Anna Gillespie’s spell-binding sculptures create a shared environment where humanity is at one with nature.

Recapturing a feeling of immersion in nature, her artwork utilises bark, acorns and beech nut, forming fabulous organic textures and tones. These natural found objects are then cast into bronze. Gillespie considers the act of gathering these each autumn a meditation; on the beauty of nature and our human place within it.

Recent work has shifted Gillespie’s focus onto the way in which humans are influenced by the man-made environment and the way we interact with the planet as a species.

Sometimes depicting solitary figures, often in a meditative or perhaps even spiritual stance, the new work favours groups, walking or standing. Whilst it may appear to draw on current events, Gillespie is also seeking to draw a parallel with the historical experience of people and their movements across the surface of the Earth through the ages.

Gillespie’s exquisite work has created considerable public interest with recent prestigious public commissions in Morecambe Bay and Bath.

Working with the inspirational garden designer and television presenter Chris Beardshaw, their seamless rapport has generated two Gold Award Winning gardens at the renowned RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Anna Gillespie has work is in the collections of The Prudential, Burghley House Sculpture Park, The Somerset Museum, Museo Arte Contemporanea Sicilia, Bodrum Sculpture Park Turkey and also in private collections throughout America, the Middle East and Europe.

Timur D'Vatz is a Russian artist who fuses ancient legends and symbols with modernist form and vibrant colours in his rich paintings.

Born in 1968 in Moscow he studied in Republican College of Art, Tashkent in 1983-87, and between 1993-96 he attended the Post-Graduate courses at the Royal Academy Schools, London where he was awarded the Jack Goldhill and Sir James Walker Scholarships.

His work continues to be highly sought after with major collections in the Middle East, Europe & the US.

"I would describe my work as figurative and emblematic. The subject of the hunt is a symbolic and dynamic motif. Through the use of the elongated bodies, paintings I seek to show the exhilaration of movement within a static image. I draw my inspiration from ancient histories, early Byzantine art, medieval tapestries and mythology, because I believe that an artist will always find rejuvenation in the eternal youth of the ancients; in core ideas that do not lose meaning as time passes, but rather gain new significance with each historical transition.”

He has won several awards including the Guinness prize for First Time Exhibitor at the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, 1994; the A.T Kearney prize, 1996; and the B.P Portrait award at London's National Portrait Gallery, 2002.

Tim Garner’s paintings are both an ode and a lilting lament for the city of Manchester.

They depict seemingly banal, almost nondescript scenes: a garage; a closed-down chippy; a terraced street. And whilst locals might recognise these anti-landmarks, there’s a definite sense that they could belong to any quintessentially Northern town or city.

It’s as if Garner has distilled a sense of Northern identity, its soul, its spirit, on the page. In this respect they bear more than a passing parallel to the work of Turner Prize-nominated George Shaw.

The pieces conjure up a confusing conflux of emotions though. The images have a hazy quality but also employ vivid colours at times. This gives them a sense of being representations of distant memories both faded by time but also brighter than reality.

Garner spent more than twenty years away from his native North West and describes rediscovering its beauty as a “constant joy”. The works certainly have an air of rekindled romance between spurned lovers; there’s an awareness of both their blemishes and their beauty.

Garner’s buildings have a ghostly, ethereal appearance which is fitting because many are probably soon to be knocked down, while others already have been. It would therefore be easy to read the images as a chronicle of urban decay, and there is certainly a hint of that, but there’s also a sort of childlike optimism about them of renewal and hope. Pieces like Moss Lane are overlaid with star-spangled borders at once juvenile and absurd given the gritty subject matter they surround.

For any homesick Northerner, or just anyone who has a mixed relationship with their hometown, Garner’s work should really strike a chord." - Joe Turnbull, Art Review of the Year 2014 for Contributoria.

My sculpture requires a different approach entirely because of the expanse of processes that require a precise order.

A traditional sculptor may engage timeless tools of hammer and chisel to achieve form from stone, but my preoccupation with organics leads me to shape viscous liquids.

Surrounding myself with an ephemera of unconventional implements requires me to work in complete seclusion so I'm not self-consciously avoiding looking like I'm taking a spatula to an emerging life form.

Invariably my figurative forms feature a molten metallic element so once again I'll take it outdoors and fire up a small crucible.

Andrew Hunt continues to capture the public imagination with glorious paintings which reveal the innate heroism entrenched in the everyday.

His captivating portraits have found him twice selected for the highly prestigious BP National Portrait Award, exhibiting at The National Portrait Gallery in London.

The BBC commissioned an exciting series of paintings for the renowned 'Peaky Blinders' series and Hunt’s work is collected globally with a stellar list of famous patrons and investors.

