Press Release

27 | 07 | 23

British Artist Rebecca Styles Takes Up
Winter Residency on La Gomera

Rebecca Styles at her studio on the Isle of Lewis, 2022

This November, British landscape painter Rebecca Styles will take up three week a residency atCasa Tagumerche on La Gomera in the beautiful Canary Islands. The unique Casa Tagumerche community has been designed to support dedicated artists and writers seeking a private space in a spectacular environment. Their aim is to enhance the creativity of artists and the exchange of ideas by providing uninterrupted time for work, reflection and creativity in a remote and inspirational setting411 meters above sea level with magnificent, unobstructed views of the Atlantic Ocean.

Rebecca's art practice has, until now, been concentrated on the dramatic landscape of the Isle of Lewis at the remote northwest edge of Scotland, where she lives and works. Over the last two years, thisspectacular location has inspired a series of collections which have been exhibited across the Outer Hebrides.Rebeccais a recipient of a Visual Artist and Craft Makers Award, and a Creative Scotland Artist Bursary for her work involving local raw pigments and traditional paint making. Her collections are inspired by ideas of ‘place', with an emphasis on creating landscape with landscape - using earth pigments, grit, charcoal and other materials with her oil paints.

Now, this winter residency, 2,000 miles away to the south of Scotland offers Rebecca the chance to make a new collection of work in response to the equally dramatic island landscape of La Gomera.

As a project-based painter, Rebecca will consider the topographical and meteorological contrast between these two, distant groups of islands, with a particular interest in La Gomera's Garajonay National Park and its huge, green laurel forest, as well as the all-encompassing Atlantic Ocean and the transient weather systems it brings. 

Rebecca says:"Painting high up at Casa Tagumerche, amid volcanic hills and with a panoramic view of the ocean, gives me the perfect vantage point for appreciating the unique beauty of La Gomera. Like all islands, La Gomera has its own personality, defined by its lush greenery, its weather systems, its unique geology and coastline and its rich volcanic soil which I hope will afford me some beautiful, natural pigments for inclusion in my paintings. The shapes and colours of this small island will be so very different from those of the vast wilderness of Scotland and the Outer Hebrides, and I am excited to capture La Gomera's unique qualities on canvas".

Rebecca's previous exhibitions have included her spring 2022Bigger Than Usexhibition at Grinneabhat Gallery, and site-specificAlchemyexhibition at Baile na Cille Church, Uig on the Isle of Lewis last summer, as well as an exhibition of 26 paintings resulting from a self-directed residency that began in 2020, titledFinding Lewis, which was exhibited at Talla Na Mara Arts Centre, Niseaboist, Outer Hebrides last winter. Her most recent project, in summer 2023, took the form a residency at Brisons Veor, Cape Cornwall, on the southwestern tip of the UK. The collection was exhibited at Whitewater Gallery, Polzeath, Cornwall in September.

Rebecca Styles will be in residence at Casa Tagumerche from 1st to 21st November 2023 and the resulting collection will be exhibited on the venue's online gallery.For further information see rebeccastyles.co.uk and casa-tagumerche.com

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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.

Print Ready 300dpi images for press use:

 Artist Rebecca Styles at her Outer Hebridean 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