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Where are you from? How did you get here? Do you like spicy food? Sometimes you laugh it off. Sometimes you keep quiet. Sometimes you decide to speak up. Sometimes you shout. The Brownie Club is a show about race, identity and fitting in, exploring the experiences of women of colour as they choose when, where and how to respond to racism. Combining striking aerial circus with physical theatre and spoken word, it takes a joyful, honest and candid look at the assumptions made about people of colour, and asks: What happens when we begin with a different set of questions?

A co-production with Jacksons Lane.

Age guidance: 14+

“Artichokes”

This exhibition celebrates the life and work of Judith Downie (1934-2016), Kentish Town painter, etcher, teacher and cook.

Judith was born in Ashington, Northumberland and studied painting and etching at King’s College, Newcastle in the 1950s, under Lawrence Gowing, Richard Hamilton and Victor Pasmore.  This was at the time when Newcastle was pioneering the famous ‘Basic Design’ course, which created a revolution in art education in the UK.  Judith went on to teach at Newcastle before going to Paris to work at SW Hayter’s etching studio, Atelier 17.

After leaving Art School, Judith lived and worked in Paris, London and New York.  She taught at Leicester Polytechnic and Chelsea School of Art.  In 1968 she and her friend Zena Flax established a group of printmakers in North London, called Printers Inc, holding annual exhibitions of their work.  In retirement Judith continued to teach etching from her home in Kentish Town – her kitchen famously was dominated by her large etching press which doubled as a kitchen counter.

Judith’s early work was largely abstract and concerned with process, but counter-intuitively became increasingly figurative as her natural pre-occupation with landscape, animals and food re-asserted itself. Her later work expresses her life-long obsession with drawing, form, pattern and technique while anchoring itself explicitly in her day-to-day life and cultural influences.

Her love of animals began in childhood; after retiring from teaching she owned a pet shop, and for the last twenty years of her life she lived with a tyrannical ‘free range’ cockatiel called ‘Beaky’, who features prominently in her work, along with the pets of friends and other animals that caught her eye; all were closely observed.  Food was the other lifelong passion, which increasingly found expression in both her etching and painting.  Judith was a semi-professional cook and generous host who owned over 1000 cookery books; the place food occupies in her work expresses the excitement of her post-war generation newly brought into contact with French and Mediterranean cooking.  Just as Cezanne was a continuous reference point in her painting, so Elizabeth David was her touchstone in cooking.  Her etching ‘Homage to Elizabeth David’, which depicts both the casserole belonging to David, which Judith bought at auction, and her well-used copy of French Provincial Cooking, perfectly captures both these influences.

‘I paint and etch the things I live with, like and eat, as I need to gaze at them for a long time.  Richard Gregory (he of ‘The Eye and the Brain’) says that painting is impossible, but I think of figurative painting as more like magic.  It is wonderful that some brush, pencil or ink marks on a flat surface can vividly conjure up the three-dimensional world.  It is magic to look at paint and feel the weight of an apple, to know that brush-marks are brush-marks, but to see in them the distance between solid objects or between trees and hills.  The complexity of perception is a mystery and the ultimate subject matter.’

All work will be for sale.

Highgate Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.  Exhibition continues until 16 May.

Sun 5 May 12pm & 3pm

As soon as everyone’s left the house, the bath toys spring into action! Heading off on exciting adventures in their magical flying bath, they have splashes ready for any emergency – from giving a muddy piglet a shower to putting out a fire for a frightened baboon. This adaptation, featuring catchy songs, quirky bath toys and everyday heroes, is based on the original book by Julia Donaldson and David Roberts.

Duration: 45m

Age guidance: 2–5

“Artichokes”

This exhibition celebrates the life and work of Judith Downie (1934-2016), Kentish Town painter, etcher, teacher and cook.

Judith was born in Ashington, Northumberland and studied painting and etching at King’s College, Newcastle in the 1950s, under Lawrence Gowing, Richard Hamilton and Victor Pasmore.  This was at the time when Newcastle was pioneering the famous ‘Basic Design’ course, which created a revolution in art education in the UK.  Judith went on to teach at Newcastle before going to Paris to work at SW Hayter’s etching studio, Atelier 17.

After leaving Art School, Judith lived and worked in Paris, London and New York.  She taught at Leicester Polytechnic and Chelsea School of Art.  In 1968 she and her friend Zena Flax established a group of printmakers in North London, called Printers Inc, holding annual exhibitions of their work.  In retirement Judith continued to teach etching from her home in Kentish Town – her kitchen famously was dominated by her large etching press which doubled as a kitchen counter.

Judith’s early work was largely abstract and concerned with process, but counter-intuitively became increasingly figurative as her natural pre-occupation with landscape, animals and food re-asserted itself. Her later work expresses her life-long obsession with drawing, form, pattern and technique while anchoring itself explicitly in her day-to-day life and cultural influences.

Her love of animals began in childhood; after retiring from teaching she owned a pet shop, and for the last twenty years of her life she lived with a tyrannical ‘free range’ cockatiel called ‘Beaky’, who features prominently in her work, along with the pets of friends and other animals that caught her eye; all were closely observed.  Food was the other lifelong passion, which increasingly found expression in both her etching and painting.  Judith was a semi-professional cook and generous host who owned over 1000 cookery books; the place food occupies in her work expresses the excitement of her post-war generation newly brought into contact with French and Mediterranean cooking.  Just as Cezanne was a continuous reference point in her painting, so Elizabeth David was her touchstone in cooking.  Her etching ‘Homage to Elizabeth David’, which depicts both the casserole belonging to David, which Judith bought at auction, and her well-used copy of French Provincial Cooking, perfectly captures both these influences.

‘I paint and etch the things I live with, like and eat, as I need to gaze at them for a long time.  Richard Gregory (he of ‘The Eye and the Brain’) says that painting is impossible, but I think of figurative painting as more like magic.  It is wonderful that some brush, pencil or ink marks on a flat surface can vividly conjure up the three-dimensional world.  It is magic to look at paint and feel the weight of an apple, to know that brush-marks are brush-marks, but to see in them the distance between solid objects or between trees and hills.  The complexity of perception is a mystery and the ultimate subject matter.’

All work will be for sale.

Highgate Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.  Exhibition continues until 16 May.

Rucksack music at Jacksons Lane.

Wednesdays and Fridays 10.15-11.15am.

Come and enjoy a relaxed, interactive guided musical session for children & their adults (parents/carers). Expect nursery rhymes, popular songs & movement, with small percussion instruments to play and live guitar accompaniment. Lots of singing, stomping, clapping, wriggling, just having a good time. Learning through enjoyment. Classes are 1 hour with a break. Tutor is jazz musician Faye Patton.