Hunt’s recent Portraits from the Market exhibition invited patrons and stall holders to participate in an impromptu studio at Sheffield Market where he created the series of portraits. The finished pieces are a celebration of northern diversity and community, whilst engendering new audiences into the artistic process.

“I have lived on a terraced Sheffield street for 16 years and many of my pieces draw from Northern cultural references, I needed a space where my paintings could truly resonate with the culture and surroundings that they depict.”

“truly awe-inspiring work. Hunt faithfully paints the details of people’s faces with breath-taking precision (you’re almost sure the highlights and shadows on a forehead will move as you move around the room) Every single face tells a story, every eye and blemish and expression is totally convincing.”

Fusing abstraction with the figurative, Ian manipulates and transforms classical references until they lose their initial context and produce new meaning, ultimately revealing the physicality and sensory nature of the materials.

Inspired by the Renaissance and the abstract impressionists’ use of light, dark and compositional techniques he creates unique and timeless work, often working at a large scale. His paintings make a huge impact on the spaces they inhabit and transform environments with their passion and style.

"In a world preoccupied with technology, there is something remarkable about painting. It connects us back to man’s earliest and most elemental forms of self expression.

I am not interested in painting something that already exists.
My pressing urge is to use paint to explore new forms which will ultimately carry emotional weight. I try not to recreate an image. Instead, I may use it as a reference point by which to move from one painting to the next.

I am influenced by the Abstract Expressionists - for their emotional rawness and mark making, and also by the Renaissance - for composition, light and movement. Onto these I layer influences from contemporary culture and my own personal experience. I aim to instil a classical feel into my work whilst finding new visual paths, with the result hopefully being an exploration of the purpose of painting itself.

I think of my paintings as posing a series of questions rather than providing overt statements or narrative pointers towards any clear kind of answer. There would be no joy or satisfaction in doing that. Instead, the process is more about showing my search for something which, maybe, I hope I’ll never find." Ian Rayer-Smith

Ian is an award-winning artist who paints from studios in Manchester and in rural North Shropshire, England. Since he graduated from Salford University with a first in visual art, he has exploded onto the art scene. Voted one of Manchester’s Top 10 Artists by Manchester Confidential, Winner of Warrington Contemporary Open prize 2014, finalist for Open West 2015 and Winner of It's Art Call 2017 International. He has been featured in GQ magazine and held exhibitions in London, Chicago, Florida and Lille.

Ed Chapman is one of the world's leading artists working in mosaic.

He has undertaken commissions for the Sony Corporation, Fender Music, Hard Rock Cafe, UNICEF, Starbucks and The Gordon Ramsey Foundation, to name just a few. His Richard Burton mosaic, commissioned by Sally Burton, was created using 500 million-year-old Welsh slate and is on permanent display at Swansea University.

Ed Chapman's mosaics are now taught on the art syllabus in several schools in the UK. A book about his mosaics is due to be published with Manchester University Press raising Ed's global profile further.

In 2018, his 10 mosaics portraits of the UK’s best-loved East Midlanders made using 3,000 rail tickets to emphasise the number of tickets used in a single hour – received widespread press and broadcasting coverage.

In May 2016 a David Bowie mosaic in vinyl records sold for £40,000 at auction in London with a Bowie signed album and a vinyl portrait of HM The Queen Rock & Rule sold for £26,000 in September 2016.

In 2011 Ed’s unique Fender plectrums portrait of Jimi Hendrix sold for £23,000 in London. In March 2016 his coins portrait of David Beckham, co-signed by the ex-England captain, sold for more than £8,000 at auction in Mayfair.

He was the only contemporary artist to have work at Cancer Research’s Abbey Road auction in 2009 with a mosaic of John Lennon. In July 2016 Ed was invited to a dinner at the House of Lords for these services to charity

Two of his large coin portraits Mandela and Obama went on an educational tour of the US and Canada in 2019.

His mosaics have a number of high-profile collectors including foreign royalty, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Annie Lennox, Darts legend Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor, England footballers.

In addition to selling mosaics worldwide, Ed has exhibited several times in London as well as in the USA and Europe.

Axel Bottenberg has been working as an artist since he graduated from the Royal College of Art (RCA) in 1989, where he studied alongside such contemporary art luminaries as Tracy Emin, the Chapman brothers and Gavin Turk.

He has shown in solo shows, group shows and as a curator  in a variety of venues.

His work references pop art of the 1960s and its re-emergence form 1990s onwards, drawing inspiration from the work of such artists as Warhol, Koons, the Chapman bothers and Banksy, along with an eclectic mix of historical art influences. 

