GALLERY - Hawthorn Artists

Hawthorn Artists
August 2008

Emma, Sandra, Steph and Donna met at the Hawthorns Arts and Crafts Market, held monthly at Hawthorns Restaurant and Pub in Glastonbury. Realising that they shared a common passion for creating original artwork and crafts, the four women decided to form an artists’ co-operative, sharing ideas, enthusiasm and support.

Although the women regularly attend craft fairs as a group, this is their first exhibition together.

Emma

Sandra

Sandra

'Sea Glass'
Steph

Emma draws inspiration from her five collie dogs, animals and the countryside around us for her original watercolours and photographs. Her watercolours portray animals enjoying themselves in an amusing, fanciful way. In addition to watercolours, Emma uses her whimsical illustrations in a range of original cards. In the future, Emma plans to use her artwork to illustrate children’s books.

In her work, Sandra captures the immense beauty and colour that surrounds us in our everyday lives, both the real and the imaginary. Drawing, painting, sculpture and textiles have been a part of her life since childhood. Returning to painting nine years ago, Sandra now experiments with many different styles and mediums. Most of her work is in acrylic, but she also enjoys using oils and watercolours. A strong spiritual element in Sandra’s work came to the forefront about six years ago, resulting in eight life sized depictions of aspects of the Goddess, which she exhibited in a solo exhibition in 2005. Sandra’s most recent work includes abstract, landscape and still life.

Steph’s love of beach combing inspired her to use beach finds in her jewellery and crafts. A life-long collector of sea glass and pottery, she uses treasures from the beach, wire and beads to create original, one-off pieces. Much of the sea glass and pottery is found whilst exploring the coastline of the South West. Steph is fascinated by the way that the dynamic forces of nature transform discarded ‘rubbish’ into ‘treasure’, an organic form of recycling, and enjoys trying to identify what the finds once were. In our throw-away plastic culture, these treasures of the beach that so many remember collecting on childhood holidays will become rarer.

Donna’s mission in her photography is to inspire people to go off the beaten track and to look at things from a different viewpoint. Born and raised in Somerset, she has yet to finish exploring this amazing county. Donna does not drive - she travels as the crows fly - walking or taking public transport, which enables her to stumble across hidden gems and unexpected places.