TALENTED local artists Chez Rands and Jade Phoenix Isaac are exhibiting their works at an art gallery in Newcastle, in a three-weekend show set to end on 5 July.
The exhibition, ‘A Whimsy of Critters’, features Chez’s sculptures and Jade’s paintings, all painstakingly and lovingly crafted to explore and celebrate in a collection of mixed-media paintings and 3D ceramic sculptures inspired by the natural world.
The opening afternoon, Saturday 20 June, saw a packed room of supporters and plenty of sales for the local powerhouse artists, with one more to go at the start of July.
Chez’s whimsical puppies are playful labours of love, and have been joined by a vast array of new lovable creatures, including rabbits, birds and pottery useful for enjoying the natural world, such as bespoke birdfeeders or helpful implements for preparing to garden.
“As soon as they get a face, they often find a name and personality,” Chez said of her clay critters.
Jade’s artworks featured a full menagerie: birds, giraffes, tigers, deer, and birds, all with characteristically powerful and soulful eyes, speaking silently of the personalities that are smouldering underneath.
“Each of the animals is feeling something, I am to capture that feeling, help people relate to it and admire it,” Jade told NOTA.
Much like the great Renaissance painters, Jade’s efforts have brought her much new insight about her subjects, a testament to each one’s evolution.
“Each animal’s bone structure and body has allowed them to survive in the wild, studying how that came about drives and fascinates me,” Jade explained.
Jade has also experimented with new media: ‘solar prints’ that utilise nature’s own ultraviolet light for formation of the images, and then augmenting with hand-drawn ink to bring them to life – the individual fur follicles no doubt producing some tired and sore hands by the end of it for Jade.
Many images approach photorealism, especially in their attention to detail, but wisely back off to find the soul and feeling of each subject as they come into being.
A similar successful exhibition was seen at the Tea Gardens Galleries in the Gardens last year, however, many more new works are on display at the Back-to-Back Galleries, Newcastle Studio Potters at 57 Bull St, Cooks Hill this year.
By Thomas O’KEEFE
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