Suitable for children 0 – 4 years old.

NO NEED TO BOOK – JUST DROP IN!  

£5.00 per child/£3.50 siblings

For more information –  www.rucksackmusic.co.uk

“Artichokes”

This exhibition celebrates the life and work of Judith Downie (1934-2016), Kentish Town painter, etcher, teacher and cook.

Judith was born in Ashington, Northumberland and studied painting and etching at King’s College, Newcastle in the 1950s, under Lawrence Gowing, Richard Hamilton and Victor Pasmore.  This was at the time when Newcastle was pioneering the famous ‘Basic Design’ course, which created a revolution in art education in the UK.  Judith went on to teach at Newcastle before going to Paris to work at SW Hayter’s etching studio, Atelier 17.

After leaving Art School, Judith lived and worked in Paris, London and New York.  She taught at Leicester Polytechnic and Chelsea School of Art.  In 1968 she and her friend Zena Flax established a group of printmakers in North London, called Printers Inc, holding annual exhibitions of their work.  In retirement Judith continued to teach etching from her home in Kentish Town – her kitchen famously was dominated by her large etching press which doubled as a kitchen counter.

Judith’s early work was largely abstract and concerned with process, but counter-intuitively became increasingly figurative as her natural pre-occupation with landscape, animals and food re-asserted itself. Her later work expresses her life-long obsession with drawing, form, pattern and technique while anchoring itself explicitly in her day-to-day life and cultural influences.

Her love of animals began in childhood; after retiring from teaching she owned a pet shop, and for the last twenty years of her life she lived with a tyrannical ‘free range’ cockatiel called ‘Beaky’, who features prominently in her work, along with the pets of friends and other animals that caught her eye; all were closely observed.  Food was the other lifelong passion, which increasingly found expression in both her etching and painting.  Judith was a semi-professional cook and generous host who owned over 1000 cookery books; the place food occupies in her work expresses the excitement of her post-war generation newly brought into contact with French and Mediterranean cooking.  Just as Cezanne was a continuous reference point in her painting, so Elizabeth David was her touchstone in cooking.  Her etching ‘Homage to Elizabeth David’, which depicts both the casserole belonging to David, which Judith bought at auction, and her well-used copy of French Provincial Cooking, perfectly captures both these influences.

‘I paint and etch the things I live with, like and eat, as I need to gaze at them for a long time.  Richard Gregory (he of ‘The Eye and the Brain’) says that painting is impossible, but I think of figurative painting as more like magic.  It is wonderful that some brush, pencil or ink marks on a flat surface can vividly conjure up the three-dimensional world.  It is magic to look at paint and feel the weight of an apple, to know that brush-marks are brush-marks, but to see in them the distance between solid objects or between trees and hills.  The complexity of perception is a mystery and the ultimate subject matter.’

All work will be for sale.

Highgate Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.  Exhibition continues until 16 May.

We are excited to announce that Doodle Arts will be continuing its art classes for the Summer Term at Jacksons Lane in Highgate every Wednesday 4-5 pm.

All sessions are specifically design to help children develop their artistic skills and knowledge by using a combination of mediums and techniques such as painting, drawing and printmaking. Drawing inspiration from contemporary artists as well as the great masters and the History of Art we will be exploring fundamental notions in fine art like composition, prospective, tone and texture while at the same time encouraging creative thinking and imagination and most importantly having fun!

Starting date: 24th April – 17th July 2019 ( excluding half term week starting 27th May).

Participation fee: £144 for 12 sessions / Family offer: £230 for 2 siblings

Limited spaces. To reserve a space please contact Anastasia Mina on 07510898430 or email doodlecreativeactivities@gmail.com 

All bookings and payments for the Summer Term should be made by Friday 19th April.

Weekly drop-in Hatha yoga classes suitable for all levels, beginners welcome. Come and practice some lovely postures in a safe environment that will leave you feeling uplifted and refreshed. I am certified by the British Wheel of Yoga (BWY) and classes include a mixture of pranayama, postures and relaxation with focus on correct alignment. The steady flow of postures will improve your strength and flexibility. Mats, blocks and bricks provided or you are welcome to bring your own.

*Email me to book your place and receive your first class FREE*

“Artichokes”

This exhibition celebrates the life and work of Judith Downie (1934-2016), Kentish Town painter, etcher, teacher and cook.

Judith was born in Ashington, Northumberland and studied painting and etching at King’s College, Newcastle in the 1950s, under Lawrence Gowing, Richard Hamilton and Victor Pasmore.  This was at the time when Newcastle was pioneering the famous ‘Basic Design’ course, which created a revolution in art education in the UK.  Judith went on to teach at Newcastle before going to Paris to work at SW Hayter’s etching studio, Atelier 17.

After leaving Art School, Judith lived and worked in Paris, London and New York.  She taught at Leicester Polytechnic and Chelsea School of Art.  In 1968 she and her friend Zena Flax established a group of printmakers in North London, called Printers Inc, holding annual exhibitions of their work.  In retirement Judith continued to teach etching from her home in Kentish Town – her kitchen famously was dominated by her large etching press which doubled as a kitchen counter.

Judith’s early work was largely abstract and concerned with process, but counter-intuitively became increasingly figurative as her natural pre-occupation with landscape, animals and food re-asserted itself. Her later work expresses her life-long obsession with drawing, form, pattern and technique while anchoring itself explicitly in her day-to-day life and cultural influences.

Her love of animals began in childhood; after retiring from teaching she owned a pet shop, and for the last twenty years of her life she lived with a tyrannical ‘free range’ cockatiel called ‘Beaky’, who features prominently in her work, along with the pets of friends and other animals that caught her eye; all were closely observed.  Food was the other lifelong passion, which increasingly found expression in both her etching and painting.  Judith was a semi-professional cook and generous host who owned over 1000 cookery books; the place food occupies in her work expresses the excitement of her post-war generation newly brought into contact with French and Mediterranean cooking.  Just as Cezanne was a continuous reference point in her painting, so Elizabeth David was her touchstone in cooking.  Her etching ‘Homage to Elizabeth David’, which depicts both the casserole belonging to David, which Judith bought at auction, and her well-used copy of French Provincial Cooking, perfectly captures both these influences.

‘I paint and etch the things I live with, like and eat, as I need to gaze at them for a long time.  Richard Gregory (he of ‘The Eye and the Brain’) says that painting is impossible, but I think of figurative painting as more like magic.  It is wonderful that some brush, pencil or ink marks on a flat surface can vividly conjure up the three-dimensional world.  It is magic to look at paint and feel the weight of an apple, to know that brush-marks are brush-marks, but to see in them the distance between solid objects or between trees and hills.  The complexity of perception is a mystery and the ultimate subject matter.’

