Feast of talent on show at the Yard

Theatre & Arts

Friday, May 02, 2008

Tomorrow morning why not go out for breakfast to the Yard in Holywood (I can thoroughly recommend it) and at the same time catch the current show in the upstairs gallery.

Quite a number of artists are taking part, most of whom have appeared at some time or other in the gallery on the ground floor where they get packed in with a huge number of other pieces. Upstairs, in the proper 'exhibition' space, there is a better chance to focus on the individual artists.

Stephen Dillon, whose works I have always admired, has a number of exhibits in charcoal which he uses with a lovely sensitive touch, although the images are always fairly bold. I really like his chimpanzee and his crow, both strangely positioned on the paper, dark and sketchy but with lots of character in the very accurate renderings. In total contrast, Kelly Gallagher's images are light hearted, lively and softly coloured. Using pastel shades she loosely depicts crowd scenes like 'In the Thick of It' or the slightly brighter 'Bus Stop.'

Absolutely unmissable in the very centre of the floor is one of Betty Brown's wonderful 'bits and pieces' sculptures. This one is a Tiger made from various sorts of shaggy orange fabric randomly (or so it appears) stitched together and then embellished with all kinds of seemingly incongruous objects. There is a set of plastic wheels, an orange flipper, curved orange plastic 'claws' and all kinds of very ordinary objects. It's whimsical, unusual and definitely brought a smile to my face.

Karen Murphy's work is just as eye-catching because of its bright, striking use of colour. 'In Bright Sunshine' we find vivid, lime green fields and bright red rooftops, while in others there are bright blue £ mountains or perhaps orange grass. Actually it all works really well, the paintings are welcome reminders of Spanish sunshine and a laid-back lifestyle. Again, in contrast, Howard Ross is showing bold city scapes painted in oils but with the softness of watercolour. He gets some nice effects in the paint and his approach is boldly impressionistic.

Other artists include Shirly McQuillan with big, moody abstracts and Catherine Minford with female nudes boldly rendered in watercolour and ink.

Next up in the gallery will be Seacourt Print Workshop in June, but it's always worth calling in to have a look at what's on the walls. They have a nice eclectic mix with works both framed and unframed so the prices are generally pretty good — so's the coffee of course!