A B S T R A C T - press release
Press Release 18 | 07 | 25
‘Abstract’
Bringing a splash of vibrant colour to early winter
4th October to 7th November 2025
Bringing a splash of vibrant colour to their early winter schedule, The Sanctuary Gallery presents an exhibition of contemporary painting, ceramics and glass which explores the uplifting beauty of Abstract art.
The show brings together eleven highly regarded artists who combine colour and composition to make challenging and inspiring work for the mind and soul.
Jessie Woodward’s practice is rooted in her experimental approach to painting. Her process involves a meticulous examination of the interplay between colours, marks, textures and spatial ratios, in order to achieve vibrant and cohesive abstract compositions. Jessie holds a BA Hons in Fine Art and Art History and exhibits across the UK and internationally.
Artist Boo Compton studied Graphic Design at Kingston and went on to run her own design studio in London. Now a full-time painter, she makes mixed media work that reflects her design background in its powerful visual dynamic and use of colour and texture. In 2022, 2023 and 2024 Boo’s work was highlighted as the Affordable Art Fair London Director’s Choice, and her work is collected worldwide.
Bethany Holmes’ expressive paintings explore our emotional and physical experience of colour. Central to her process is an understanding of the way in which a palette can carry mood and meaning, enhanced by the physical, almost combative act of applying gestural marks to the canvas. Bethany graduated with a BA in Textile Design from Nottingham Trent University. Her works are held in private collections worldwide.
Mixed media artist Karen Fitzpatrick makes abstract works inspired by the Carmarthenshire coastline. Beginning by sketching and writing out in the landscape, she aims to capture the essence of place in colour, line and word. Back at her studio, she works on canvas with a limited palette, using intuitive and spontaneous marks to express her emotional response to the landscape. Karen graduated from Coventry University with a BA Hons in Fine Art.
Rachel Sudworth’s paintings explore her deep emotional connection with the feminine energy of the landscape. Working with oils and mixed media materials and techniques, she takes an experimental and intuitive approach to the physical act of painting, following an organic journey through ideas and creative process.
Bethany Khort’s paintings are a visual journey back and forth between the external landscape of her home in rural Wiltshire, and her own internal landscape. Her paintings express feelings of belonging and loss within a place, in a visual language derived from the decorative objects of her childhood in Hong Kong, where Chinese antiques and Indonesian and Japanese indigo dyed textiles dominated her visual world.
Maryanne Hawes paintings draw on her study of geography and the environment, and an appreciation for structure, colour and beauty gained during her previous career as a garden and landscape designer. Her works express the complexity of her life experiences as a way of understanding her past while also exploring new perspectives on the future.
Glass artist Ruth Shelley explores an interplay of colour and pattern which invokes the movement of the solar system, in what she refers to as a ‘helical visualisation of time’. Her circular glass panels of rhythmic colours and interlinking forms reflect her love of the work of Russian born painter Sonia Delaunay.
Internationally acclaimed artist Sarah Hillman creates striking ceramic sculptures influenced by the purity of European Modernism. Her organic forms explore positive and negative space through a changing composition of line, colour and contour. Each piece is made in pure white clay and is hand cut with sweeping curves to reveal a bold and colourful interior.
Yvette Glaze’s slab-built ceramic forms capture the detail and flow of landscape through pattern and colour, rendered in coloured clays and lively layers of slip, with the addition of drawn details that define her brightly illustrated surfaces.
Jan O’Neill’s ceramic works explore form, scale and surface, and embrace the trace and imprint of process. Allowing the clay to reveal its raw, natural beauty, her forms tell a story of the power and simplicity of nature, resulting in sculptures and vessels that embrace the rhythms of natural life.
See Abstract from 4th October to 7th November 2025 at The Sanctuary Studio & Gallery, High Street, Newnham-on-Severn, Gloucestershire, GL14 1BB. www.thesanctuarygallery.com
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Editors Notes
The Sanctuary Gallery & Studio
Established in 2022 by artist Sharon Harvey, The Sanctuary Studio & Gallery exhibits the best in contemporary painting and craft in an intimate and historical setting at the heart of the village of Newnham-on-Severn. With an ever-changing programme of exhibitions, the gallery offers a broad spectrum of work from figurative to abstract, and represents emerging and established British artists.
For additional images contact Mercedes Smith at Fine Art Communications director@fineartcommunications.co.uk | Tel 07825 270235 | www.fineartcommunications.co.uk