All work will be for sale.

Highgate Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.  Exhibition continues until 16 May.

Rucksack music at Jacksons Lane.

Fridays and Wednesdays 10.15-11.15am.

Come and enjoy a relaxed, interactive guided musical session for children & their adults (parents/carers). Expect nursery rhymes, popular songs & movement, with small percussion instruments to play and live guitar accompaniment. Lots of singing, stomping, clapping, wriggling, just having a good time. Learning through enjoyment. Classes are 1 hour with a break. Tutor is jazz musician Faye Patton.

Suitable for children 0 – 4 years old.

NO NEED TO BOOK – JUST DROP IN!  

£5.00 per child/£3.50 siblings

For more information –  www.rucksackmusic.co.uk

“Artichokes”

This exhibition celebrates the life and work of Judith Downie (1934-2016), Kentish Town painter, etcher, teacher and cook.

Judith was born in Ashington, Northumberland and studied painting and etching at King’s College, Newcastle in the 1950s, under Lawrence Gowing, Richard Hamilton and Victor Pasmore.  This was at the time when Newcastle was pioneering the famous ‘Basic Design’ course, which created a revolution in art education in the UK.  Judith went on to teach at Newcastle before going to Paris to work at SW Hayter’s etching studio, Atelier 17.

After leaving Art School, Judith lived and worked in Paris, London and New York.  She taught at Leicester Polytechnic and Chelsea School of Art.  In 1968 she and her friend Zena Flax established a group of printmakers in North London, called Printers Inc, holding annual exhibitions of their work.  In retirement Judith continued to teach etching from her home in Kentish Town – her kitchen famously was dominated by her large etching press which doubled as a kitchen counter.

Judith’s early work was largely abstract and concerned with process, but counter-intuitively became increasingly figurative as her natural pre-occupation with landscape, animals and food re-asserted itself. Her later work expresses her life-long obsession with drawing, form, pattern and technique while anchoring itself explicitly in her day-to-day life and cultural influences.

Her love of animals began in childhood; after retiring from teaching she owned a pet shop, and for the last twenty years of her life she lived with a tyrannical ‘free range’ cockatiel called ‘Beaky’, who features prominently in her work, along with the pets of friends and other animals that caught her eye; all were closely observed.  Food was the other lifelong passion, which increasingly found expression in both her etching and painting.  Judith was a semi-professional cook and generous host who owned over 1000 cookery books; the place food occupies in her work expresses the excitement of her post-war generation newly brought into contact with French and Mediterranean cooking.  Just as Cezanne was a continuous reference point in her painting, so Elizabeth David was her touchstone in cooking.  Her etching ‘Homage to Elizabeth David’, which depicts both the casserole belonging to David, which Judith bought at auction, and her well-used copy of French Provincial Cooking, perfectly captures both these influences.

‘I paint and etch the things I live with, like and eat, as I need to gaze at them for a long time.  Richard Gregory (he of ‘The Eye and the Brain’) says that painting is impossible, but I think of figurative painting as more like magic.  It is wonderful that some brush, pencil or ink marks on a flat surface can vividly conjure up the three-dimensional world.  It is magic to look at paint and feel the weight of an apple, to know that brush-marks are brush-marks, but to see in them the distance between solid objects or between trees and hills.  The complexity of perception is a mystery and the ultimate subject matter.’

All work will be for sale.

Highgate Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.  Exhibition continues until 16 May.

“Artichokes”

This exhibition celebrates the life and work of Judith Downie (1934-2016), Kentish Town painter, etcher, teacher and cook.

Judith was born in Ashington, Northumberland and studied painting and etching at King’s College, Newcastle in the 1950s, under Lawrence Gowing, Richard Hamilton and Victor Pasmore.  This was at the time when Newcastle was pioneering the famous ‘Basic Design’ course, which created a revolution in art education in the UK.  Judith went on to teach at Newcastle before going to Paris to work at SW Hayter’s etching studio, Atelier 17.

After leaving Art School, Judith lived and worked in Paris, London and New York.  She taught at Leicester Polytechnic and Chelsea School of Art.  In 1968 she and her friend Zena Flax established a group of printmakers in North London, called Printers Inc, holding annual exhibitions of their work.  In retirement Judith continued to teach etching from her home in Kentish Town – her kitchen famously was dominated by her large etching press which doubled as a kitchen counter.

Judith’s early work was largely abstract and concerned with process, but counter-intuitively became increasingly figurative as her natural pre-occupation with landscape, animals and food re-asserted itself. Her later work expresses her life-long obsession with drawing, form, pattern and technique while anchoring itself explicitly in her day-to-day life and cultural influences.

Her love of animals began in childhood; after retiring from teaching she owned a pet shop, and for the last twenty years of her life she lived with a tyrannical ‘free range’ cockatiel called ‘Beaky’, who features prominently in her work, along with the pets of friends and other animals that caught her eye; all were closely observed.  Food was the other lifelong passion, which increasingly found expression in both her etching and painting.  Judith was a semi-professional cook and generous host who owned over 1000 cookery books; the place food occupies in her work expresses the excitement of her post-war generation newly brought into contact with French and Mediterranean cooking.  Just as Cezanne was a continuous reference point in her painting, so Elizabeth David was her touchstone in cooking.  Her etching ‘Homage to Elizabeth David’, which depicts both the casserole belonging to David, which Judith bought at auction, and her well-used copy of French Provincial Cooking, perfectly captures both these influences.

‘I paint and etch the things I live with, like and eat, as I need to gaze at them for a long time.  Richard Gregory (he of ‘The Eye and the Brain’) says that painting is impossible, but I think of figurative painting as more like magic.  It is wonderful that some brush, pencil or ink marks on a flat surface can vividly conjure up the three-dimensional world.  It is magic to look at paint and feel the weight of an apple, to know that brush-marks are brush-marks, but to see in them the distance between solid objects or between trees and hills.  The complexity of perception is a mystery and the ultimate subject matter.’

All work will be for sale.

Highgate Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.  Exhibition continues until 16 May.

“Artichokes”

This exhibition celebrates the life and work of Judith Downie (1934-2016), Kentish Town painter, etcher, teacher and cook.

