|
David Marl has become a regular exhibitor at The Slade Centre. Following the great success of his exhibition 'Prince Max's Pilgrimage' two years ago, we are delighted to welcome him back. This time we are showing his work alongside that of Nell Race, an artist whose work David has long admired.
David Marl trained as a stained glass artist at Kingston and the Royal College. Concerned that as a professional artist he might only make a precarious living and with a family to support, he became a teacher and moved to Poole. Whilst teaching full time he always managed to find the time to draw, but he only began to paint seriously some fifteen years ago following the death of his first wife.
After studying for a number of years, David was ordained last December, and although most of his paintings are not explicitly Christian, the Church has added context and strengthened his work. Many of the figures in his paintings, particularly the man in the red scarf, appear to be on a journey, and for David life is clearly a journey or pilgrimage, a search for meaning and reality. Mostly the journey is optimistic, as figures are guided through landscapes by angels.
David works in both acrylics and watercolours. He says of the watercolours that they are more demanding, acrylics more relaxing. He likens it to eating. Acrylics are good solid meals, while 'watercolour is the salad; it rinses the brain'. He cites as influences the 19th century watercolourist Francis Towne, Eric Ravilious and Stanley Spencer.
Nell Race was born in 1950 in London. At a low, hard-scrubbed and deeply-grooved pine table, with legs that didn't match, she began a painting career at the age of three, overlooking Beverley Brook and Barnes Common.
Her father, who had lived for many years on a Thames barge, whose profession was haematological research and whose passionate interest was English literature, and an uncle and aunt who were designers, were all very influential. They provided a background to an altogether non-conformist childhood in which there was an unspoken assumption that you had freedom of thought and choice. She was taught painting and drawing by Winifred Pasmore, who while she had an imposing presence, also had a gentle manner, and allowed time for discovery and experimentation.
During her school years, weekends were frequently spent in a clinker-built dinghy; rowing, and investigating the shingle beaches, muddy shores and islands of the Thames. Countless visits to museums and galleries in London brought closer the work of Matisse, Ben Nicholson and Eric Ravilious - besides many others. The work of Lewis Carroll, Dylan Thomas, D. H. Lawrence and Mervyn Peake was also helping to feed a creative energy which was gathering pace.
Three years at West Surrey College of Art and Design, in the Department of Textiles, were enhanced by the teaching of Susan Bosence, a specialist craftswoman in hand printing and dyeing with a tremendous reputation in the field of textiles.
Today, the images Nell uses emerge from an enormous variety of sources, both natural and artificial. She believes the life-blood to a steady flow of ideas lies in an ever-expanding collection of sketch-books, filled with words as much as images, and a pocket-sized camera.
Nell Race's work is non-imitative and non-repetitive. It is thoroughly researched, honest and poetic; yet strong and sustaining. A high standard of craftsmanship forms the foundation to her work.
|
