Ceramics Show is at the Maltings, Farnham, Surrey GU9 7QR on 21-22 November (Saturday 10am-5pm, Sunday 10am-4.30pm). Contact Deana for a special 2 for 1 entrance voucher.
"Memory for me is a source of euphoric inspiration and a Pandora's Box of the more remote qualities of human nature. While my work might signify a nostalgic reminiscence of years past, it also carries with it the weight of pressures and experience of real life. I have drawn from the obstacles placed before me in life in a desire to express and comprehend them. I believe memories shape my life and art first and foremost.
Skylark Galleries are joining with 50 other independent shops, restaurants, cafes and bars at Gabriel's Wharf and Oxo Tower Wharf in the South Bank Sparkle, which opens this weekend and runs up to Christmas.
South Bank Sparkle continues from Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 6pm, until Christmas, with many shops staying open late on Thursday evenings. Visit www.coinstreet.org/shopeatdrink for offers, events and competitions.
Meet featured artist Ruty Benjamini at Skylark 2 this Thursday evening (5 November) from 6pm to 8pm where she will be on hand to talk over a glass of wine about her exhibition of ceramic works to the sounds of boats passing up and down the Thames, while fireworks light up the night sky.
to this year's Affordable Art Fair in Battersea Park, London, SW11, which runs from Thursday 22-Sunday 25 October.
Nicolette Carter, Michelle Elwell, Veta Gorner, Gill Hickman, James Hobbs, Saskia Ellis Holden, Clare Johnson, Liz Meier, Jenny Wiggins and Steve Yeates.
Opening hours:
Here are three ways of keeping up with Skylark 2 artist Sarah Stoke's latest works in Kent.
The winner of last weekend's lucky draw at the Oxo Tower Showcase event is Paul Glen of Beckenham, who receives a £100 voucher to spend in Skylark Galleries.
On Friday 18 September, from 11am-6pm, James Hobbs will be showing how he makes his work using a mixture of traditional and digital media (right). The gallery will be open until 8pm so people can meet Skylark artists over a glass of wine.
On Saturday 19 September, 11am-6pm, Gill Hickman (left) shows how she uses 24-carat gold leaf on her textured paintings.
And on Sunday, 11am-6pm, Eileen Martin, who creates collographs and oil paintings inspired by natural forms and movement (right), demonstrates how she makes her work.
Brighton-based artist Holly Caulfield doesn't just show her work in Skylark 1 — her hand-made organic chocolate is on sale in a growing number of discerning stores. As well as John Lewis Food Halls in Oxford Street and at Bluewater, it is on sale in shops in Brighton, Hove and Lewes, and will be available at Fenwicks, Bond Street, and Waitrose, Brighton, for Christmas. The five main flavours she has created are chilli and coconut, geranium, cranberry and cinnamon, cardamom, and rich milk.
Gregor Harvie is the second new artist to join the Skylark 2 team, after Deana Lee (see below). He has a background in environmental design and architecture, and his experimental abstract paintings are informed by the works of Jackson Pollock, Terry Winters and David Reed.
graduated from art college. I also have a PhD in environmental design and I am a qualified architect.
Two new artists join the Skylark 2 team this month: painter Gregor Harvie, who will be blogging shortly, and ceramicist Deana Lee (left). Deana was born in Hong Kong and left a career in marketing to devote herself to sculpting with ceramics. Here she introduces herself.
spend hours ensuring each piece is highly burnished as this results in extremely tactile forms — my pieces are meant to be touched. As far back as I can remember I have been drawn to the ancient method of smoke firing and how the smoke and flames paint designs on the ceramic canvas. I have taken these ancient processes and used them in a more contemporary way to create unique effects that have depth and fluidity.
They may still be three years away, but the countdown to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games continues with the Open Weekend event, from 24 to 26 July 2009, which combines art, dance, music, film and, of course, sport. About 700,000 people took part in about 650 events across the UK last year, and Skylark Galleries is joining in once again this year.
Gill Hickman is the featured artist in both Skylark 1 and 2 until Sunday 26 July.
prints (Five Chinese Elements & Four Seasons Series, pictured) made by Gill in 2000 and 2001. Gill is now working on new editions of each which now include real gold and silver leaf. You can view the whole sets at www.gillhickman.com.
and Gill Hickman (45 Sprules Road, SE4) is showing paintings, prints and photographs (left, All Tumble Down, embossed print).
Happy cells - at first visualised in her body and then subconsciously emerging in the paintings of HIV+ artist and Skylark Galleries director Gill Hickman - are at the heart of her Developing Cells exhibition at the Psychosynthesis & Education Trust, London, until Friday 3 July. The works trace her journey of empowerment, supported by psychosynthesis therapy, homeopathy, meditation, visualisation, t'ai chi, art and positive thinking, and mark 20 years since she was diagnosed.
There are plenty of opportunities to see the uplifting work of newish Skylark artist Sarah Stokes this summer. Firstly, her work is on show at the newly opened Cristus contemporary art gallery's summer exhibition until 22 August at
Farther along the coast, Margate's newest commercial gallery is showing some of her work in its Sea Fever exhibition
And finally, Sarah has her own open studio with friends that weekend, 13-14 June, in Whitstable and two weekends in July as part of the annual Oyster Festival on 18-19, 25-26 July
Ruty Benjamini, whose ceramic work is on display at Skylark 2, will be showing wall work at Skylark 1 from 23 June to 5 July. A group named "Trails" was created in a ceramic factory in Boleslaviec, Poland, during a ceramic and sculpture symposium in August 2008.
This summer Ruty will spend four weeks near Bobruisk, Belarus. She has been invited to participate in the Art-ZhyZhal VII international plein-air ceramic symposium where she will be creating her work in experimental outdoor firings. We're looking forward to interesting new work!
Skylark Gallery travels from London's South Bank to the Passenger Shed at Temple Meads, Bristol, this weekend as part of the popular Affordable Art Fair, running from Friday 15 May to Sunday 17 May. Gallery artists Nicolette Carter, Trinidad Ball, Veta Gorner, Eileen Martin, Clare Johnson, Steve Yeates, Gill Hickman, Ruty Benjamini and Jo Hodgen are exhibiting work in the Skylark space. It's the perfect chance to drop in, meet some of the artists, and pick up a new, affordable piece of work from the Skylark team.
Come and enjoy the relaxing pursuit of creating works of art. Everyone can join in; you can... 
Gill Hickman: "Why Happy Cells" - Gill will explain the background to her current series of textural artworks
Long inspired by the way our bodies constantly renew and heal themselves, visualising 'happy, healthy cells' has been part of Gill's routine for years. As an artist, however, the depiction of these cells came quite unconsciously.
Atrium 2, Bermondsey Wing
Clare Johnson's Heart of Clark St 4 has been selected for the 40th Eastern Open, showing in King's Lynn until 16 May. The work won Clare 50 postcards of her work and inclusion in the postcard pack sold at the show.