Judith was born in Ashington, Northumberland and studied painting and etching at King’s College, Newcastle in the 1950s, under Lawrence Gowing, Richard Hamilton and Victor Pasmore.  This was at the time when Newcastle was pioneering the famous ‘Basic Design’ course, which created a revolution in art education in the UK.  Judith went on to teach at Newcastle before going to Paris to work at SW Hayter’s etching studio, Atelier 17.

After leaving Art School, Judith lived and worked in Paris, London and New York.  She taught at Leicester Polytechnic and Chelsea School of Art.  In 1968 she and her friend Zena Flax established a group of printmakers in North London, called Printers Inc, holding annual exhibitions of their work.  In retirement Judith continued to teach etching from her home in Kentish Town – her kitchen famously was dominated by her large etching press which doubled as a kitchen counter.

Judith’s early work was largely abstract and concerned with process, but counter-intuitively became increasingly figurative as her natural pre-occupation with landscape, animals and food re-asserted itself. Her later work expresses her life-long obsession with drawing, form, pattern and technique while anchoring itself explicitly in her day-to-day life and cultural influences.

Her love of animals began in childhood; after retiring from teaching she owned a pet shop, and for the last twenty years of her life she lived with a tyrannical ‘free range’ cockatiel called ‘Beaky’, who features prominently in her work, along with the pets of friends and other animals that caught her eye; all were closely observed.  Food was the other lifelong passion, which increasingly found expression in both her etching and painting.  Judith was a semi-professional cook and generous host who owned over 1000 cookery books; the place food occupies in her work expresses the excitement of her post-war generation newly brought into contact with French and Mediterranean cooking.  Just as Cezanne was a continuous reference point in her painting, so Elizabeth David was her touchstone in cooking.  Her etching ‘Homage to Elizabeth David’, which depicts both the casserole belonging to David, which Judith bought at auction, and her well-used copy of French Provincial Cooking, perfectly captures both these influences.

‘I paint and etch the things I live with, like and eat, as I need to gaze at them for a long time.  Richard Gregory (he of ‘The Eye and the Brain’) says that painting is impossible, but I think of figurative painting as more like magic.  It is wonderful that some brush, pencil or ink marks on a flat surface can vividly conjure up the three-dimensional world.  It is magic to look at paint and feel the weight of an apple, to know that brush-marks are brush-marks, but to see in them the distance between solid objects or between trees and hills.  The complexity of perception is a mystery and the ultimate subject matter.’

All work will be for sale.

Highgate Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.  Exhibition continues until 16 May.

“Artichokes”

This exhibition celebrates the life and work of Judith Downie (1934-2016), Kentish Town painter, etcher, teacher and cook.

Judith was born in Ashington, Northumberland and studied painting and etching at King’s College, Newcastle in the 1950s, under Lawrence Gowing, Richard Hamilton and Victor Pasmore.  This was at the time when Newcastle was pioneering the famous ‘Basic Design’ course, which created a revolution in art education in the UK.  Judith went on to teach at Newcastle before going to Paris to work at SW Hayter’s etching studio, Atelier 17.

After leaving Art School, Judith lived and worked in Paris, London and New York.  She taught at Leicester Polytechnic and Chelsea School of Art.  In 1968 she and her friend Zena Flax established a group of printmakers in North London, called Printers Inc, holding annual exhibitions of their work.  In retirement Judith continued to teach etching from her home in Kentish Town – her kitchen famously was dominated by her large etching press which doubled as a kitchen counter.

Judith’s early work was largely abstract and concerned with process, but counter-intuitively became increasingly figurative as her natural pre-occupation with landscape, animals and food re-asserted itself. Her later work expresses her life-long obsession with drawing, form, pattern and technique while anchoring itself explicitly in her day-to-day life and cultural influences.

Her love of animals began in childhood; after retiring from teaching she owned a pet shop, and for the last twenty years of her life she lived with a tyrannical ‘free range’ cockatiel called ‘Beaky’, who features prominently in her work, along with the pets of friends and other animals that caught her eye; all were closely observed.  Food was the other lifelong passion, which increasingly found expression in both her etching and painting.  Judith was a semi-professional cook and generous host who owned over 1000 cookery books; the place food occupies in her work expresses the excitement of her post-war generation newly brought into contact with French and Mediterranean cooking.  Just as Cezanne was a continuous reference point in her painting, so Elizabeth David was her touchstone in cooking.  Her etching ‘Homage to Elizabeth David’, which depicts both the casserole belonging to David, which Judith bought at auction, and her well-used copy of French Provincial Cooking, perfectly captures both these influences.

‘I paint and etch the things I live with, like and eat, as I need to gaze at them for a long time.  Richard Gregory (he of ‘The Eye and the Brain’) says that painting is impossible, but I think of figurative painting as more like magic.  It is wonderful that some brush, pencil or ink marks on a flat surface can vividly conjure up the three-dimensional world.  It is magic to look at paint and feel the weight of an apple, to know that brush-marks are brush-marks, but to see in them the distance between solid objects or between trees and hills.  The complexity of perception is a mystery and the ultimate subject matter.’

All work will be for sale.

Highgate Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.  Exhibition continues until 16 May.

Rucksack music at Jacksons Lane.

Wednesdays and Fridays 10.15-11.15am.

Come and enjoy a relaxed, interactive guided musical session for children & their adults (parents/carers). Expect nursery rhymes, popular songs & movement, with small percussion instruments to play and live guitar accompaniment. Lots of singing, stomping, clapping, wriggling, just having a good time. Learning through enjoyment. Classes are 1 hour with a break. Tutor is jazz musician Faye Patton.

Suitable for children 0 – 4 years old.

NO NEED TO BOOK – JUST DROP IN!  

£5.00 per child/£3.50 siblings

For more information –  www.rucksackmusic.co.uk

“Artichokes”

This exhibition celebrates the life and work of Judith Downie (1934-2016), Kentish Town painter, etcher, teacher and cook.

Judith was born in Ashington, Northumberland and studied painting and etching at King’s College, Newcastle in the 1950s, under Lawrence Gowing, Richard Hamilton and Victor Pasmore.  This was at the time when Newcastle was pioneering the famous ‘Basic Design’ course, which created a revolution in art education in the UK.  Judith went on to teach at Newcastle before going to Paris to work at SW Hayter’s etching studio, Atelier 17.

After leaving Art School, Judith lived and worked in Paris, London and New York.  She taught at Leicester Polytechnic and Chelsea School of Art.  In 1968 she and her friend Zena Flax established a group of printmakers in North London, called Printers Inc, holding annual exhibitions of their work.  In retirement Judith continued to teach etching from her home in Kentish Town – her kitchen famously was dominated by her large etching press which doubled as a kitchen counter.

