Gardens and Beyond - meet the artists

As you know, our Gardens and Beyond - The Artists’ Viewpoint exhibition is coming soon. You will be able to see it in person from 2 to 8 July, here at Yardley Artists. But before then, we thought we’d give you a sneaky preview of some of the work on display and tell you a little bit about the artists taking part.

Matthew Beeby

Matthew was born in Northampton in 1963. He is a plein-air painter of landscapes in oil, mostly painting the countryside around his home, in Wollaston. He is also regularly seen painting the Suffolk coast, a region that has a special place in his heart. Matthew has shown his work in high-profile galleries such as John Noott and Michael Savage. His works are now held in private collections around the world.

Katy Burdett

Katy's paintings are often mixed media where she combines collage, acrylic paint, ink and printed elements. Her aim is that the image created can appeal both on close inspection and also catch the eye from a distance. Design and composition are very important to Katy and she often uses a vibrant colour palette to interpret her ideas. Her mixed media pieces are specially sealed and can be framed without glass and the surface gently touched. She exhibits at the Eagle Gallery in Bedford, and in shows and exhibitions in Northamptonshire and Hertfordshire. Awarded the Great Art Prize in 2019, Katy has recently donated her work for clinics at Moorfield Eye Hospital and for new living accommodation for previously homeless people in Earls Barton, Northamptonshire.

Cathy Burnett

Cathy Burnett is an artist and designer, making work in a range of media. Her art is a vehicle for capturing memories and responding to life’s events. If you have a special memory you wish to capture, either for yourself or as a creative gift for someone celebrating a milestone event, she is happy to discuss commissions. In addition, Cathy runs fun creative courses at the Yardley Arts Centre.

Claire Denny

“The garden has always been a cherished place to me, bought under control, suppressed and then cultivated in an ordered fashion,” says artist Claire Denny. “I love creating atmosphere through light, colour and texture along with the feeling of solace and tranquility that the garden and wider landscape present.” Claire produces her finished work mainly in watercolour and occasionally mixed media and oil working from sketchbooks and drawings to create a spirit of place.

Rah Flynn

Rah uses X-ray and monochrome photography to strip away vibrancy, scent and colour, allowing you to rest with the beauty within. From iodine-enhanced botanicals to neurosurgical dexterity, Rah’s work asks you to look inside and look again, perceiving in a different way. She explains: “I x-ray botanicals, which strips away the things we associate with floral beauty, to show that without external attractive finery, there is a visceral exquisiteness within. If we get to know the things we fear, face the grey areas within ourselves, we will find peace and beauty there.”

Graham Fudger

Graham is a conceptual artist working in 3D and digital media. BA and MA trained at the University of Westminster in London, Graham's sculptural and digital work considers the human experience a shifting technological world. His latest trajectory, creating high resolution digital works in an FX macro photography studio, draws influence from the fields of particle physics and the science of seeing. The Quantum Field series explores the permeable membrane between the subliminal and the conscious mind, stimulating the visual cortex with images that are both sensory and semiotic, whilst testing the limits of chromatic adaptation through a range of experiments using graduated transitional hue. Drawing upon two centuries of colour theory, the series considers the mechanisms of visual perception, from the production of electromagnetic radiation through the process of nucleosynthesis at the heart of the sun to the sensory and neurological perceptions of the mind as a means of locating the human animal in space.

Penny German

Penny is a member of RBSA, Chelsea Art Society and a regular exhibitor at the Mall Gallery (ROI). She paints still life and plein-air in oils. Having painted professionally for 15 years, Penny regularly runs workshops at Yardley Arts. Her work can be found in galleries in the UK and around the world.

Cordell Garfield

Cordell is a Northampton based artist operating from his town centre studio. Working mainly in oils, portraits and figurative work feature strongly in his paintings, but he also finds inspiration in the light, colours and shapes of the landscapes he encounters. He studied at the Slade School, London Atelier of Representational Art, Sarum Studio and London Studio of Fine Art in order to develop his technique and use of colour. Having exhibited extensively throughout Northamptonshire as well as London, Hertfordshire and Leicestershire, and at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, Cordell will also be opening his studio as part of the Northants Open Studio Trails in 2022. Cordell is President of the Northampton Town & County Art Society, and was winner of the 'People's Choice' prize at the Open 13 Show at Alfred East Gallery, Kettering in 2013. He runs regular portrait painting workshops, including teaching at Yardley Arts, helping students to create their own portraits.

Helen Hayward

Helen’s artwork is inspired by the wildflowers and flora of the hedgerows, verges and anywhere that nature is flourishing. Intuitively painting from memories, Helen use a mixture of oil paint and acrylic to create textured paintings, which feature a mix of ambiguous forms and delicate details.

Nicky Hunter

Nicky Hunter is well known for her signature large scale contemporary watercolour floral paintings, but equally inspired by a range of subjects, aiming to capture them in a vibrant impressionist style. Exploring the transparent and lucid qualities of watercolour whilst keeping colours clear and bright are key elements in Nicky’s artworks which are ‘inspired by nature and ignited by colour’. They offer the viewer a sense of enchanted realism. She believes wherever there is a colourful subject illuminated with interesting shapes and contrasts in light and shadow, there is potential for a beautiful painting that sings with joy. The development of her painting and illustration skills come from studying a diploma in art, followed by a degree in textile design, leading to a varied and successful career as a textile designer spanning over two decades. Further fine art training with inspirational artists in recent years enhanced her practice with the delightful yet challenging medium of watercolour. Her work is available from her Buckinghamshire-based studio, as wells as surrounding galleries. Plus, Nicky recently exhibited at ‘The Gallery’ Holt, a distinguished gallery in Norfolk showcasing well established UK artists. Nicky runs regular watercolour workshops at Yardley Arts.

