Group of 7 artists showing together for the first time at the Chapel, the studio and gallery space of the painter Nigel Skinner, on the site of former West Raynham Airbase, near to Fakenham and Swaffham, Norfolk.
The studios of Mari French and Simon Woodthorpe will also be open nearby, James Crisp’s studio on the same site open by appointment.
Dates- July 2025
open on 12th, 13th, 14th, 16th and 19th
11am to 4pm
The Chapel is an iconic building with approx. 1500 square feet of studio and gallery space, set in an interesting and beautiful location in rural norfolk.
Sat Nav.
West Raynham Business Park NR21 7PL
(take the tree lined avenue at the crossroads and head through the iron gates, it’s 100 yards up on the left, look out for the wooden spire)
Exhibiting are… (a-z, please scroll down for more info and links on each)
Mary Blue,
James Crisp,
Mari French,
Hannah Nelson,
Andy Sheppard,
Nigel Skinner,
Simon Woodthorpe,
Mary Blue
Artist Statement
Mary’s paintings reflect upon the impermanence of life and the forces of nature.
She paints brilliant light and deep shadow, the far horizon and the passing of time. She is drawn to the delicate, the broken, and the most fleeting. These are timeless and possess a powerful resonance. Her work echoes themes from TS Eliots Four Quartets delving into themes of time, purpose, fragility and meaning. At the crossroads of nature and man, beauty remains.
In 2009, she attended a symposium on the Ethics of Water where the research, political drivers, and economic tendrils of the content changed how she create art. Her paintings are begun on site in the landscape and finished in the studio from memory adding layers of colours, weaving in poetry, and textures. Standing along the edge of the water her aim with the work is to expand the viewer’s field of vision appealing to the senses, sound, smell, the rush of air as waves crash along the edge reminding us there are multiple ways to see our world. She seeks to envelop us enhancing our experiences by tapping into our humanity connecting us to ancient traditions, rights of passage or epic journeys. .
She moved to East Anglia in 2013 from East Coast USA and was drawn to the weather, tides, and moons that cradle the coastline. She searches for the power inside the landscape that is timeless and evokes light through the play of colour she inherited from her American sensibility from David Park, Richard Diebenkorn, Fairfield Porter and Georgia O’Keeffe as it interplays with the misty air and British landscape painters like David Tress, Norman Ackroyd, Cedric Morris, Thomas Gainsborough, John Constable and Maggie Hambling.
The changing tides, the migratory birds, the cycles of the moon all connect her to the coast in a way that affirms life. The coast is her sanctuary where she nestles into the sand dunes watching the tide. Her paintings seek to address a sense of power, peace and an undercurrent of deep joy, all wrapped within the fragile nature of life. The universal laws of nature are embedded into her work revealing a richness and harmony that extends beyond what is visible.
Her work explores water-related challenges, gender water related impact highlighting the universality of water without borders or lines on a map. Water unites us all. Inspired by the British coastal tidelands she has painted the Norfolk and Suffolk coast, Pembrokeshire and Anglesey in Wales, The Isles of Scilly in Cornwall and her work encourages viewers to see and feel part of the landscape enveloping them in the tide or the rush of wind. Her work cherishes the natural world ensuring its special qualities are both valued and looked after. Inspiring others to steward the natural world, she translates gathered data such as onsite sketches, the tide table, and scientific research into paintings that engage an audience with emotional resonance. Her work raises awareness of human-induced issues and natural processes connected to ecosystems and environment including: identification of marine flora and fauna; short-term environmental change and focuses on the temporal nature of life and learning to embrace it fully.
Artist Bio
Mary received her Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Pennsylvania in 1989 where she studied with Neil Welliver, Bill Jacklin, Harmony Hammond and Red Grooms. She also studied at the Vermont Studio, the Maryland Art Institute, and Ecole des Arts d’Avignon France. Her work is exhibited widely in galleries in East Anglia, including Gallery East in Woodbridge and Abbott & Holder in London and in the USA at the Eisenhauer Gallery on Martha’s Vineyard. In 2025, her work Melusina will debut at the Cromer Artspace on the Prom. She exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 2023 and for the Holt Festival Sir John Hurt Art Prize several years running. Mary is also an artist educator who generously shares her visual empathy. She has travelled widely, is a playful adventurer with an insatiable curiosity about the universe that feeds her work as an artist.