Judith’s early work was largely abstract and concerned with process, but counter-intuitively became increasingly figurative as her natural pre-occupation with landscape, animals and food re-asserted itself. Her later work expresses her life-long obsession with drawing, form, pattern and technique while anchoring itself explicitly in her day-to-day life and cultural influences.

Her love of animals began in childhood; after retiring from teaching she owned a pet shop, and for the last twenty years of her life she lived with a tyrannical ‘free range’ cockatiel called ‘Beaky’, who features prominently in her work, along with the pets of friends and other animals that caught her eye; all were closely observed.  Food was the other lifelong passion, which increasingly found expression in both her etching and painting.  Judith was a semi-professional cook and generous host who owned over 1000 cookery books; the place food occupies in her work expresses the excitement of her post-war generation newly brought into contact with French and Mediterranean cooking.  Just as Cezanne was a continuous reference point in her painting, so Elizabeth David was her touchstone in cooking.  Her etching ‘Homage to Elizabeth David’, which depicts both the casserole belonging to David, which Judith bought at auction, and her well-used copy of French Provincial Cooking, perfectly captures both these influences.

‘I paint and etch the things I live with, like and eat, as I need to gaze at them for a long time.  Richard Gregory (he of ‘The Eye and the Brain’) says that painting is impossible, but I think of figurative painting as more like magic.  It is wonderful that some brush, pencil or ink marks on a flat surface can vividly conjure up the three-dimensional world.  It is magic to look at paint and feel the weight of an apple, to know that brush-marks are brush-marks, but to see in them the distance between solid objects or between trees and hills.  The complexity of perception is a mystery and the ultimate subject matter.’

All work will be for sale.

Highgate Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.  Exhibition continues until 16 May.

We are excited to announce that Doodle Arts will be continuing its art classes for the Summer Term at Jacksons Lane in Highgate every Wednesday 4-5 pm.

All sessions are specifically design to help children develop their artistic skills and knowledge by using a combination of mediums and techniques such as painting, drawing and printmaking. Drawing inspiration from contemporary artists as well as the great masters and the History of Art we will be exploring fundamental notions in fine art like composition, prospective, tone and texture while at the same time encouraging creative thinking and imagination and most importantly having fun!

Starting date: 24th April – 17th July 2019 ( excluding half term week starting 27th May).

Participation fee: £144 for 12 sessions / Family offer: £230 for 2 siblings

Limited spaces. To reserve a space please contact Anastasia Mina on 07510898430 or email doodlecreativeactivities@gmail.com 

All bookings and payments for the Summer Term should be made by Friday 19th April.

Weekly drop-in Hatha yoga classes suitable for all levels, beginners welcome. Come and practice some lovely postures in a safe environment that will leave you feeling uplifted and refreshed. I am certified by the British Wheel of Yoga (BWY) and classes include a mixture of pranayama, postures and relaxation with focus on correct alignment. The steady flow of postures will improve your strength and flexibility. Mats, blocks and bricks provided or you are welcome to bring your own.

*Email me to book your place and receive your first class FREE*

“Artichokes”

This exhibition celebrates the life and work of Judith Downie (1934-2016), Kentish Town painter, etcher, teacher and cook.

Judith was born in Ashington, Northumberland and studied painting and etching at King’s College, Newcastle in the 1950s, under Lawrence Gowing, Richard Hamilton and Victor Pasmore.  This was at the time when Newcastle was pioneering the famous ‘Basic Design’ course, which created a revolution in art education in the UK.  Judith went on to teach at Newcastle before going to Paris to work at SW Hayter’s etching studio, Atelier 17.

After leaving Art School, Judith lived and worked in Paris, London and New York.  She taught at Leicester Polytechnic and Chelsea School of Art.  In 1968 she and her friend Zena Flax established a group of printmakers in North London, called Printers Inc, holding annual exhibitions of their work.  In retirement Judith continued to teach etching from her home in Kentish Town – her kitchen famously was dominated by her large etching press which doubled as a kitchen counter.

Judith’s early work was largely abstract and concerned with process, but counter-intuitively became increasingly figurative as her natural pre-occupation with landscape, animals and food re-asserted itself. Her later work expresses her life-long obsession with drawing, form, pattern and technique while anchoring itself explicitly in her day-to-day life and cultural influences.

Her love of animals began in childhood; after retiring from teaching she owned a pet shop, and for the last twenty years of her life she lived with a tyrannical ‘free range’ cockatiel called ‘Beaky’, who features prominently in her work, along with the pets of friends and other animals that caught her eye; all were closely observed.  Food was the other lifelong passion, which increasingly found expression in both her etching and painting.  Judith was a semi-professional cook and generous host who owned over 1000 cookery books; the place food occupies in her work expresses the excitement of her post-war generation newly brought into contact with French and Mediterranean cooking.  Just as Cezanne was a continuous reference point in her painting, so Elizabeth David was her touchstone in cooking.  Her etching ‘Homage to Elizabeth David’, which depicts both the casserole belonging to David, which Judith bought at auction, and her well-used copy of French Provincial Cooking, perfectly captures both these influences.

‘I paint and etch the things I live with, like and eat, as I need to gaze at them for a long time.  Richard Gregory (he of ‘The Eye and the Brain’) says that painting is impossible, but I think of figurative painting as more like magic.  It is wonderful that some brush, pencil or ink marks on a flat surface can vividly conjure up the three-dimensional world.  It is magic to look at paint and feel the weight of an apple, to know that brush-marks are brush-marks, but to see in them the distance between solid objects or between trees and hills.  The complexity of perception is a mystery and the ultimate subject matter.’

All work will be for sale.

Highgate Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.  Exhibition continues until 16 May.

Rucksack music at Jacksons Lane.

Fridays and Wednesdays 10.15-11.15am.

Come and enjoy a relaxed, interactive guided musical session for children & their adults (parents/carers). Expect nursery rhymes, popular songs & movement, with small percussion instruments to play and live guitar accompaniment. Lots of singing, stomping, clapping, wriggling, just having a good time. Learning through enjoyment. Classes are 1 hour with a break. Tutor is jazz musician Faye Patton.

Suitable for children 0 – 4 years old.

NO NEED TO BOOK – JUST DROP IN!  

£5.00 per child/£3.50 siblings

For more information –  www.rucksackmusic.co.uk

Join us at the sea-side in Victorian England, where Partenope, proprietress of a leading establishment, faces takeover attempts (on her hotel and herself) from neighbouring  hoteliers Arsace, Ormindo and Emilio, as well as the enigmatic Eurimene – can he really be what he seems? Threats, battles and surprises, and some thrilling singing, lead of course to a happy ending…..

