Frome Art Society’s Annual Spring Exhibition is being held in the Long Gallery at Black Swan Arts in Frome until Saturday 10th March.
At the preview held on Friday 23rd February, the Vera Skinner First Prize was awarded to Sarah Ball for her entry ‘Take me into the Garden’. According to Sarah the inspiration for this painting, rendered in watercolour and mixed media, was a quotation “You are alone with nature and can drink your fill from her jewelled chalice” from an antiquarian book on the English landscape. The work captures in bright vibrant colours most of the plants growing in her garden in Beckington, the different shapes the beauty and changing colours of the flora and fauna.
Sarah trained as a teacher at the University of the West of England, majoring in art. For the past 25 years Sarah has been developing her own inimitable style and has had her work shown at the A2 Gallery in Wells, and annual exhibitions at the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour, Society of Women Artists, SAA, and The Artist. More of Sarah’s work can be viewed on her website: www.sarahballartist.co.uk
The prize was presented to Sarah by Pat Armstrong, the president of Frome Art Society.
Two further prizes were awarded to David Reeves for his painting Moorland Sky and Pauline Bullard for her watercolour and pencil entry Jurassic Coast, Kimmeridge Ledges.
The independent judge for this year’s entries was Malcolm Ashman, an academician at the Royal West of England Academy (RWA), a member of the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI) at the Mall Galleries, London. His work has been exhibited widely in London and the south of England, including the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and the Threadneedle Prize.
The exhibition at the Long Gallery, Black Swan Arts is open Monday to Saturday between 10am and 4pm, with an additional opening to coincide with The Frome Independent market on Sunday 4th March.
Chris Davies, publicity officer, Frome Art Society
