JUDY BUXTON

DAN PARRY-JONES

LAURANCE SIMON

JULIA MALEEVA

 

FRIDAY 8 NOVEMBER – SUNDAY 24 NOVEMBER 2024

 

The third edition of our online series SPOTLIGHT features new work by four gallery artists: Judy Buxton, Julia Maleeva, Dan Parry-Jones and Laurance Simon. Each artist presents two works made especially for the series, alongside studio interviews that delve into their unique practices. Explore their work and find out more about the artists in their own words below.

In-person viewings: The gallery is open by appointment and weekly on Thursdays and Fridays, from 10am-4pm.

 

If you would like to view these works at the gallery please call: 01264 810 817 – or – email: josie@josieeastwood.com.

  • JUDY BUXTON
  • SPOTLIGHT Q&A
    Judy Buxton in her studio, 2024. © The Artist.

    SPOTLIGHT Q&A

    You grew up in Australia, could you tell us about your background and what led you to become a painter? 

     

    As a child I was an avid reader, literature conveying this depth and complexity of emotion, meaning and shape. I learnt about the land of my forbears through reading English classics. I used to love illustrating my history books and my be-kaftaned art teacher was a very exotic figure to me, her class was a haven where I felt at home away from the turbulence of my own. I remember one day she used the words in an art lesson: “I think Judy is going to be an artist”. Those words stayed with me. 

     

  • JULIA MALEEVA
  • SPOTLIGHT Q&A
    Julia Maleeva's studio, 2024. © The Artist.

    SPOTLIGHT Q&A

    EASTWOOD FINE ART: You initially trained as an architect, could you tell us about this background and how you became an artist?

     

    JULIA MALEEVA: In fact, I was originally trained classically in fine art and as a specialist in etching and drypoint. One of my teachers told me I couldn’t do colour and pushed me to go into the world of black and white. After five years, I decided I was not good enough to be a painter and went to study architecture. The big achievement came when I did my architectural postgraduate studies in the USA, people there admired my hand-ink sketches and you can find many of them in the Library of Congress. I’ve continued sketching and doing small graphic art since then.

     

  • DAN PARRY-JONES
  • SPOTLIGHT Q&A
    Dan Parry-Jones in his studio, 2024. © The Artist.

    SPOTLIGHT Q&A

    EASTWOOD FINE ART: Having originally trained in Illustration and Graphic Design, has your background informed your approach to your work and subject matter?


    DAN PARRY-JONES: It’s an interesting question and hard to know what informs my current process and practice. I guess it’s a combination of everything. Studying graphic design was a way of exploring formal elements like composition, colour etc., which are universal elements fundamental to all branches of visual arts. Answering design briefs and visual problem-solving was a useful practice in terms of how it equipped me to design my future paintings. In terms of subject matter, it is always interesting for me to see how it evolves. I have always been drawn to landscapes but as you say (below) the theme of man-made vs. natural or the scribble juxtaposed with the straight edge is an aesthetic that I seem to return to, especially when I am ‘in the zone’ and working in an automated way; which is the way I begin all my pieces no matter how pre-planned they are.  

     

    Read the full interview

  • LAURANCE SIMON
  • SPOTLIGHT Q&A
    Laurance Simon in her studio, 2024. © The Artist.

    SPOTLIGHT Q&A

    EASTWOOD FINE ART: You studied at Camberwell College of Arts and at Cardiff School of Art, what drew you to working in ceramics and have there been specific moments in your career that have informed your practice?

     

    LAURANCE SIMON: When I was a child in France an unexpected encounter with a potter made a lasting impression on me. My uncle and grandfather were craftsmen, they made cider barrels and horse carriages to carry hay from the fields. They shared a cavernous workshop where I spent hours of my summer holidays in Normandy blissfully making things all the time. One morning I followed my uncle on one of his deliveries to a farm where we found a potter in residence. I watched the young man on the wheel with utter fascination, so much so that my uncle suggested: maybe you could do that when you grow up? I replied that I couldn’t because I was a girl and this (in my child's mind) was a man’s job!!!  Sadly my uncle died before I could show him my work.

     

    Read the full interview

  • SPOTLIGHT: SPRING EDITION
    MARCH-APRIL 2024

    VIEW HERE

  • SPOTLIGHT: EDITION ONE
    DECEMBER 2023

    VIEW HERE