Katharine Rowe

View this email in your browser

Artists Katharine Rowe and Emily Harris come together to celebrate the height of Spring in their exhibition of new work – Fresh Air.  “Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature – the assurance that dawn comes after night and spring after winter.”Rachel Carson, Environmentalist and author of Silent Spring Through a shared love of the ever-inspiring abundance of nature, Fresh Air details each artist’s relationship to the earth. Holding a shared use of colour, the work details ecologies of Costa Rica, Spain, the Scottish Isles and closer to home in Cannizaro Park. Relevant to the current climate conversation, Fresh Air pronounces the feelings each place evokes – awe, home and joy.  Exhibition runs 12-19 May 10.30-5.30 @katharine_rowe @hello_eaharris @adlibgallery

Beverley Brook seeks the Thames, 110x90cm framedOne of my paintings to be exhibited at Fresh Air in AdLib Gallery in Wimbledon village next month, 12-19th May. Private view on 12th May, details here.There has been much in the news recently about questionable funding for galleries and museums (also see football clubs). The Sackler family have come into focus after being sued by victims affected by the opioid crisis in the US, where an estimated 500,000 lives have been lost to addiction to the painkiller OxyContin. The Sacklers donated, over the years, vast sums to cultural institutions around the world many of whom are now distancing themselves from the Sackler name. The Tate has become the latest to remove any mention of the Sacklers and will no longer accept any gifts from the family (although haven’t pledged to return any funds, I note).  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

Louise Bourgeois: The Woven Child is not for the faint-hearted. If you have seen the Francis Bacon recently, I would recommend you leave several weeks before seeing this. It is the stuff nightmares are made of, via old tights and rusty cages. The overall themes of the show are generally positive: reparation and the artist late in life coming to terms with various traumas. How she does it though goes head first into the trauma. The show opens with nighties and dresses hanging from animal bones, eek. This show has had excellent reviews. Hayward Gallery until 15MayPostwar Modern: New Art in Britain 1945-1965 is another heaving, dark exhibition full of important artwork by celebrated painters. The first part of the exhibition represents war-ravaged Britain with bombed-out husks painted by Bert Hardy and explosive sculptures from Chadwick and Paolozzi. The wider trends in painting are also explored later in the show through intense work from Kossoff and Auerbach. This is a timely show given the atrocities happening in the Ukraine right now and is a must see for any ‘mid-century’ fans. Barbican until 26 JuneInspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts is an antidote to the above exhibitions. Walt Disney was a big francophile and this exhibition shows hand-drawn animations alongside fine porcelain, paintings and furniture from Rococo France. This would be lovely to see in the Easter holidays and if you haven’t been to the Wallace Collection before, I heartily recommend it. It is in a beautiful house just near Marylebone (infinite lunch options).  Wallace Collection 6 April-16 OctoberFashioning Masculinities: The Art of Menswear is the new blockbuster show from the V&A. There are 3 galleries: Undressed, Overdressed and Redressed and 100 outfits with many artworks showing their inspiration. The show starts with the 18th century fashion of the Grand Tour when young wealthy men would travel to Europe educating themselves in Classic antiquities and buy rich, flamboyant European clothing. Through various turns it goes through to modern day gender fluid dressing a la Harry Styles. Is your man stuck in a fashion rut? Get him to the V&A! V&A until 6NovRiver Culture is an exhibition I am showing in with artists in the Merton area for the Wandle heritage charity. The theme is the river and it takes place in the fascinating and historical Merton Priory Chapter House. Merton Abbey was the largest in the country before Henry VIII demolished it in 1538 with his Dissolution of the Monasteries. He didn’t manage to totally flatten the Chapter House, however, and there is a small but fascinating museum and exhibition space to be found under a big flyover. It is open at weekends and is really worth going to see. Park at the big M&S and walk through the underpass. River Culture tickets to tonight’s private view.

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 Silver birch wood, Wimbledon Common, 50x30cm unframed 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.Tate Britain is one of my favourites and never seems too crowded. If you are not already familiar with it, I would highly recommend their ‘Walk Through British Art 1540-1910‘. 420 works are arranged in time zones rather than subject themes, as was previously. There is an audio highlight tour on their website, which you could listen to on your way round. There are also free guided tours daily at 12.00 and 13.00. They last 45 mins and you need to book in advance. If you have younger children, you might also be interested in Story Space on Weds and weekends. Tate BritainThe V&A has 18 major collections spread across 154 galleries and each collection presents itself as a smaller curated show. Two of my favourites are Glass and Furniture; magical. If you are taking younger family members, I would recommend their adventure trails. Simply download and follow on your phone. 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

The British Museum is another whopper but they have lots of bite-size options with different trails, starting from a 3-object trail. There are longer ones to choose from too, and some excellent Museum Missions for kids. Who doesn’t want to discover a mummified cat?! 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

The Rowes, Christmas 2021. I screenprinted this in 3 layers of ink using a photo as a starting point. Some are more exact than others! This was my last screenprint for a while as I am going back to a weekly life drawing session instead from this term. Expect to see more naked people (drawings of) on my instagram from next week… Get in touch katharine@katharinerowe.com www.katharinerowe.com Instagram @katharine_rowe I hope you have a very creative 2022.

