Looking Around Us at Wymondham Arts Centre brings together the work of three Norwich 20 Group figurative painters, David Jones, Jane Mackintosh and Barry Watkins.

The show runs at Becket’s Chapel from Tuesday, June 2 to Sunday, June 14 and is open daily, Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm and Sunday, 12noon to 5pm, free entry, www.wymondhamarts.com​. 

David Jones, who is curating the exhibition, explained: “The three of us take the world around us as a starting point. The idea might come from travel, something quite trivial seen in the street, or from everyday human activity.”

“I have long admired Barry and Jane’s work; it is underpinned by assured draughtsmanship and long experience. They both handle paint very confidently but in different ways. Barry takes great pleasure in the tactile qualities of his materials.  Jane suggests a great deal with very economical means. It is my hope that my paintings share some of the qualities that I admire in the others’ work. Our differing approaches will give considerable variety to the show.”

All three artists are former Chairmen of Norwich 20 Group.

David Jones 

www.davidjonesartist.co.uk

David Jones is both a painter and printmaker. His prints are mostly linocuts and woodcuts or a combination of the two.  What he paints usually comes from some everyday incident that catches his attention or some evidence of history in a contemporary setting.  He sees his work as observation of the world about him but is conscious that it very soon becomes a record of the past.

Born in Oxford, but brought up in Reading, he trained at Berkshire College of Art in Maidenhead followed by Camberwell School of Art where he studied fine art. He embarked on a career as a museum curator starting in Salford and moved to Norwich in 1976, where he was the Keeper of Social History until 2000.

Jane Macintosh

www.norwich20group.co.uk/Jane_Mackintosh

Jane Macintosh’s Orcadian mother was a painter influenced by Peploe and the Scottish colourists and passed on her love of light, places and people. Born in Edinburgh and raised in Oxford, she studied at the Ruskin School of Art and then at Byam Shaw School of Art in London. She moved to Norfolk with her husband in the early sixties where they both taught. Jane used to make prints, but now concentrates on painting and exploring new media with her love of light, cars, people and places very much to the fore.

Barry Watkins

www.norwich20group.co.uk/Barry_Watkins

Barry Watkins tries to reconcile the demands of the image and the process, the figurative and the abstract, exploring the qualities and handling of materials and techniques; building up and cutting back; developing, discovering and deconstructing. He uses these techniques to evoke imagery derived both from personal observation and from art, film or other visual media, which carry some personal potency.

He was born in South Wales, grew up in Dorset and did a BA in Fine Art at Reading University.  Ten years later he completed a Masters at University College, Cardiff, and after another decade, a sabbatical year of study at the Norwich School of Art. His career began with a year in Finland, working with the British Council.  His work as a teacher included Keswick Hall College, Norwich and later, De Montfort University, Bedford.

Wymondham Arts Centre is at Becket’s Chapel, Church Street, Wymondham NR18 0PH www.wymondhamarts.com, email [email protected].