Our brilliant cast of future opera stars, Ashley Pearson’s witty production and the talents of the HGO  orchestra bring Handel’s sly take on opera seria endearingly to life.  Our orchestra is conducted by Bertie Baigent, a finalist in the 2018 Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition.

HGO – North London’s leading opera company

Join us at the sea-side in Victorian England, where Partenope, proprietress of a leading establishment, faces takeover attempts (on her hotel and herself) from neighbouring  hoteliers Arsace, Ormindo and Emilio, as well as the enigmatic Eurimene – can he really be what he seems? Threats, battles and surprises, and some thrilling singing, lead of course to a happy ending…..

Our brilliant cast of future opera stars, Ashley Pearson’s witty production and the talents of the HGO  orchestra bring Handel’s sly take on opera seria endearingly to life.  Our orchestra is conducted by Bertie Baigent, a finalist in the 2018 Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition.

HGO – North London’s leading opera company

Join us at the sea-side in Victorian England, where Partenope, proprietress of a leading establishment, faces takeover attempts (on her hotel and herself) from neighbouring  hoteliers Arsace, Ormindo and Emilio, as well as the enigmatic Eurimene – can he really be what he seems? Threats, battles and surprises, and some thrilling singing, lead of course to a happy ending…..

Our brilliant cast of future opera stars, Ashley Pearson’s witty production and the talents of the HGO  orchestra bring Handel’s sly take on opera seria endearingly to life.  Our orchestra is conducted by Bertie Baigent, a finalist in the 2018 Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition.

HGO – North London’s leading opera company

Join us at the sea-side in Victorian England, where Partenope, proprietress of a leading establishment, faces takeover attempts (on her hotel and herself) from neighbouring  hoteliers Arsace, Ormindo and Emilio, as well as the enigmatic Eurimene – can he really be what he seems? Threats, battles and surprises, and some thrilling singing, lead of course to a happy ending…..

Our brilliant cast of future opera stars, Ashley Pearson’s witty production and the talents of the HGO  orchestra bring Handel’s sly take on opera seria endearingly to life.  Our orchestra is conducted by Bertie Baigent, a finalist in the 2018 Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition.

HGO – North London’s leading opera company

Join us at the sea-side in Victorian England, where Partenope, proprietress of a leading establishment, faces takeover attempts (on her hotel and herself) from neighbouring  hoteliers Arsace, Ormindo and Emilio, as well as the enigmatic Eurimene – can he really be what he seems? Threats, battles and surprises, and some thrilling singing, lead of course to a happy ending…..

Our brilliant cast of future opera stars, Ashley Pearson’s witty production and the talents of the HGO  orchestra bring Handel’s sly take on opera seria endearingly to life.  Our orchestra is conducted by Bertie Baigent, a finalist in the 2018 Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition.

HGO – North London’s leading opera company

Rucksack music at Jacksons Lane.

Wednesdays and Fridays 10.15-11.15am.

Come and enjoy a relaxed, interactive guided musical session for children & their adults (parents/carers). Expect nursery rhymes, popular songs & movement, with small percussion instruments to play and live guitar accompaniment. Lots of singing, stomping, clapping, wriggling, just having a good time. Learning through enjoyment. Classes are 1 hour with a break. Tutor is jazz musician Faye Patton.

Suitable for children 0 – 4 years old.

NO NEED TO BOOK – JUST DROP IN!  

£5.00 per child/£3.50 siblings

For more information –  www.rucksackmusic.co.uk

We are excited to announce that Doodle Arts will be continuing its art classes for the Summer Term at Jacksons Lane in Highgate every Wednesday 4-5 pm.

All sessions are specifically design to help children develop their artistic skills and knowledge by using a combination of mediums and techniques such as painting, drawing and printmaking. Drawing inspiration from contemporary artists as well as the great masters and the History of Art we will be exploring fundamental notions in fine art like composition, prospective, tone and texture while at the same time encouraging creative thinking and imagination and most importantly having fun!

Starting date: 24th April – 17th July 2019 ( excluding half term week starting 27th May).

Participation fee: £144 for 12 sessions / Family offer: £230 for 2 siblings

Limited spaces. To reserve a space please contact Anastasia Mina on 07510898430 or email doodlecreativeactivities@gmail.com 

All bookings and payments for the Summer Term should be made by Friday 19th April.

Join us at the sea-side in Victorian England, where Partenope, proprietress of a leading establishment, faces takeover attempts (on her hotel and herself) from neighbouring  hoteliers Arsace, Ormindo and Emilio, as well as the enigmatic Eurimene – can he really be what he seems? Threats, battles and surprises, and some thrilling singing, lead of course to a happy ending…..

Our brilliant cast of future opera stars, Ashley Pearson’s witty production and the talents of the HGO  orchestra bring Handel’s sly take on opera seria endearingly to life.  Our orchestra is conducted by Bertie Baigent, a finalist in the 2018 Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition.

HGO – North London’s leading opera company

Weekly drop-in Hatha yoga classes suitable for all levels, beginners welcome. Come and practice some lovely postures in a safe environment that will leave you feeling uplifted and refreshed. I am certified by the British Wheel of Yoga (BWY) and classes include a mixture of pranayama, postures and relaxation with focus on correct alignment. The steady flow of postures will improve your strength and flexibility. Mats, blocks and bricks provided or you are welcome to bring your own.

*Email me to book your place and receive your first class FREE*

Join us at the sea-side in Victorian England, where Partenope, proprietress of a leading establishment, faces takeover attempts (on her hotel and herself) from neighbouring  hoteliers Arsace, Ormindo and Emilio, as well as the enigmatic Eurimene – can he really be what he seems? Threats, battles and surprises, and some thrilling singing, lead of course to a happy ending…..

Our brilliant cast of future opera stars, Ashley Pearson’s witty production and the talents of the HGO  orchestra bring Handel’s sly take on opera seria endearingly to life.  Our orchestra is conducted by Bertie Baigent, a finalist in the 2018 Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition.

HGO – North London’s leading opera company

Rucksack music at Jacksons Lane.

Fridays and Wednesdays 10.15-11.15am.

Come and enjoy a relaxed, interactive guided musical session for children & their adults (parents/carers). Expect nursery rhymes, popular songs & movement, with small percussion instruments to play and live guitar accompaniment. Lots of singing, stomping, clapping, wriggling, just having a good time. Learning through enjoyment. Classes are 1 hour with a break. Tutor is jazz musician Faye Patton.

Suitable for children 0 – 4 years old.

NO NEED TO BOOK – JUST DROP IN!  

