Press Release  03 | 04 | 23

Alchemy | Jessica Dunn & Heidi Nguyen

with ceramics by Gail Altschuler & Kate Baugh

22^ndApril to 3^rdJune 2023

Jessica Dunn |At Long Last |oil and gold leaf on canvas, 90x90cm

This May, The Sanctuary Gallery presents an exhibition by four women artists whose practice makes use of emphatic colour and mark. Painter Jessica Dunn's abstract works are inspired by the ever-changing characteristics of the land, sea and sky in Portugal where she lives and works. Working layer-by-layer, she builds detail by painting on and scraping off veils of rich oil colour, developing an abstracted image in response to the brilliant southern European landscape and warm atmosphere. In this way she expresses the experience of landscape though the emotive language of colour, creating what she calls the "illusion of being immersed in nature, reflective and timeless".

Heidi Nguyen |Pinks|acrylic on linen, 70x60cm

Painter Heidi Nguyen studied art in Paris at Atelier Met de Penninghen. She now lives and works in Ireland, where she makes paintings and monotypes inspired by the beauty and magnitude of the Irish landscape. She combines vibrant colour and powerful composition with a key focus on authenticity of gestural marks, often working flat on the ground using her fingers and hands to apply paint directly to the linen canvas or paper.

Ceramicist Gail Altschuler studied at The Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, and began her career as a silkscreen printer, creating large, colourful works on paper for the interior design sector. In 2021 her ceramic work was selected for the Royal Academy Summer exhibition and she became a member of the Craft Potters Association, and in 2022 she won the Wales Contemporary 3d prize.She uses her ceramic practice as a medium for storytelling. Illustrating her surfaces from sketchbook observations, she combines Mishima inlay techniques,which involves filling grooves with the colour,as well as sgraffito and brightly coloured washes to create her lively and intriguing works.

Gail Altschuler |Mother and Child| ceramic

Kate Baugh studied ceramics under respected potters Jude and John Jelfs, Jack Doherty, Nigel Lambert, Wally Keeler, Phil Rogers and Alastair Young. Her brightly coloured stoneware and porcelain pots are detailed with slip and underglaze, and are inspired by the work of 20^thcentury abstract artists including the visual calligraphy of Antoni Tapies, the vibrant colours of Albert Irvin and Juan Miro's use of line and form.

SeeAlchemyfrom 22^ndApril to 3^rdJune at The Sanctuary Studio & Gallery, High Street, Newnham, Gloucestershire, GL14 1BB.Private View 21^stApril.www.thesanctuarygallery.com

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Print Ready 300dpi images for press use:

JESSICA DUNN At Long Last

HEIDI NGUYEN Pinks 

GAIL ALTSCHULER Mother & Child

Editors Notes

The Sanctuary Gallery & Studio

Established in 2022 by artist Sharon Harvey, The Sanctuary Studio & Gallery exhibits the best in contemporary painting and craft in an intimate and historical setting at the heart of the village of Newnham-on-Severn. With an ever-changing program of exhibitions, the gallery offers a broad spectrum of work from figurative to abstract, and represents emerging and established British artists.

www.thesanctuarygallery.com

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