December Arts Newsletter

November Tunnel, oil on canvas 70x50cmI can’t believe it is 1st December. I feel like we have been in December for weeks already.  I have lots of exhibition ideas to distract you from Christmas below. However, I’m not a total Scrooge (I actually love Xmas) and also have a few suggestions for the best Christmas lights. Meanwhile I have been busy in the studio, both painting and screenprinting. The Courtauld Institute has just reopened after a 3 year, £57m makeover.  The collection is a magnificent combination of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Renaissance works with a few Medieval pieces too. It has always been one of my best-loved London galleries, partly because it was so tucked away, you would often find yourself alone to contemplate a cracking Manet or Degas. By all accounts the new look is sympathetic to Somerset House and transforms the collection with all new flow and lighting. I can’t wait to go but really hope the word hasn’t got out… shhhh! The Courtauld, Somerset House.Also in Somerset House there is The Beano: The Art of Breaking the Rules. The exhibition is set up so that visitors feel they are stepping into pages of the Beano, Britain’s longest running comic. I grew up reading the Beano, in fact all my and my brother’s old comics (c.1983-92) are still at my parents’ house. My children still pick a wodge of them to read whilst staying there. We shall definitely have a family outing to this.  Somerset House until 6 Mar 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

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.

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

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.

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!

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 Paula Rego exhibition at Tate Britain is the biggest hitter in London this Summer. With over 100 works, including paintings, drawings and sculptures, this is the most thorough retrospective of Rego’s work ever shown and highlights her importance in the story of modern figurative art. The show will explore how her work is shaped both by her personal experiences and the socio-political of the time. I can’t wait to see this. Tate Britain 7July-24Oct 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.

May Arts Newsletter

Finally, on the 17th of this month public galleries and museums can open to the public again. Before you go, check to see if you need to book a slot. There are plenty of fabulous exhibitions opening/restarting too, some ideas below to get you started.
I have been busy in my studio and back life drawing with an actual model (whoop!). I have also started a screen printing course, if the results are good enough I will share some results in the coming months.

The Royal Academy opens again on 18th May with the well matched Tracey Emin/Edvard Munch exhibition. I’m not the biggest Munch fan (I think he got lucky on one painting) but I have heard fantastic things about this show. RA until 1 Aug
Opening on 23rd May is ipad lockdown work from David Hockney‘s Normandy outpost. This is likely to be very popular so book now if you’d like to see it. RA until 26Sep

The Tate Galleries have lots to choose from, my top picks:
The Making of Rodin is the first exhibition to focus on the use of plaster in his work. It looks at Rodin’s artistic process and how plaster was used both for practical and stylistic purposes. I’m really looking forward to this one. Tate Modern until 21 Nov
Turner’s Modern Britain explores how his work reacts to the industrial revolution and the politics of the day. Whilst other artists ignored change, Turner embraced it. Tate Britain until 12 Sept.
Lynette Yiadom-Boakye is known for her enigmatic portraits of fictitious people. This show has around 80 of her paintings made between 2003 and now. Thought provoking. Tate Britain until 31 May.

Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser is an immersive and theatrical show about the aesthetic evolution of Alice in Wonderland and, frankly, I can’t imagine anyone not wanting to see this. Spanning art, film, photography, fashion, performance this is an ambitious exhibition but if anyone can pull it off, the V&A can. One for the whole family.
V&A 22 May-31 Dec

Eileen Agar: Angel of Anarchy is the retrospective of the British Surrealist painter/ sculptor/ collage maker. She partied and worked with all the big names of mid century European art. If you haven’t come across her before, you have a treat in store. Whitechapel Gallery 19 May – 29 Aug

New arty TV
Brand new on Amazon Prime is Leonardo, an imagined back story to da Vinci’s early life in Renaissance Florence. On paper this big budget drama is tailor made for me (art on telly, tick; historical drama, tick; Aiden Poldark Turner, tick) however unfortunately it doesn’t make the mark. I have only watched 2 episodes so will give it another chance but something seriously exciting needs to happen in episode 3…

April Arts Newsletter

We still have to wait until mid May for major galleries to open but, in the mean time commercial galleries can start to open from 12 April. There seem to be some staggered opening times so do check before you embark on a journey as many will also require bookable time slots. Some ideas below and bits of Van Gogh news. In my studio, I spent nearly two weeks on a big canvas that ended in disaster so I abandoned it and cheered myself up with some Spring flowers instead.

