![]() My father, David, was 80 a couple of weeks ago and I painted this portrait of him from his point of command at the kitchen table doing the crossword. I hope the Summer is treating you well . If you are feeling the heat and need somewhere to cool down may I suggest a wander round some of our fabulous museums, many of which are air-conditioned. The Tate was deliciously cool last week and there are plenty of absorbing exhibitions on across London. Some suggestions below. Thank you to those who went to see my work at Henley Regatta last month. I am delighted to say that I sold all but one of my works. ![]() Milton Avery (1885-1965) was a titan of American painting and often thought to be the first Abstract Expressionist. This is the first full scale retrospective of his work in this country. A true colourist and leaning towards the abstract, Avery pared down landscapes and figured scenes to their most basic elements. His influence can be seen clearly in the work of his admirers Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and beyond. If you are at all interested in Amercian 20th century art then get yourself to the RA. Royal Academy until 16 Oct |
![]() ![]() ![]() I think there needs to be a distinction between contemporary art created to be immersive and old masters blown-up so you can walk over and in it. Both appeal to the selfie generation but good immersive art (see Future Shock, reviewed last month) has integrity and meaning whilst I was simply left feeling nauseous after the Van Gogh ‘experience’ last Summer. I understand the argument that they are trying to appeal to new audiences who in turn will visit the struggling museums but I worry that those audiences are only going to be disappointed by a painting on a wall. My advice is to save the £20 and go to one of our museums to marvel at the real thing instead. |
![]() Get in touch katharine@katharinerowe.com www.katharinerowe.com |
July Arts Newsletter
![]() To all local artist friends on this mailing list, please note the call below for the Merton Arts Festival Open House trail which I’m organising for September. See CommonWorksGallery.org for more details. Common Works Gallery is a community interest company I have set up with Katie Preston bringing arts projects to the local community. The term ‘Common Works’ takes inspiration from William Morris who’s workshops in Merton Abby Mills were set up with the belief in the benefits of coming together to create and learn new skills. After Art in the Park Festival last year, this year we are reviving the Merton Arts Festival open studio arts trail. You’ll hear more in due course!Exhibitions opening in London this month ![]() |
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![]() ![]() Another of my paintings showing at Henley regatta this week |
June Arts Newsletter
View this email in your browser![]() I hope you enjoy the long Jubilee weekend, I am busy with a street party in our road. There are also lots of fantastic exhibitions recently opened in London, some suggestions below. |
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![]() www.katharinerowe.com katharine@katharinerowe.com |
May Arts Newsletter
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![]() Exhibition runs 12-19 May 10.30-5.30 @katharine_rowe @hello_eaharris @adlibgallery |
April Arts Newsletter
![]() I am currently reading Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe, a jaw-dropping history of the Sacklers. They make the Roys (Succession) look like the Waltons. New exhibitions to see this month |
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Thank you to those who got in touch about my Daffodils for Ukraine last month. I am delighted to report that I painted and sold three so have transferred £375, to Choose Love , a charity that supports refugees. Get in touch katharine@katharinerowe.com www.katharinerowe.com |
January Arts Newsletter
January Arts Newsletter![]() Happy New Year! I hope you had a lovely Christmas break. If more culture is one of your resolutions for 2022 then now is a great time to reappraise all the fantastic permanent exhibitions we have available in this country. Whilst wandering aimlessly through a big museum can seem overwhelming rather than enticing, most of our galleries have curated routes they recommend. Much more palatable and fun. ![]() ![]() They also, of course, have fabulous temporary exhibitions like Fabarge in London: Romance to Revolution. You would be hard-pressed to think of an object that screamed ‘luxury’ more than a Fabarge Egg. This exhibition goes beyond the eggs, though, and tells the story of Carl Fabarge and his New Bond St. store which opened in 1903. It is a story of bling at the turn of the 20th century. I haven’t yet been but by all accounts it is egg-celent. V&A until 8 May 2022 |
![]() Currently on temporary exhibition is Peru: A Journey in Time which follows the path of the Andean people from 15,000 years ago up to the Spanish invasion in 1534. There are different cultures: the Chavin, Nasca, Moche and Inca and different rituals: human sacrifice, dancing, war, hallucinogens and a lot more cats. It isn’t a big exhibition, partly on loan from Peru and partly BM collection, but it is excellent. British Museum until 20Feb |
![]() ![]() Get in touch katharine@katharinerowe.com www.katharinerowe.com Instagram @katharine_rowe I hope you have a very creative 2022. |
December Arts Newsletter
December Arts Newsletter
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Durer’s Journeys at the National Gallery is the heavy hitter of the London exhibitions this winter. The most overlooked artist of the Renaissance (maybe because he was German not Italian) his name should be mentioned in the same breath as Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael. Hell, he should have been a turtle. Unlike those other artists who stayed put in Italy, though, he travelled across Europe to learn and teach. This show focuses on those travels, and looks super interesting. National Gallery until 27Feb22. ![]() Amy: Beyond the Stage celebrates all things Amy Winehouse from genres that influenced her music to the legacy that she left behind. Instantly recognisable, Winehouse became an icon of her generation with an immense amount of talent which led to very sad story. It’s at the fabulous Design Museum which also has The Conran Effect about Terence Conran that you could fit in too. until 1April22 ![]() If, like me, you were too late to book the lights at Kew, there are plenty of fabulous and free Christmas lights to see around London. Winter Light at the Southbank Centre is an open-air exhibition of work from 10 artists all inspired by light, colour and space. Other festive lights worth seeing are Carnaby Street, which are always excellent, Regent Street, Covent Garden and the Greenwich Peninsular. What also sounds particularly fun is the cobbled streets of Belgravia are being turned into a (super stylish) winter wonderland which they are calling With Bells On. Whilst you’re there you can also visit the Gingerbread City at the Museum of Architecture. ![]() ![]() I have been experimenting in the screenprinting studio with mixing different colours to create a wintry starry sky. Brrr! |
October Arts Newsletter
October Arts Newsletter

