the guitarist Peter Green.
Paintings from a future exhibition READY STEADY GAUGIN! will be displayed alongside RESURRECTION. These include works after Gaugin, Klimt, Rosetti with contemporary portraits of T800, Clint Eastwood, Che Guevara and Wolverine.
Screenprints and fine art photographs (from the artist’s series Chester Fog and Paris Immortel) are available from Chester Art Centre.
The show runs from April 18th to Monday May 6th (May Bank Holiday) inclusive.
During the show the gallery will be open seven days a week from 12 noon to 6pm.

Petals and Claws Art Exhibition – Revisiting The Owl Service fifty years on
In August 1967 the acclaimed British author, Alan Garner OBE, published the classic children’s book The Owl Service. This supernatural thriller tells the story of Alison, Roger and Gwyn and their unwilling involvement in the recurring curse of Blodeuwedd, Lleu and Gronw.
It is a tale of love, supernatural possession, murder and eventual redemption, all played out in a remote valley in rural North Wales. The story revolves around the ancient tale of Blodeuwedd, from the Welsh chronicles of mythology The Mabinogion. In The Owl Service, this tragic story is replayed generation after generation, reliving the cursed love triangle that ensnared Blodeuwedd, Lleu and Gronw.
Photographer, David Heke, has been collaborating with Alan and Griselda Garner on a number of projects. Following a conversation around the kitchen table in their 15th-century farmhouse, about the forthcoming fiftieth anniversary of The Owl Service, the germ of the idea for this project was born.
Bringing together a multi-disciplinary group of artists from either side of the Welsh/English border, this collaboration explores and celebrates this ground-breaking story and it’s origins in Welsh myth.
The multimedia project includes photography, video, painting, sculpture, music/soundscape, poetry and a fine art upholstery installation. To complement the exhibition, there will be a collaboration with a choreographer to produce dance-based work for video and performance plus contributions from writers working in the fields of folklore and archaeology.
The participating artists are Liz Ellis (sculpture), Jenny Ryrie (painting), David Heke (photography and video), Chris Tally Evans (music/soundscape), Bettina Langlois (fine art upholstery), Anna Wigley (poetry and prose) and Jacqueline McCormick (dance).
All the artists have been selected due to their interest in the story of Blodeuwedd from the Mabinogion and The Owl Service by Alan Garner.
Professor Sioned Davies, Head of the School of Welsh at Cardiff University and writer of the most recent translation of The Mabinogion, has agreed to provide a series of readings from the medieval Welsh text ‘Math fab Mathonwy’ and talks on the Fourth Branch of The Mabinogion.
The exhibition will tour venues across the UK from April 2017 to September 2018 and be site-specific for each gallery location. Workshops by some of the contributing artists can be arranged on request to accompany the exhibition.
David Heke – photography and video
David is a Chester-based photographer, artist, printmaker and videographer. He has over twenty years experience of working in television and the performing arts, with disability and community groups, for advertising and marketing companies, for museum trusts, and local authority heritage and arts services.
David had a background in science before retraining in photography and darkroom techniques. He is interested in using art to interpret science in a creative way, making it more accessible to a wider audience. As an artist, he produces original limited-edition prints for sale and exhibition. He also creates videos for installations, exhibitions and commissions. Many of his images are derived from personal interests, such as archaeology, landscape, architecture, natural science, folklore and mythology. He uses traditional, digital and alternative photographic processes to achieve the final results.
David has worked with musicians, writers and choreographers, producing photography and video installations for use in performance. He has run, and participated in, a number of community-based arts programmes, including the Lache Arts Project, Cheshire Year of Gardens and Number 63, a pop-up gallery, studio and workshop, based in an empty retail space in Chester. He has worked on a range of site-specific projects, including photographer-in-residence for the Chester Amphitheatre Beacon Project.
David is a founder member of Cheshire Artists Network and arts collective CHART and has exhibited extensively, both nationally and internationally. In 2005 he was commissioned by the European funded Cultmark UK to produce an exhibition, book and workshop, profiling the historic canal system between Chester and Ellesmere Port. The resulting exhibition toured several venues in north-west England.
He recently contributed photographic artwork and a video collaboration (with musician i Luker Koenig) to the The Wing Assignment exhibition at Red Bull Studios, London and The Wing Asylum at Caroline Gardens Chapel, London.
www.quetzalphotography.co.uk and www.davidheke.co.uk
Liz Ellis – sculpture
Born in Cheshire, Liz was educated in the arts and sciences and has practised professionally in both disciplines. She now works full time in her studio in Chester, working mainly on ceramic sculpture.
Finding connections in the external and internal geography of my own landscapes and drawing from the creative legacy of pre history, my work is sometimes figurative, sometimes abstract, but always being given up to the intense heat of the kiln for its final transformation.
Liz exhibits nationally and internationally in fine art galleries (including Medici, London and Roger Billcliffe, Glasgow) and public galleries (including The Brindley, Runcorn with ‘Slow Turning’). Her work is held in private collections in the UK, USA, Australia and Europe.
Liz is an experienced collaborator and workshop facilitator and has lectured to degree level (Oxford Brookes University). She has run clay life modelling workshops for West Cheshire College and has designed and run community workshops funded by the Arts Council.
Jenny Ryrie – painting
Jenny Ryrie R.B.S.A has specialised in watercolour and acrylics since graduating with an M.A. in Fine Art from Edinburgh in 1980. She uses expressionistic colour and a variety of techniques to push the boundaries of the watercolour medium, exploiting its fluidity and translucency.