The White Cube galleries are opening from 13 April, with three exhibitions: In Bermondsey there is major Korean artist, Park Seo-Bo and gorgeous new painterly works from Jessica Rankin. In the Mason’s Yard Gallery, Gilbert & George are showing a new collection ‘The New Normal’, all works made over the past two years. It represents journeys made across London, on foot but, as you’d expect from G&G, nothing is straightforward. I am really looking forward to this and have booked my tickets here.

The Mall Galleries will be opening on 15th April with the Royal Society of British Artists Annual exhibition. Works included are from members as well as works selected from the Society’s open call. A variety of media in included, from print-making to painting and sculptures. You can preview work for sale here.

I am delighted to announce that I shall be exhibiting with Artfully Sorted at the Affordable Online  Art Fair.  I can offer you free tickets to the Early Access event from 7 April. Click here for your ticket.

There are not one but two immersive Van Gogh shows on their way to London.  There are no actual paintings involved but these “unforgettable multi-sensory experiences” promise to give you the sensation of walking into his paintings. I love VG’s paintings but I’m not sure what I feel about this. I wonder what Vincent himself would have thought about this kitsch, commercial overload considering he only actually sold one painting in his lifetime. Having said that, it looks fun and I shall probably take my children and adore it. 

Van Gogh Alive: Kensington Gardens from 4 June
Van Gogh, the Immersive experience: from October

In other Van Gogh news, Lego are launching a 3D build of Starry Night. Student Truman Cheng submitted it to Lego and it received the 10,000 votes necessary for review and subsequent approval. Release date yet to be announced, it will take about 1,500 pieces. We have a lot of old lego, I wonder what other old masters I can whip up…

I was extremely disappointed to hear this week that the BBC are downgrading BBC4 into an ‘archive channel’ and will no longer be commissioning content. BBC4 runs some of the only programmes on telly that don’t feel like they are made for children, it is our most watched channel. I understand cost cutting is necessary but they have also announced they are bringing back BBC3 – a channel aimed at an age group that doesn’t even watch TV!  Aaargh.

Museums and gallery bodies are up in arms that they are unable to open their doors until mid May this year. Whilst most managed a sensible social distancing policy last year, they have been categorised as ‘indoor entertainment venues’ like cinemas.  Public buildings such as libraries and community centres, however, have the go ahead to open with non-essential shops (and therefore commercial galleries) on 12 April. The Museums Association is lobbying but in the meantime we are going to have to get our culture fix elsewhere. Some ideas below.

Vemeer’s The Girl with the Pearl Earring is one of the most famous paintings in the world and there is now a 10billion pixel photograph of it for you to explore. It was made in order ‘to evaluate the surface condition of the painting, measure cracks, and see the topography of various key areas while assessing past restorations”. Click here to view the photo and keep zooming in until it looks like an abstract landscape. Also be sure to press the 3D link to see how bumpy the surface texture actually is.

The V&A has relaunched its website too, having been in development for 2 years. It is now designed to be a more immersive experience with their 1.2m objects spanning 5,000 years now catalogued in a way that gives you more information and links to similar areas, rather than just a dead end. It is to encourage people to use the site more intuitively and take more horizontal journeys across the collection.  Whilst researching for this newsletter, for example, I spent far too much time looking at the glass section. Lovely. 

A Van Gogh painting from 1887 that hasn’t been seen in public for a century is going to auction at Sotheby’s in Paris this month. Scene de rue a Montmatre has been in private hands for 100 years and, I think, is a beautiful painting. Painted whilst Van Gogh lived with his brother Theo in Paris, it is evocative of city life in a time past whilst being unmistakably Van Gogh. If you’ve saved up some spare cash over the past year and fancy investing, it’s estimate is 5-8m euros.

Permission is being sought to retain a set of four pieces by Sir Anthony Gormley in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. The four cast iron sculptures, known as Quartet, have courted controversy and locals have compared them to giant sex toys and/or dog poos. Originally made 20 years ago, they have been installed by local gallery owner Caroline Wiseman. If anyone is going in that direction this year, please do report back to me on what you think.  Aldburgh is no stranger to controversial beach sculptures with Hambling’s Scallop having had multiple petitions signed for its removal. 

TV: Grayson’s Art Club is back for a second series on Channel 4 on Friday evenings. This time the theme is Family. Catch up on the first episode.

The National Gallery are running a series of talks and courses, some paid for but some free. Click here to see what is on offer.  I’m going to join the ‘Talk and Draw’ session exploring El Greco on 12th March. Come and join!