Galleries - July 2012

DC and Kingsley Amis’s home in Cambridge. Having taken sole ownership, Brenda passed the gallery to her daughter and son-in- law in 1986. Now based in Swansea’s Old Maritime Quarter, it remains one of the most serious outlets for art that is either about Wales, or by Welsh artists. Close on Attic’s heels came Oriel Tegfryn , now run by Martin Tinney , but famous as Gwyneth Brown’s Anglesey home, and the place to buy Welsh art yn y gogledd . The keen collector Mary Yapp opened what became The Albany Gallery in 1965; in her 80s still enthusiastically, the very grou- nded Mary is in charge. Caroline Juler Nicholson Treat With the excellent Courtauld Institute show of Ben Nicholson’s work produced during the course of his friendship with Piet Mon- drian already under our belts earlier this year, the idea of an- other featuring a body of rarely- seen work from his principal Brit- ish collector during his lifetime, Helen Sutherland, is riches in- deed. Remarkably, you have to go to the Welsh Borders to see it, to Rupert Otten’s wonderfully situ- ated Monnow Valley Arts Centre where he has brought together a Daiwa Decision As part of a whole range of generous academic scholarships the Daiwa (Anglo-Japanese) Foundation has operated, for a number of years now, an excellent scheme which enables a leading British-based artist to have a solo show in a top Tokyo gallery. With a £5,000 participation prize and all expenses paid to cover a week’s stay there, it's well worth winning, this year’s lucky recipient being installation artist Haroon Mirza. His prize piece and that of the two other finalists, Tom Hammick and Jennifer E. Price, can be seen at the Foundation’s beautiful Reg- ent’s Park gallery until 19 July. Pioneers in Wales Attic Gallery ’s 50th birthday bash is sparkling: 15 paintings and prints from its first exhibition – a Ceri Richards print, a rediscov- ered painting by Robert Alwyn Hughes (found in the loft!), a 1930s gem by Alfred Janes – with specially commissioned works by 55 current artists – including Gar- eth Thomas, Pru Walters, Kath- erine Le Grice, and sculptor Helen Sinclair. Before the Attic arrived, Howard Roberts’s gallery was the only place where you could buy modern art in Wales. Founders Margaret Aeron-Thomas, Dorothy Thomas, Brenda Bloxam and Eve Thomas wanted to give Welsh art a higher profile outside Wales: Attic’s shows went to Washington splendid group of his small paint- ings and drawings on loan from private collections and all having their common source in the coll- ection originally formed by Suth- erland over a 40 year friendship with Nicholson. Most of them have not been seen publicly since the Sutherland Collection was exhib- ited by the Arts Council in 1970/71 so this really is something of a coup, added to which there is the length of time over which they were collected, from 1925 on- wards, which thus provides a mar- vellously concise overview of the development of his style. And, I should also mention, there is a small group of additional work included for sale . . . NU Dartmoor Arts As the West of England and Corn- wall make up our special supple- ment this month, it seems appro- priate also to mention a superb educational initiative in the region, sculptor Peter Randall-Page's Dartmoor Arts summer school (22-28 July). Based on his studio at Drewsteignton near Exeter, this provides a really extensive range of courses from earth arts and stone carving to photography and spatial structures – plus wonderful evening talks. For more info see www.dartmoorarts.com B en Nicholson ‘Still Life’, 1934, oil and pencil on canvas at Monnow Valley Arts Centre. Attic Gallery, Director Brenda Bloxam with gallery artwork - 1963 11. GALLERIES JULY 12 PREV I EWS