Thank you to everyone who came along to Art in the Park on 19th September. We had a fantastic turnout, with over 2,500 visitors. We had the art fair (over 50 artists), sculpture trail, lots of classes, a community sculpture and a drop in Art Hub, there was creativity all over Cannizaro! It has been so rewarding to make this happen (with others) and widen my arty network around Wimbledon. We are currently discussing next year so watch this space…
In the meantime, there are lots of lovely new exhibitions to see, some suggestions below.

Poussin and the Dance celebrates the wonderful work of the Baroque painter and his love of joy and movement. Poussin spent much of his career perfecting the depiction of the body in motion, and this exhibition would be particularly interesting to anyone else who likes life drawing. This show has 20 of his paintings alongside some of the antiquities that inspired him. Any fans of Matisse’s ‘Dance’ can see where it started. National Gallery 9Oct-2Jan

Beautiful People: The boutique in 1960s counterculture. Velvet trousers, Regency brocades and frilly shirts I hear you ask? Yes, you can find them all in this heady, star-studded world of 1960s London where clothes from eight era defining shops are on display. This is definitely a good exhibition for a bit of bonding with your teen over half term. Fashion & Textile Museum until 13 Mar 22

Hokusai: The Great Picture Book of Everything has over 100 rare drawings by the Japanese artist Hokusai. Originally made for an encyclopedia that never made it to publication, the works were recently bought by the British Museum and this is the first time they have gone on show. Hokusai’s masterpiece ‘The Great Wave’ will also be on display and insight into his working practices with woodblocks. Japanophiles get yourselves there!
British Museum until 30Jan22.

Helen Frankenthaler: Radical Beauty is a retrospective of her woodcuts and when compared with the Hokusai, shows quite how flexible the medium of woodcut can be. Frankenthaler is best seen in the context of the US Abstract Expressionists, alongside Pollock, de Kooning, Still et al. Her woodblocks are really quite revolutionary as well as being extremely beautiful. And all in the gorgeous surroundings of Dulwich Picture Gallery, until 18April22.
Arty TV recommendation
If you haven’t already seen it, the latest series of Fake or Fortune is on BBC iPlayer. Is it or isn’t it a Henry Moore? Such good telly!

