Juror's Statement: About the Juror's Choices:
Timmy & Benjamin – Bella Abati
Being a devotee of acrylics myself, I have a great deal of admiration for anyone who can utilize their potential so effectively, and with such subtlety and individuality. The composition of this piece evokes it’s chosen element so clearly that the temperature and scent of the desert sky is almost palpable. The kite lifting high above the figures on an almost transparent string beautifully conveys the latent power that is always present in the air.
Reflections at Hughes – Brenda Boylan
A popular subject, but an extremely evocative piece, executed in a wonderfully innovative manner. Despite the obvious (and fascinating) disparity between media and the subject, Brenda has indeed conveyed ‘the feeling of wetness’. The sense of bodies moving within the water; their very construction having been shaped to and by it, brings the subject to vivid, watery life. It’s a joy to look at.
Waterfall – Doris H David
The glazes Doris has used in this deceptively simple-looking piece, fill me with quiet admiration. The wonderful blend of unadorned slip, flecked with gold, perfectly conveys the soft earth eroded by the flow of water, while the thick, semi-transparent azure and peacock blue columns running through bring the waterfall to life. A wonderfully tactile piece that makes me long see it up closer.
Honourable Mentions:
Heat & Light – Susan Frank
The colours in this piece just sing to me: the heat of the burning orange sun balances so perfectly with the lush, soft greens of the landscape and the cool blues of the morning air. It’s a wonderfully rounded painting but, as such, I felt didn’t successfully convey one single element so much as the symbiotic relationship of all four.
Pure – Bella Abati
Another gorgeous painting by Ms Abati which, like my first choice, just jumped off the screen for me. The sense of space and scale is impressive, whilst the subject is both tangible and elusive. Air and water seem very closely mingled: the heavy rain-drenched mist seeming almost to hold the bird in suspension. I adore this piece, in regard to the prospectus, felt that the subject’s edges were a little too blurred to place it amongst the winners.
Statement:
I feel very privileged to be have been asked to juror this show. As a photographer and painter with a passion for the natural world, images that connect the viewer to the elemental have a special resonance for me, and viewing the entries to this show has brought me both great enjoyment - and envy!
The 25 pieces are a wonderful example of the different interpretations individuals can have to a single brief. The diversity of media, colour and method of execution echo the diversity of nature and, just as the elements can be both subtly influential or more blatantly forceful, so can the artist’s interpretation.
The high quality of the submissions, made a final decision difficult but, as the prospectus states: “[the image should] leave the viewer with no question about what is truly elemental in each piece”. Each of the pieces I have chosen, I feel evokes the elemental both intelligently and intuitively which, in turn, provokes a strong emotional response in the viewer. In other words: something you can feel in your gut.
Laura Turley | 