Bottenberg often uses ‘low art’ iconography such as religious kitsch, tattoo and street art, purposefully selecting imagery to provoke strong responses. His works juxtapose characters such as clowns, guns and bombs against domestic wall paper fabrics, iconic golden backgrounds and other art historical references, creating kitschy or sometimes sinister undertones. 

Bottenberg’s use of diverse objects and materials, combined with the subject matter, creates narratives that are timeless and contemporary, whilst acknowledging long artistic traditions that use symbolism and grand themes.

Karenina Fabrizzi is an artist of Italian descent who now lives and works in Barcelona. Her ephemeral paintings slide into unconscious worlds where humanity and nature embody a deep sense of union.

Her work is exhibited internationally with a growing reputation for organic artworks of delicate beauty.

"In my work I want to bring nature closer to the observer, to connect people with their roots and memories. Organic elements are essential as they show us, like in a fairy tale, the link between the subconscious mind and the actual world.

This, besides having an apparent dark side, also embodies a sense of fragility and vulnerability, which seems to be a consistent characteristic of my work. Delicate graphite lines, a subtle oil color palette, ink and rice paper all amalgamate to create layer after layer a particularly dreamy look that distinguishes my work.” Karenina Fabrizzi

Carl Melegari was born in North Wales of Italian parentage and now lives in Bristol, England. The National Library of Wales recently cemented his reputation when they acquired one of his oils for Wales’ National Collection.

His contemporary approach to painting explores both the human form and the urban landscape. Melegari primarily focuses on the semi-abstraction within the figure and has become increasingly fascinated by the versatility of oil paint.

Often working from life and models, Melegari explores how the physicality of the paint combined with the density of pigment can give a sense of life radiating from the canvas: as if to evoke the vigour of the human form.

His approach to painting explores the treatment and handling of paint whilst conveying expressionistic nudes and landscapes. His paintings arguably focus just as much on the medium of paint, and how it reacts with the surface, as they do on the subject of the painting. Through the veils of layers, achieved by continuously accumulating and scraping back the paint, a figure emerges as if to suggest how the sitter itself has become enveloped and partly obscured by the energy of the paint.

His work draws from sculptural influences, such as Manuel Neri as well as from colourists, such as Morandi.

Melegari frequently uses a monochromatic palette to generate the idea that he is playing with the reduction of form: often abstracting and delineating parts to create a more non-figurative feel. He often uses this muted palette to replicate a sense of isolation and seclusion. He then applies paint liberally and without reserve: allowing it to drip spontaneously to both literally and symbolically mirror the personality of the sitter.

Carl Melegari, in his own words, describes his unique painting process: “I begin by applying an oil turpentine tonal wash to the figure. I apply various impasto layers of oil paints (I mix an alkyd medium with the oil to enable a better drying process) using brush but predominately palette knifes. I occasionally scrape back layers and then I reapply liberally with vigour and attacking the canvas. This is applied with bold applications of paint fused with thinned paint using either or sometimes a mixture of linseed oil and turpentine. All this allows the paint to interact with my application. I will allow the drips to run in different directions. The drying process can take weeks and quite often I will rework into the painting by peeling away and reworking the layers.

I’m basically exploring the physicality of the paint and how it reacts with the surface - applying the paint liberally allowing it to drip spontaneously too.”

Turn the pages to Market; Roll up for Fairground attractions!

See Apocalyptic Horsemen on Carnival mounts! Wander down avenues of naughty Pucks, seductive in the shrubbery... leaf through chapters of darkly dangerous Harlequins, Narcissi, Angel-winged lcarii, acrobats and Sorcerers!

Richard Wallace's beautifully composed, audaciously contorted figures are etched and chivvied into life on the canvas and imbued with feisty fun! He has a mordant sense of humour, and the technique of conveying it brilliantly!

"l dabbled variously in factory, garage and hotel work, but quickly found within myself a strong disinclination to the regime. Early on I met Mr Brian Sewell, wealthy art dealer, and joined the sybaritic life-style of the well-heeled, helping with a little 'Art Restoration' along the way; only later discovering Brian's 'fame' as an art critic....(I hoped in my later gallery quest to use his acquaintance as an entrée but his waspish tongue had alienated many).

On departing this indolent existence, l enrolled for graphic design studies realising after a couple of years my unsuitability for this also, so started a modestly successful Design Group, before taking an advertising position with one of the Johnson Group of Newspapers: this becoming increasingly difficult after the diagnosis of a Spinal Atrophy condition, which heralded the slow-motion pulling away of life's rug from under one.

l nurtured a nascent painting ability and was eventually rewarded with a Manchester Academy Award followed by countless exhibitions. Various other awards include a Derby City Gallery Residency, 'Silver Palette' & Royal Academy Summer Shows and other prizes: From 2000 onwards l exhibited with various London Galleries and a Dutch gallery. Most recently ARTZU Gallery, Manchester.