After Edinburgh Jenny lived on the edge of the Brecon National Park which inspired her love of waterfalls, a recurring theme throughout her career. She had exhibitions in London and Edinburgh in the 1990’s and a two-person show at Oriel Gallery, Theatr Clwyd. From 1994 onwards she exhibited at Canyon Road Contemporary Art in Santa Fe, U.S.A. with an annual solo show, her paintings exploring the American wilderness, effects of light and weather, and Native American iconography.
From 2004 Jenny exhibited with the Castle Street Gallery in Hay-on-Wye as main artist-in-residence during the Hay Literature Festival. As well as landscape forms she explored themes of music, dance and poetry. In 2005 she had a solo show of ‘musical abstracts’ at the Mermaid Theatre, London in conjunction with the BBC Jazz Awards and C2 Gallery.
Jenny has exhibited in Switzerland (‘Songs of the Elements’ at Galerie Englische Kirche, Meiringen, 2009) and in group exhibitions in France, Italy, Germany, and Russia (Ekaterinburg Museum Of Fine Art).
Her work appears in several publications including ‘Twelve Women Artists From The NorthWest’ and ‘Miller’s Picture Price Guide 2005’. She won the Kate Fryer prize at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists in 2010 and was elected a member of the R.B.S.A. in 2011.
I work in an expressionistic, intuitive way, often exploring the energy of the landscape and its underlying spirituality. My paintings vary in their degree of abstraction and explore both the physical and metaphysical. Many are inspired by music and sound.
Chris Tally Evans – music and soundscape
Chris Tally Evans is a performance/media artist, writer and equalities activist. His work has been featured internationally and on UK and international media. As well as broadcasting on BBC 2W, BBC Wales, ITV, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio 4, and BBC Radio 3, Chris’s work has been shown in the UK, USA, Canada, New
Zealand, Qatar, Poland and Finland. He has received a Major Creative Wales Award and a major commission for the London 2012 Festival.
http://www.christallyevans.com/
Bettina Langlois – fine art furniture/upholstery
Bettina trained as a theatrical costumier and, latterly, as an upholsterer. Both disciplines wrap materials around a three-dimensional foundation, be it a body or a chair, to create illusion, surprise, dissonance, character. She is interested in the places where art and upholstery meet.
In 2013 she won a prize for her work awarded by Heico and the Association of Master Upholsterers and Soft Furnishers. The chair was exhibited at the Interiors UK exhibition at the NEC, Birmingham. In the same year, she was awarded a prize for advanced upholstery skills by the Worshipful Company of Upholders and accepted their invitation to become a Yeoman.
Bettina came to Alan Garner’s The Owl Service at Girl Guide camp in Wales, read to each other at night by torchlight. This fostered a life-long friendship with the book’s owner, for which she owes Alan Garner a debt of gratitude!
Anna Wigley – poetry and prose
Anna Wigley is a Welsh poet living in Cardiff. She has had four collections of poetry published by Gomer Press, the most recent being Ghosts (March 2016). Her work is largely concerned with the natural world (birds, beasts and flowers) and she is most honoured to be asked to contribute to this celebration of Alan Garner, an author she has long admired.
http://annawigleywebsite.blogspot.co.uk/
Jacqueline McCormick USA/UK – Dance Artist
Jacqueline has been teaching, performing and making dances for over thirty years, directing and perform- ing in her company DanceAbout works that take a dancing journey through the outback of the self. She is fascinated by creating movement from sensation, especially in natural environments, as captured in her dance films; Settle, Spiral and most recently The Walk, shot in Joshua Tree, California USA.
Jacqueline’s work is greatly influenced by her research into improvisation, especially Contact Improvisation. Since 1990 she has taught Contact Improvisation at numerous Contact Festivals and workshops throughout the USA and Europe, most recently at Italy Contact Festival 2016, Los Angeles USA, and Bristol UK.
As Artistic Director for Cheshire Dance 2004-2016 Jacqueline created small to large-scale site-based works involving professional artists and communities. The Moment When… 2012 involved over 900 performers, across 3 sites, as part of the NW Cultural Olympiad celebrations. Jacqueline has an M.A degree in Dance from Mills College, California, and was Associate Professor in Dance at Connecticut College, USA 2000- 2004, and Western Oregon University 1985-1996.
The exhibition will run until the 1st of December.
David Scholes Art Exhibition
Artist David L Scholes left school at 16 and became a Carpenter. In 2012, some twenty seven years after leaving school, his wife bought him some paint and canvas from a local art shop and from then on David began to paint. He has sold prints of his work globally and exhibited in the UK and Europe, which has merited interviews and praise alike with international art publications.
David is going to exhibit his Abstract and the Heart collection in Chester for 1 week only – do not miss the preview on the 25th of August!
Come along and bring your friends to meet David and see his incredible art! A nice glass of wine and great arty company guaranteed!
“During our lives we will experience a moment or situation when emotion takes over, showing our vulnerability or strength. These paintings portray joy, grief, fortitude, anxiety, fear and love on a level where the protagonist visibly reminds us that:- sometimes we wear our hearts on our sleeves”— David L Scholes
“He reaches the audience with his messages without using imposing or dramatic artworks, which is common for today’s society, instead he relies purely on the reactions of others to objectify his artwork”— Charlotte Tiebosch