£5.00 per child/£3.50 siblings

For more information –  www.rucksackmusic.co.uk

Join us at the sea-side in Victorian England, where Partenope, proprietress of a leading establishment, faces takeover attempts (on her hotel and herself) from neighbouring  hoteliers Arsace, Ormindo and Emilio, as well as the enigmatic Eurimene – can he really be what he seems? Threats, battles and surprises, and some thrilling singing, lead of course to a happy ending…..

Our brilliant cast of future opera stars, Ashley Pearson’s witty production and the talents of the HGO  orchestra bring Handel’s sly take on opera seria endearingly to life.  Our orchestra is conducted by Bertie Baigent, a finalist in the 2018 Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition.

HGO – North London’s leading opera company

Join us at the sea-side in Victorian England, where Partenope, proprietress of a leading establishment, faces takeover attempts (on her hotel and herself) from neighbouring  hoteliers Arsace, Ormindo and Emilio, as well as the enigmatic Eurimene – can he really be what he seems? Threats, battles and surprises, and some thrilling singing, lead of course to a happy ending…..

Our brilliant cast of future opera stars, Ashley Pearson’s witty production and the talents of the HGO  orchestra bring Handel’s sly take on opera seria endearingly to life.  Our orchestra is conducted by Bertie Baigent, a finalist in the 2018 Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition.

HGO – North London’s leading opera company

Join us at the sea-side in Victorian England, where Partenope, proprietress of a leading establishment, faces takeover attempts (on her hotel and herself) from neighbouring  hoteliers Arsace, Ormindo and Emilio, as well as the enigmatic Eurimene – can he really be what he seems? Threats, battles and surprises, and some thrilling singing, lead of course to a happy ending…..

Our brilliant cast of future opera stars, Ashley Pearson’s witty production and the talents of the HGO  orchestra bring Handel’s sly take on opera seria endearingly to life.  Our orchestra is conducted by Bertie Baigent, a finalist in the 2018 Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition.

HGO – North London’s leading opera company

Rucksack music at Jacksons Lane.

Wednesdays and Fridays 10.15-11.15am.

Come and enjoy a relaxed, interactive guided musical session for children & their adults (parents/carers). Expect nursery rhymes, popular songs & movement, with small percussion instruments to play and live guitar accompaniment. Lots of singing, stomping, clapping, wriggling, just having a good time. Learning through enjoyment. Classes are 1 hour with a break. Tutor is jazz musician Faye Patton.

Suitable for children 0 – 4 years old.

NO NEED TO BOOK – JUST DROP IN!  

£5.00 per child/£3.50 siblings

For more information –  www.rucksackmusic.co.uk

Weekly drop-in Hatha yoga classes suitable for all levels, beginners welcome. Come and practice some lovely postures in a safe environment that will leave you feeling uplifted and refreshed. I am certified by the British Wheel of Yoga (BWY) and classes include a mixture of pranayama, postures and relaxation with focus on correct alignment. The steady flow of postures will improve your strength and flexibility. Mats, blocks and bricks provided or you are welcome to bring your own.

*Email me to book your place and receive your first class FREE*

Rucksack music at Jacksons Lane.

Fridays and Wednesdays 10.15-11.15am.

Come and enjoy a relaxed, interactive guided musical session for children & their adults (parents/carers). Expect nursery rhymes, popular songs & movement, with small percussion instruments to play and live guitar accompaniment. Lots of singing, stomping, clapping, wriggling, just having a good time. Learning through enjoyment. Classes are 1 hour with a break. Tutor is jazz musician Faye Patton.

Suitable for children 0 – 4 years old.

NO NEED TO BOOK – JUST DROP IN!  

£5.00 per child/£3.50 siblings

For more information –  www.rucksackmusic.co.uk

Peace and Resolution Solo exhibition by Katy Sayers Green

31 May – 13 June 2019

Highgate Gallery is delighted to host Katy Sayers Green’s ‘Peace and Resolution’, an exhibition of large mixed media paintings, alongside small scale relief sculpture.  This work focuses on intractable conflict; from the personal to the political, using the conflict in the Middle East as the central focus and inspiration.

The emphasis is to explore through visual means routes to peace and resolution and hope for the future.  Whilst focusing on this particular conflict, Katy also hopes that the resonances in the artwork are universal.

This body of work has been produced as a result of a two month sojourn in Israel in 2018: a summer programme at Hebrew University looking at the complexities of the region and possible paths to peace, followed by a ceramic art residency at the inspirational Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Centre in Tel Aviv.  Katy is a painter with a strong interest in layers and 3-dimensional form; working with ceramics for the first time opened up wonderful new possibilities.

The visual language came about during the Tel Aviv Art Residency.  Seeds and fruit and other natural produce of the region started appearing in her ceramic work.  Seeds offer a promise of hope, of renewal, of something shared between the two peoples.  This organic source material is very connected to the land and therefore to the identities of all those involved.  Katy expresses visually the connection of both peoples to the land in a visceral way.  This work could be described as a form of figurative abstraction.

Katy pressed porcelain into the seeds and fruit to create small-scale impressions, often fragile and transparent – like the seeds of hope themselves.  On her return to the UK, she started thinking of the converse of this situation, by pressing and laying the seeds and fruit on to the canvas to make a reverse impression.

The narratives of the two peoples are entirely different and by approaching the project from the other side, in a literal sense, she replicates what is happening in this conflict in visual form.  Perhaps, at the interface between these two sides is where peace and resolution can be found.

Katy has recently started an Art Instagram  @katy_sayers_green where she is documenting her art practice in the run up to this exhibition.

There will be four accompanying events to this exhibition which are open to the public (see below).

The exhibition is supported by StandWithUs UK – https://standwithus.co.uk – an Israel education charity.  The art collection is inspired by a love for Israel and a wish to creatively visualise what a just society for all its inhabitants might look like in the future.

 Events

• Friday 31 May, 6-8pm – Private View of Exhibition.
• Sunday 2 June, 11.30am.  Artist tour of exhibition.  (Please gather at 11.20am.) The tour will last approximately one hour and light refreshments will be available.  Katy will talk about her time in Israel and how it relates to her work.
• Thursday 6 June, 8pm (doors open 7.30pm).  £10 on the door. Highgate Film Society: “Frantz”, 2017.  The film explores healing and forgiveness across borders.  Writer-director François Ozon thoughtfully probes the aftermath of World War I through memories and relationships of loved ones left behind.
• Tuesday 11 June, 8pm (doors open at 7.30pm).  £5 on the door.  Lecture: Sana Knaneh, Development Director for UK Friends of the Bereaved Families Forum, is a Palestinian who grew up in the Galilee region of Israel.  She will discuss the reconciliation and peace building work of this organisation in the region.  Light refreshments will be available.