James Crisp
James Crisp Sculptor, Contemporary Wood Sculpture- wall hanging panels and freestanding sculpture in carved sustainable hardwoods, commissions and sales worldwide.
Mari French RI
“Standing before a fresh support, a brush loaded with paint or ink, ready to execute the first bold gestures is incredibly exciting and liberating. While working I pace back and forth in front of the easel, often listening to music, rarely standing still. It’s a whole body experience and I work pretty fast in those early stages.”
Mari French is an abstract mixed media artist inspired by the liminal landscapes of coastline, salt marsh and moorland. Her work reflects her experience of landscape through the layering and eroding of media and the use of energetic mark making, creating a rich surface history with an emphasis on space and light. A limited palette gives harmony and coherence, resulting in work that stands alone but still owes a debt to its subject. Mari French’s design background often emerges in her artworks through effective colour combinations, strong composition and use of typography.
Mari French was born in Manchester. She studied Art and Design as a mature student, followed by a 20 year career in graphic design. In 1995 she moved to the Isle of Skye where she lived for 15 years developing and exhibiting increasingly abstract landscapes. She now lives not far from the glorious North Norfolk coastline, working as a full-time artist, from her studio on a former 1930s RAF airbase.
French has exhibited widely in both group and solo shows. Her work has been annually selected for the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI) at the Mall Galleries, London, since 2016, and in 2022 she was elected an RI member. She was a finalist in the Sunday Times Watercolour Competition in 2014, and a finalist in Artist & Illustrator Magazine ‘Artist of the Year’ 2016, both at the Mall Galleries. Her work is held in private collections worldwide.
Instagram: marifrenchartist
Hannah Nelson
Hannah Nelson is a Norfolk artist who's oil paintings focus on natural land and skyscapes. Sometimes leaning into the fantastical, she takes particular inspiration from the sunsets, billowing clouds and morphing majesty of the Norfolk sky.
Instagram.com/hannahnelson_art
Nigel Skinner
Nigel Skinner is a mixed media painter based in North Norfolk. His atmospheric, contemplative often landscape inspired work incorporates salvaged, recycled and found objects into heavily textured surfaces.
Andy Sheppard
Black and white photography - 'as found' - landscapes, details and humans
Long version:
I prefer black and white, as it allows the photograph to be purely of - and because of - the subject; whether that subject is the whole frame or only part of it, it will not be masked by or distracted from by un-necessary colour. My landscape photography leans toward 'candid' subjective documentary, rather than making calendar views. I am a reactive photographer; the twitch has to spot something - I am not the sort to 'make' photographs if I have not 'seen' one. In scope this can range from mall objects and features up to 'views', but these will always be 'as found'. If what I see before me has positive attributes, so be it - I may be openly subjective, but I'm not only negative!
As for people, they do creep in occasionally, and they get the same rules - photographs of the human as found in the wild. No smile-for-the-camera, no stand-in-a-row-and-smile. I cannot/do not 'make' people shots either. I'm taking a photo of what they're doing in that moment - subjective judgment may be involved or implied if due - but if what they are doing is focusing on me, they're not doing what they were doing any more and the photo is gone.
https://www.flickr.com/people/andysheppard/
Simon Woodthorpe
I studied Fine Art at Bourneville Art School in Birmingham before spending 35 years lost in a non creative role in what I call my "corporate wilderness".
It was only when I relocated to North Norfolk in 2020 that I returned to my love for art history & antique furniture.
Combining my passion of both subjects I now carry out artistic restorations on wooden furniture to give a new lease of life to pieces that would otherwise end up in landfill.
My preferred painting style is a technique of artificially ageing wooden furniture to create antique patinas seen with the passing of time.
By combining the use of ancient techniques together with natural ingredients still available today, I have created processes that provide an authentic look & feel to the furniture I paint. Ingredients include casein, albumin, rabbit skin glues, natural earth pigments as well as lime plaster & chalk.
Natural stains mixed with water and applied using a naked flame give an incredibly authentic feel. These ingredients & methods are applied in stages and in successive layers making each piece unique as if history has created each scuff, blemish & stain.
From my workshop in West Raynham I paint & sell my own restorations as well as paint commissions for private clients.