Shore, Sea, Sky – the North Wales coast project
In this exciting collaborative exhibition, three artists explore the spaces where the shore, sea and sky meet, responding both to the land and seascape of the North Wales coast and to each other’s work. With contemporary artist Jon Clayton, painter David Kereszeny-Lewis and glass artist Helen Smith
Preview evening is Thursday 19th October, 6 – 8pm, all welcome.
Opening Times: Thursday – Saturday, 10am – 4pm
The LAKE gallery is located in the heart of West Kirby, 2 minutes walk from the train station, opposite the Concourse.
To accompany the exhibition, the gallery will be hosting an artists talk on Saturday 4th November, 2.30 – 4pm. Free admission but please reserve your place via the gallery website.
Jon Clayton
Jon’s art is about places, they can be recognisable, detailed representational images but also, looser, abstract impressions, responses informed by connections present and in memory. Many of his paintings depict places of personal significance where he has spent time, often a lot of time. He particularly loves the landscape of Britain. The same small localities he continually returns to. Their familiarity is their strength – it’s what holds and moves him. Revisiting them – walking, running, drawing and photographing – he feels part of something already known. And yet, still, there is always something new, a fresh source of surprise.
David Kereszeny-Lewis
The son of a miner and part time game keeper, David Kereszteny-Lewis’s work is an autobiographical visualisation of his experiences in the landscapes he has come to know and understand intimately.
‘My work is fundamentally about places I know, the emotional connection I have with them and the physical effect that society has had upon them, especially in mining and agriculture. I look for the physical scars our actions have, such as paths, fields and fences.”
David’s work is mostly based in Cheshire, Cornwall, Yorkshire and north Wales and he has painted landscapes in every season of the year. His work has a constant theme of rain and water that adds its own specific atmosphere. Music also plays an influence in his work, most of the titles of the work start life in the lyrics of songs that resonate with both his practice as an artist and atmosphere created within an aural musical landscape.
Helen Smith
Created from kiln-formed glass, Helen’s tactile glass curves are strongly influenced by place. However, rather than depicting the landscape directly her focus is always on the interpretation of found textures within the landscape in combination with a sense of the atmosphere of a place.
“I was delighted when David and Jon asked me to join their North Wales coast project. The pieces I have created for this collection developed from the initial sketches made by David and Jon on their trips to the coast in combination with observations made on my own visits.”
Helen has been working with glass since completing her degree in Applied Arts specialising in glass in 2013 and regularly exhibits both locally and further afield. She is a co-founder of the LAKE gallery.