Once reviewed as - 'A painter with a mordant sense of humour and the technique for conveying it brilliantly'. A committed painter must be inured to both praise and criticism, not arrogantly so, but to have bullet-proof self-conviction, as the gestation of an idea is extremely frail.

Some paint what they see, my work projects from within and my themes seem hard-wired, impervious to external influence. Trying to overcome this one time, we loaded the car for a trip to paint the dust and donkey's of Morocco, only to return with a car full of gorgeous rugs and ceramics, paint-tubes all unsqueezed. Mine is a life vicariously lived on canvas." Richard Wallace.

Carol Peace has been a practising sculptor for over 20 years, during which time she has obtained numerous commissions both public and private. Her work is collected across the globe, including Hong Kong, Singapore, the USA, Canada, and throughout Europe.

Carol initially studied sculpture at Winchester School of Art and later studied drawing at The Prince’s Drawing School. In 2007 she co-founded the Bristol Drawing School. A sculptor who could not work without drawing. The process of drawing, that intuitive response, is in part what she aims for in her work.

While some of the sculptures are layered with meaning, a direct and honest response is often present. She sculpts in clay, which like charcoal is quick to make marks with, once finished it is cast into resin or bronze when those fluid marks of the making are then fixed.

Nick Coley pushes colour and textures, sparking our senses to react.

Incorporating collage to dramatic effect, his wealth of experience shows and shines with the confidence that can only come through fearless experimentation with both composition and his materials.

His work equally has clear classical influences, with figures that could easily have bestrode the shady pathways of Ancient Greece between the timeless monuments.

Mythological, in their own way. His exuberant, yet judicious use of colour is especially appealing and draws you in to engage with an – often dream-like – scene and the sense of the fantastic that pervades his work.

Coley draws inspiration from a close, lifelong connection to the land of the English countryside that shaped and informed him, communing with nature. “The work I’ve begun to do now is firmly rooted with a sense of place. It never struck me as important when I was younger for these associations to matter, but they do matter a great deal. I should know a lot of things about where I live, so it seems only natural as an artist I ought to make references to that knowledge. It’s like acknowledging – and paying homage – to the influence a place has upon you.”

“People often say, I look like Picasso, and I take that as the highest compliment. Like Picasso I seemed to have an instinctive ability to draw, not that I would compare myself beyond that.”

Nick’s technique is not easy to describe or to understand without a technical understanding of the unique and intricate processes he has created.

In a way, they almost defy description and simply have to be seen. It’s hard to convey their depth and intricacy other than by coming into the gallery and seeing – and judging – for yourself. You’ll be richly rewarded for your time.

Andrew Fish is an American artist who lives and works in Boston and teaches at Lesley University’s College of Art and Design and is Visiting Lecturer at Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

Fish studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York and exhibits his paintings widely.

He is the recipient of a NY Studio School Award, a Somerville Arts Council grant, a Contemporary Arts Center-Woodside Award, and the Curators Choice Award from the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition.

Chris Acheson's paintings continue to increase in popularity with artworks now available in print.

His exceptional ability to capture fine detail and the subtleties of light and shadow are the cornerstone to his work.

Chris trained at Manchester Metropolitan University gaining a B.A. in Fine Art (Painting). After graduating he moved to London and in the summer of 2004 he had a solo exhibition at Soho’s Carnaby St. Chris now lives and works in Manchester.

I am inspired by everyday life, I am constantly on the lookout for interesting compositions, from the mundane local Caf’ to the gaudy splendour of Piccadilly Circus and setting up numerous possible narratives for the various characters that inhabit them.

Of my many inspirations Cinema and Music are often at the forefront and have helped to fuel my work and have suggested starting points. For example, Drive-In Saturday (a song by David Bowie). It was a title I liked and so looked around for a location that fitted my interpretation of it. I eventually found it in a mock American Diner in Soho.

The cinematic influence provides the visual treatment of a painting, as I seek to give the impression of a painted film still. And not just glorious Technicolor, the black and white Kitchen Sink dramas of the Sixties are particular favourites. For example A Taste Of Honey and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning they have left a lasting impression and consequently many of my paintings are rendered in black and white.

Also I like to include as many corporate logos as I feel fits a composition. The use of logos, works on many levels, as the new Icons of ‘Pop Culture’ as compositional points of interest and I like the way they ultimately date an image, and therefore the painting.

