Press Release

26 | 07 | 22
  

Finding Lewis

An exhibition of project sketches, foraged materials and paintings 
 by artist Rebecca Styles

Talla Na Mara, The West Harris Trust, Pairc, Niseaboist, Isle of Harris, Scotland

1^stNovember 2022 to 28^thFebruary 2023

Rebecca Styles| Peatland, oil and natural pigments on canvas

Following on from her spring 2022Bigger Than Usexhibition at Grinneabhat Gallery, and site-specificAlchemyexhibition at Baile na Cille Church, Uig on the Isle of Lewis this summer, Rebecca Styles will exhibit her most recent project at Talla Na Mara Arts Centre,Niseaboist,this winter.

Titled Finding Lewis, the exhibition of 26 paintings is the result of a self-directed residency that began in 2020. Having moved to the Isle of Lewis in March 2019 and built a house and studio in the remote island of Great Bernera, Rebecca set out on an extended tour of Lewis and Harris, taking in as much as she could of her new island home, connecting with the landscape and the community, and documenting her journey with sketches and notes which she shared in real time on her Finding Lewis blog. Having had little contact during 2019 with either people or places on the islands due to the restriction of lockdown, the project introduced Rebecca to the special beauty of the area and its unique culture, and provided a bank of visual inspiration to draw on for this exhibition, as well as foraged materials for use in the creation of her paintings. The resulting collection includes works inspired by every place she visited, with an emphasis on creating landscape with landscape - using earth pigments, grit, charcoal and other materials with her oil paints.

Rebecca says of this project "Over the past three years I have slowly learned to acclimatize my body, mind and spirit to the lifestyle changes that living on Lewis has brought, and to embrace the bittersweet realities of island life. I am drawn strongly down to the earth, to the rocks and to connecting my feet to the memories buried below. The energy of this island at the edge of Europe is seeping into my bones: I have called for it, waited for it, to root, to connect, and it has begun. I am going back to ground, to drawing with crushed rock, to dancing burnt embers across the page and allowing my fingers to memorialize the shapes, colours and unique vistas that make Lewis so unique. I have much more personal experience now of the wild beauty of the island, and of being an islander, and I hope to bring that into my work."

Alongside her paintings, Rebecca's Finding Lewis sketchbooks, which were made for this project by a local bookbinder, and the foraged materials and pigments used in her works, will also be on display.

Rebecca Styles| Take Me There, oil and natural pigments on canvas
 

SeeFinding Lewisfrom 1^stNovember 2022 to 28^thFebruary 2023 atTalla Na Mara, The West Harris Trust, Pairc, Niseaboist, Isle of Harris, Scotland, HS3 3AE. All are welcome to the exhibition opening on Tues 1st November from 3pm onwards. For further information see rebeccastyles.co.uk and tallanamara.co.uk

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 Print Ready 300dpi images for press use:
 
REBECCA STYLES Peatland
 

REBECCA STYLES Take Me There
 
Finding Lewis project sketchbooks
 

Editors Notes

REBECCA STYLES

Rebecca Styles was born in West Yorkshire.She is a recipient of a Visual Artist and Craft Makers (VACMA) Award, and a Creative Scotland Artist Bursary for her work involving local raw pigments and traditional paint making.She studied at Bradford College of Art, and later Somerset College of Art &Technology and Falmouth College of Art. She has spent several years travelling and painting the landscape in some of the UKs most beautiful locations, including the Isles of Scilly, West Cornwall, Devon, and then, on her narrowboat ‘Puck', the beautiful rural counties of Gloucestershire and Derbyshire. In spring 2019, drawn by memories of her childhood holidays on the Isle of Arran, she began searching for a permanent home in the Outer Hebrides, acquiring a plot on the beautiful Isle of Lewis where she has built her house and studio.
 

For further press information or additional images contact Mercedes Smith at Fine Art Communications director@fineartcommunications.co.uk | Tel 07825 270235 | www.fineartcommunications.co.uk