South Northants Art Trail - two more artists exhibiting at Yardley Arts

As promised, here are two more of the artists, Sally Pennycate and John Wannop, who are taking part in the South Northants Art Trail at Yardley Arts next month.

Three panels by Sally Pennycate

Sally Pennycate

Sally Pennycate is a Northamptonshire artist with links to the Norfolk coastline and Norfolk Broads. Having painted all her life, it was having recently graduated from university with a first class fine art degree that she set up her art practice.

Her inspiration is drawn from the landscape and is distilled into reflective, meditative pieces in oils or textural works incorporating natural materials found and foraged from the fields and lakes around Northamptonshire. Sally is inspired by the textures, structures and forms of nature, and in preserving elements within her work. These pieces contain humble weeds or leaves layered and embedded into the work and then painted with a series of paint layers and metallic mica powders to bring out the beauty and texture.

Sally's practice is environmentally aware using non-toxic and environmentally-friendly materials to create her work. By preserving natural elements, Sally aims to illustrate the beauty in nature and the importance of valuing it.

John Wannop

With John’s artworks, the lumps of wood are found, paid for or freely given. No tree is sacrificed because he lusts over its body. The wood provides the inspiration for its final shape, colour, and interpretation.

He says, “The size, shape, the feel of it feeds your imagination so you can give it a name, or not. Sometimes I will provide a name, but that is only my interpretation.

John Wannop, Untitled

“Some lumps are illustrating a point of view, a statement of morality. These lumps are generally ignored. Racism, misogyny, for example, are parts of our English heritage that are rarely questioned and are actively espoused by the elected leadership of my country. I guess many of the lumps I classify as ‘statement art’. (Has ‘art’ been defined yet?) . Sometimes obviously political, sometimes obviously sexual, sometimes about bodily shapes, sometimes about, no, always about touch feelings, mind feelings, and sometimes about sight feelings. I want impact, a soft one, a rough one, or both.

“Some lumps are prepared for indoor use and others for outdoor use. I started to look at lumps of wood about four years ago. I have no practical skills, or expertise. I have always had an imagination, possibly.”

Come and take a look at these fabulous artists between 2 and 10 October (excluding Monday 4).