I suppose I am looking for A Taste Of Honey in the Greasy Spoon of life.

Hancock's work attempts to make palpable the psychological gap between the world that we physically experience and the psychological states through which it is apprehended. He achieves this by painting from staged tableaux. These are rendered in a hyper-realistic style painted directly from miniature still-life sets.

Within his work, key themes become apparent: online identities, failed utopias, anachronistic practices, and escapist communities. Yet within these themes, Hancock's work is rooted in the tradition of painting; signifiers are taken from historical works of art, sources and themes. However, these are suggested through the appropriation of composition, gestures or objects, in an attempt to grasp the continued relevance of painting and its ability to communicate within the prevalence of digital media.

Though rooted in the archaic practice of painting, the work is concerned with opening up the possibilities that exist at the juncture between painting and digital media. Painting's continued presence highlights a society on the cusp: actively embracing and making the best use of digital technology but not ready to relinquish more traditional means of production. Though painting could be seen as a reaction to the proliferation of digital technologies, Hancock's paintings actively embrace this immersivity. For the communities he represents, immersion into the virtual is not sufficient, and instead their preference is towards the physical realm where they can manipulate and engage more tangibly.

As a painter, Hancock's intention is to create fantastical immersive worlds. He attempts to document the obsessions of a generation who wish to believe in utopia which, however, suffers from the knowledge of its decline. Immersed in gaming culture or social networking, the work portrays individuals that find acceptance and esteem in like-minded communities. Within these communities they attempt to create their own ideal society. The works form part of a broader conceptual examination of the resonance between the cult of the individual and anonymity in today’s media saturated world.

Alisa Lim A Po is a Dutch artist who draws on the complexities of human nature.

Her work is a sublime representation of the existential; these stunning pieces resonate with a profound sense of humanity combined with distinctive technique, creating a visually stunning effect.

Art that deals with the multifaceted nature of society and our place within it: sublime semi-figurative pieces, which verge into abstraction, these heads are elemental outlines, raw and textural, their tranquillity belying their remarkable impact.

Dr Paul Helliwell’s passionate and exhilarating artwork explores the visceral nature of painting parallel to more cerebral and conceptual ideas.

Central to his practise is his experimentation with ever new ways to extend the creative process, and the desire to express powerful feelings and emotions.

It is a rare thing indeed to find works of art that are labours of love and toil on a monumental scale which speak to you in ancient tongues. James Cummins paints abstract works that deliberately draw parallels to historical texts such as the ancient Sanskrit Rig Veda (Song of Knowledge) and the cuneiform tablets of Babylon. With these he suggests a different frame of reference, with forms, shapes and impressions of vanished worlds using imagination and erudition. At an iconographic level Cummins strives to develop a new form of expression for a modern age by drawing upon the language of the ideas, signs and symbols of the ancients. His brooding and mesmeric abstracts with their intensely worked, finely crafted sculptural surfaces reveal the eternal mysteries of nature and mankind through the ages. Their contemplative power and grandeur can be related to on a timeless, sublime level that transcends the ages and creates a language of its own. Through their transfixing quality, they are a timeless response to the universal mysteries of the human condition.

Philip was educated at Manchester Metropolitan University leaving with a degree in Fine Arts.

His recent coverage of the Conservative Party Conference has brought political comment from both ITV and The Times.

He has had a number of commissions including those from Manchester City Council and Peel Holdings plc. This latter commission was for four large oil paintings of the Trafford Centre, the flagship enterprise of Peel Holdings and was specially overseen by the Chairman, John Whittaker. The paintings are now displayed in the Chairman’s private suite at the centre.

He was also commissioned by Manchester City Council to produce a drawing of a little girl. This was then produced in a limited edition series for presentation to foster parents in recognition of their services (the ‘Foster Oscars’).

Technique and Inspiration

Though Philip has won recognition particularly in his landscapes for their sharpness and photo-like immediacy, he has recently been exploring different, almost surrealistic, techniques in a series of Manchester scenes. His latest paintings explores people and places with a new insight.

"My work has often been realistic, bordering on photo-realism. However the resolution of the image is not infinite, rather the paint marks are obvious and important.

The subject matter depicted by my work varies enormously, ranging from landscapes and cityscapes to portraiture. The reason for this is that the object to me is merely the ‘maguffin,’ an excuse to demonstrate the complex colours used and the variety and calligraphic virtuosity of the brush strokes.

However with portraiture my concerns go deeper. My intention is to capture the whole individual to such an extent that the painting transcends being a mere image. I work in a variety of mediums, oils, acrylics, watercolours, pastels, pencil, ink and ball point pen." Philip Horrocks