Bright Horizons is new exhibition at Chichester’s Oxmarket Gallery

The exhibition highlights glass by Adam Aaronson, paintings by Fiona Millais, Tinx Newton, Nic Cowper, Hugh Fairfax and Alistair Erskine, monoprints by Tessa Pearson, textile art by Naomi Beevers, ceramics by Ali Tomlin, Kayley Holderness and boxes and furniture by Kevin Stamper.

As Tinx says: “Bright Horizons focuses on a brighter future with continuing exploration in creative practices. It also celebrates the coming together of all artists as exhibitions, workshops and art venues are once again open to all.

“Glassmaker Adam Aaronson has had a summer like no other. In 2020, Covid restrictions enforced some extra and welcome studio time which enabled him to experiment with new glass work techniques. Now all those hours toiling over a hot furnace have come to light as he exhibits throughout this summer at several prestigious venues. For his final flourish he is gathering together a bunch of creative friends to present Bright Horizons at The Oxmarket Gallery, Chichester. ”

Adam said: “I have always been fascinated by horizons and these have been a feature in my own glass art for years so when I was selecting the ten artists to join me in this exhibition at the Oxmarket, I was naturally drawn to some whose focus on the horizon in their work was also paramount.

“But the title Bright Horizons relates as much to the expansive outlook of these artists as to the content of their work. I think we are all coming out of lockdown in a process of metamorphosis. Perhaps we are akin to butterflies emerging from a chrysalis or bumblebees awakening from hibernation and spreading our wings in the sunshine.

“Flying towards the horizon which perhaps mirrors the fact that, in every artwork we create, we are consciously looking ahead and striving to improve on the previous one. Looking towards the horizon, our future is bright.”

Adam added: “My route into glass was unconventional. When I graduated from Keele University with a degree in international relations, I took some informal glass-blowing lessons and was immediately captivated by what I saw as the unlimited potential of glass as an artistic medium.

“In that moment my life-long love affair with glass was born. That was in 1977 and in the years that followed, I set up and managed one of London’s first galleries devoted to contemporary studio glass, commissioning the work of both new and established British and international glass artists.

“In 1986 I opened my own glass-blowing studio and began to devote myself full-time to my passion. In my current studio in West Horsley, I develop my work with the assistance of a team of craftspeople and also run courses like the one that stimulated my interest as a beginner.

“Even after more than 30 years, I am still captivated by the fluidity and movement of a mass of molten glass suspended on the end of a blowing iron. It is almost as if it has a life of its own, floating, ever changing; a life that requires nurturing and taming.

“The transition from this amorphous state to the final static form never fails to fascinate me.”