The last Sweet Peas, oil on canvas 30x24cm
I haven’t had much time in the studio recently but did find time this week to paint these. Can you spot what brand the jam jar was?

September Arts Newsletter
September Arts Newsletter

I am extremely excited to invite you all to Art in the Park. As well as over 50 artists selling their work, we have a number of workshops, both for adults and children. These are selling out quickly so click here to see the programme and book a slot. The art fair is free entry and we have other free participatory arty activities as well as a sculpture trail. See you there! Art in the Park.
As a result of organising the above I have not had much time in the studio recently. However, here are some pastel sketches I made on our recent trip to the gorgeous Gower peninsular in Wales.




Mixing it Up: Painting today is an exhibition bringing together 31 contemporary painters all of whom aim to keep pushing boundaries in painting. The participating artists come from a huge range of countries but all are living and working in the UK. This show aims to prove that our country is an international centre of painting today. I can’t wait to see this. Hayward Gallery 9Sept-12Dec

Constance Spry and the Fashion for Flowers charts the rise of Spry, and floristry, as an art form. Spry liked to celebrate the individuality of plants, including those with prickles or plants usually found in the hedgerow or vegetable patch. This was truly avant garde in the 1920-30s and Spry was so fashionable, no society event was complete without her. Regular readers will know, I paint a lot of flowers and used to be a florist. This is going to be my treat once the kids are back at school! Garden Museum. Until 26 Sept

Belloto: the Konigstein Views Reunited. 18th Century landscape painter Belloto was overlooked during his lifetime due to his ridiculously successful uncle, Cannaletto. This exhibition highlights shows five big works and how he took a radical approach to painting in the 18th century as a leading painter in his own right. National Gallery until 31st October, free


As part of her 7th bday present, I gave my niece an art lesson last week. She painted a portrait of Big Bear and I introduced her to perspective and mixing paint with a palette knife. So much fun!
July Arts Newsletter

It has been such a joy to visit some of London’s galleries and museums again albeit with precision planning and masks. A quick duck into the National Gallery to revisit Titian and Van Gogh on the spur of the moment is still some way off but we’ll get there. In the meantime, a few ideas below that you will still need to book but should be worth it. |
![]() ![]() The Ryoji Ikeda show invites viewers to immerse themselves in Ikeda’s digital universe. A subterranean warren of sound and light, this exhibition is a sensory journey that is intense and, at points, scary. Immersive exhibitions are all the rage at the moment, being so insta-friendly, and this would be a great bit of culture to take older children on a trip into town this month. 180 The Strand until 1 Aug ![]() Frank Bowling‘s Land of Many Waters exhibition is part of a few shows celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Arnolfini gallery in Bristol. Bowling is widely thought to be one of the UK’s greatest living abstract painters and this major exhibition shows new and recent work. Arnolfini, Bristol 3 Jul-23 Sept ![]() Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beauty. I have never been that sure about Dubuffet, thinking of him as a doodler that got lucky, but the reviews of this show at the Barbican are so good that I am keen to go and see it. Dubuffet was fascinated by beauty found in the mundane and every day and ‘raw art’ of the untrained and mentally ill. Using any number of different media (coal dust and steel wool, anyone?) he made street art but put it in the gallery. This is a comprehensive exhibition exploring his influences and who he influenced (Basquiat, Keith Haring et al) Looks good. Barbican until 22 Aug ![]() ![]() I am really enjoying my screenprinting course and am learning lots, notably more haste less speed. There are no short cuts and there’s a lot of cleaning the screen but it is fun and very satisfying when it goes to plan. I am working on a Fruits de Mer series, here is a lobster and some prawns. A crab and some whelks are currently under production… ![]() A recent house portrait commission for a family reluctantly leaving UK for Brexit reasons. I started on house portraits as a student and feel lucky to still be painting peoples’ loved places. |