Peace and Resolution.  Solo exhibition by Katy Sayers Green.  31 May – 13 June 2019

Highgate Gallery is delighted to host Katy Sayers Green’s ‘Peace and Resolution’, an exhibition of large mixed media paintings, alongside small scale relief sculpture.  This work focuses on intractable conflict; from the personal to the political, using the conflict in the Middle East as the central focus and inspiration.

The emphasis is to explore through visual means routes to peace and resolution and hope for the future.  Whilst focusing on this particular conflict, Katy also hopes that the resonances in the artwork are universal.

This body of work has been produced as a result of a two month sojourn in Israel in 2018: a summer programme at Hebrew University looking at the complexities of the region and possible paths to peace, followed by a ceramic art residency at the inspirational Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Centre in Tel Aviv.  Katy is a painter with a strong interest in layers and 3-dimensional form; working with ceramics for the first time opened up wonderful new possibilities.

The visual language came about during the Tel Aviv Art Residency.  Seeds and fruit and other natural produce of the region started appearing in her ceramic work.  Seeds offer a promise of hope, of renewal, of something shared between the two peoples.  This organic source material is very connected to the land and therefore to the identities of all those involved.  Katy expresses visually the connection of both peoples to the land in a visceral way.  This work could be described as a form of figurative abstraction.

Katy pressed porcelain into the seeds and fruit to create small-scale impressions, often fragile and transparent – like the seeds of hope themselves.  On her return to the UK, she started thinking of the converse of this situation, by pressing and laying the seeds and fruit on to the canvas to make a reverse impression.

The narratives of the two peoples are entirely different and by approaching the project from the other side, in a literal sense, she replicates what is happening in this conflict in visual form.  Perhaps, at the interface between these two sides is where peace and resolution can be found.

Katy has recently started an Art Instagram  @katy_sayers_green where she is documenting her art practice in the run up to this exhibition.

There will be four accompanying events to this exhibition which are open to the public (see below).

Image: ‘Seeds I’, 150 x 120cm, mixed media on canvas.

Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.

The exhibition is supported by StandWithUs UK – https://standwithus.co.uk – an Israel education charity.  The art collection is inspired by a love for Israel and a wish to creatively visualise what a just society for all its inhabitants might look like in the future.

 Events

• Friday 31 May, 6-8pm – Private View of Exhibition.
• Sunday 2 June, 11.30am.  Artist tour of exhibition.  (Please gather at 11.20am.) The tour will last approximately one hour and light refreshments will be available.  Katy will talk about her time in Israel and how it relates to her work.
• Thursday 6 June, 8pm (doors open 7.30pm).  £10 on the door. Highgate Film Society: “Frantz”, 2017.  The film explores healing and forgiveness across borders.  Writer-director François Ozon thoughtfully probes the aftermath of World War I through memories and relationships of loved ones left behind.
• Tuesday 11 June, 8pm (doors open at 7.30pm).  £5 on the door.  Lecture: Sana Knaneh, Development Director for UK Friends of the Bereaved Families Forum, is a Palestinian who grew up in the Galilee region of Israel.  She will discuss the reconciliation and peace building work of this organisation in the region.  Light refreshments will be available.

Peace and Resolution.  Solo exhibition by Katy Sayers Green.  31 May – 13 June 2019

Highgate Gallery is delighted to host Katy Sayers Green’s ‘Peace and Resolution’, an exhibition of large mixed media paintings, alongside small scale relief sculpture.  This work focuses on intractable conflict; from the personal to the political, using the conflict in the Middle East as the central focus and inspiration.

The emphasis is to explore through visual means routes to peace and resolution and hope for the future.  Whilst focusing on this particular conflict, Katy also hopes that the resonances in the artwork are universal.

This body of work has been produced as a result of a two month sojourn in Israel in 2018: a summer programme at Hebrew University looking at the complexities of the region and possible paths to peace, followed by a ceramic art residency at the inspirational Benyamini Contemporary Ceramics Centre in Tel Aviv.  Katy is a painter with a strong interest in layers and 3-dimensional form; working with ceramics for the first time opened up wonderful new possibilities.

The visual language came about during the Tel Aviv Art Residency.  Seeds and fruit and other natural produce of the region started appearing in her ceramic work.  Seeds offer a promise of hope, of renewal, of something shared between the two peoples.  This organic source material is very connected to the land and therefore to the identities of all those involved.  Katy expresses visually the connection of both peoples to the land in a visceral way.  This work could be described as a form of figurative abstraction.

Katy pressed porcelain into the seeds and fruit to create small-scale impressions, often fragile and transparent – like the seeds of hope themselves.  On her return to the UK, she started thinking of the converse of this situation, by pressing and laying the seeds and fruit on to the canvas to make a reverse impression.

The narratives of the two peoples are entirely different and by approaching the project from the other side, in a literal sense, she replicates what is happening in this conflict in visual form.  Perhaps, at the interface between these two sides is where peace and resolution can be found.

Katy has recently started an Art Instagram  @katy_sayers_green where she is documenting her art practice in the run up to this exhibition.

There will be four accompanying events to this exhibition which are open to the public (see below).

Image: ‘Seeds I’, 150 x 120cm, mixed media on canvas.

Gallery open Tuesday-Friday 1-5pm, Saturday 11am-4pm, Sunday 11am-5pm; closed Mondays.

The exhibition is supported by StandWithUs UK – https://standwithus.co.uk – an Israel education charity.  The art collection is inspired by a love for Israel and a wish to creatively visualise what a just society for all its inhabitants might look like in the future.

 Events

• Friday 31 May, 6-8pm – Private View of Exhibition.
• Sunday 2 June, 11.30am.  Artist tour of exhibition.  (Please gather at 11.20am.) The tour will last approximately one hour and light refreshments will be available.  Katy will talk about her time in Israel and how it relates to her work.
• Thursday 6 June, 8pm (doors open 7.30pm).  £10 on the door. Highgate Film Society: “Frantz”, 2017.  The film explores healing and forgiveness across borders.  Writer-director François Ozon thoughtfully probes the aftermath of World War I through memories and relationships of loved ones left behind.
• Tuesday 11 June, 8pm (doors open at 7.30pm).  £5 on the door.  Lecture: Sana Knaneh, Development Director for UK Friends of the Bereaved Families Forum, is a Palestinian who grew up in the Galilee region of Israel.  She will discuss the reconciliation and peace building work of this organisation in the region.  Light refreshments will be available.