Kat Lendacka

Kat is a linocut printmaker living and working in rural Northamptonshire. Her linocuts combine her love of nature, architecture and storytelling. Born and raised in a beautiful old town Litomerice in the Czech Republic, she is inspired by the imagery from her childhood. When she is not working in her home studio, she loves to go on adventures with her two daughters and her beloved Spot, the whippet.

Emma Lindsay

Emma is a local mixed media artist living in Northamptonshire and she originally trained in fine art and printmaking at Newcastle University. There she fell in love with painting and drawing allotments and this love of gardens and growing spaces has continued. She am drawn to pattern, colour and texture and loves to experiment with different media and techniques. Always looking to learn something new, her most recent revelation is mono screen printing! Alongside a job in education and working as an artist, Emma regularly runs art workshops for children and adults in Northamptonshire. Emma has been happily teaching at Yardley Arts for four years now.

Carol Ann McDermott

The object of Carol’s paintings are beautiful realistic flowers but from a different viewpoint. The paintings are about the shapes and the details within them. Drawing the viewer in to see something that is not the expected representation and to reflect on the depth within them.

Sally Pennycate

The work of Northamptonshire-based artist Sally Pennycate is inspired by, and often incorporating, elements of the landscape around her. Sally distills the natural world into reflective, meditative pieces that seem haunting and immersive. Other works are highly textural and include elements of Nature embedded within the canvas. Sally loves the tactile, building up of texture and detail that brings the dead foliage back to life with a new beauty and purpose. These humble weeds, grasses and natural materials are immortalised within a hardening material and then built up in paint layers and metallic mica powders to illustrate the beauty of the landscape and what we have to lose by destroying it.

Chris Richbell

Chris previously taught Art, including painting, printmaking, sculpture and photography at a number of schools in Northamptonshire, including Wellingborough and Wrenn. Since then, she has enjoyed being one of the part-time tutors at Yardley Arts encouraging others to share her enthusiasm for painting. Chris has won prizes locally and nationally with two awards from the Royal Watercolour Society in their 21st Century Open Exhibition that led to a solo exhibition in London. She has exhibited with the New English Art Club at the Mall Gallery London, at Bankside Gallery London, the Three Hares Gallery Olney, the Beeby Gallery, Alfred East Gallery, the Guildhall Gallery, and has had work accepted by the Royal Academy.

Minnie Teckman

Minnie Teckman lives in Northampton and works from her studio in Burns Street. Her work varies from animal drawings in pencil and charcoal, to expressive colourful floral works in oils and acrylic. She likes to create pieces in a series to allow her to really explore and develop her understanding of the subject matter. Like many artists, she has enjoyed drawing and painting from childhood. She gained a BA Hons in Drawing and Painting as a mature student and believes it is never too late to begin a love affair with art. Minnie is an advocate for drawing and loves to draw from life, enjoying the spontaneity that sketching brings. She also teaches drawing skills to adults and participates in community arts events that promote creativity.

Jo Turner

Jo’s fascination with nature began as a child in the African midday sun, where the extremes of weather brought out the weird and the wonderful creatures. Quite often she sketched these and made rudimental paper-mache models. It wasn’t until studying for my PhD in biology that Jo found a creative outlet, away from the regimented experiments in the lab, in a pottery throwing class. Here she threw badly (she says), wonky pots galore and eventually found my niche in the hand-building of plates and jugs. Jo’s career in research took priority for the next few years, and enrolling on the Stained Glass Design City and Guilds course in 2004, her interest and passion for stained glass began. Jo learned not only the techniques of stained leaded glass but also more contemporary techniques of etching, enamelling, fusing and slumping. The pieces she makes are inspired by nature and science mixing the traditional leaded painted and kiln-fused glass in pieces. She reckons that the relationship between art and science can be somewhat symbiotic, and we can take an ancient craft and use more contemporary and often scientific methods to express what we see and feel in the world and nature around us.

Anne Wagstaff

Anne is a fused glass artist living and working in rural Northamptonshire. Her work is often inspired by nature and by the colours and textures of the glass. She has worked with bullseye glass for several years and enjoys teaching others bout this fascinating medium.

Jo Wraight

It’s the colour of paints, pencils, inks etc. and the beauty that can be seen in nature that motivates Jo. She is a keen gardener and has a garden with mixed borders, soft fruit plants and trees. She enjoys growing cut flowers from seed and these grow in raised beds, pots and the mixed borders. About ten years ago, Jo treated herself to a set of artists professional coloured pencils and was amazed with the effect they produce. She then came across artist and teacher, David Lewry, who is an RHS silver medal winner in botanical art. David teaches drawing in coloured pencil and it’s through his inspiration and lessons together with her love of gardening that Jo has drawn many botanical pictures. Her pictures aim not only to look realistic but also are rewarding to create.

The exhibition at Yardley Arts coincides with the ever-popular, Open Gardens at Yardley Hastings on Sunday 3 July. Why not enjoy both events in one day? If you love the outdoors, you’ll find plenty of inspiration from the artists’ work to the artists working in some of the gardens, to the gardens themselves.

Beyond the Garden - The Artists’ Viewpoint is supported by Stephanie Price Wealth Planning, based in nearby Olney in Buckinghamshire.

ExhibitionsLynne Dickens20 June 2022summer exhibition, exhibitions northamptonshire