For the next two weeks, there is a group show at Gallery White Box that includes regular exhibiting artists and some new faces in an exhibition of works selected to ‘bring joy, reflection, or good memories of time and space,’ writes Michael Holland.
Most of the six artists are local; Louise Sheridan is a founder member of the Bermondsey Artists’ Group, while Richard Lawrence was one of the first artists to start regenerating a Deptford that was falling behind the rest of London. And anyone with their eyes open will know that those areas now have a flourishing creative community and are full of street art.
All of the artists bring their individual creativity and energy to the Summer Gathering.
Richard Lawrence brings a lioness to life in wood, while his prints hint at the worldwide problems of those animals facing extinction: polar bears through man-made climate change, and forest dwellers losing their habitats to the tree-felling chainsaw. Lawrence wants his art to change things. He does, however, pay homage to the thriving urban fox in his Deptford Foxes piece.
Sheridan shows the flow of the Thames, often above the flight of a bird, and sometimes with the sunset bringing the magic of London to fiery life. Even her stormy weather artworks make you want to be up there with the birds.
Aleksandra Niemczyk’s artwork stands out enough to make you stop to wonder at it, while you decide where you are going to hang it.
Katie Mawson takes the cloth from old, old books and lovingly repurposes it to framed art. There is a similarity to Niemczyk’s pieces in the show, but Mawson’s appear more fragile. More in need of being TLC’d and stroked.
Summer Gathering has something for everyone, and you never know which of the artists will be hosting and willing to chat on the day you visit.
Gallery White Box, 5 Hare and Billet Road, Blackheath, SE3 ORB
21 August – 6 September, Friday – Sunday, 10 – 5pm
