Drinks Reception Sat 13 Mar 1 – 2:15 pm and Artist’ Talk: 2:15 – 3pm All Welcome

Frances Hatch and Mary Hayman met in 1974 as students at Aberystwyth University of Wales. They shared a delight in being out doors and painting in watercolours.

Their paintings, all made on location, brim with the energy of the sun, moonlight and shower and ice. Work made locally near the Needles and far away on a ship to Antarctica. The work is not tidy. It contains traces of rain and shine.

Thirty-three years on, and still relishing the immediacy of making marks en plein air, they decided to work together once again on the Isle of Wight, using a coastguard cottage up above the Needles Headland as their studio. They use oil, chalk, charcoal, clay, acrylic and watercolour. Mary Hayman now lives in Swansea and Frances Hatch in Poole, Dorset.

After leaving Aberystwyth University College of Wales, Frances went on to study at Goldsmiths’ College and Wimbledon School of Art. She has held shows and seminars in 2007 at The Study Gallery of Modern Art, Poole, Alpha House Gallery, Sherborne, Landscape and Art Seminar at West Dean College, Chichester. She is currently a Senior Tutor at West Dean College.

Mary shows her work regularly in South Wales and has led many art projects for people of all ages in various locations, including Galleries, Museums and National Trust Visitor Centres. She is currently studying Architectural Glass in Swansea.

Since student days the mediums they use have expanded, the locations chosen by the two artists have ranged across the world from Gower to Finland and from Ghana to Antarctica. Most recently, both artists have adopted coastguard lookouts as studios- Mary near Worm’s Head, Rhossili and Frances in Studland, Isle of Purbeck. The Needles Headland seemed an obvious site for them to work together.

All Weather Works By Frances Hatch and Mary Hayman runs from: Sat 13 Mar – Sat 17 Apr, Rope Store Gallery, Quay Arts, Sea Street, Newport Harbour, Isle of Wight PO30 5BD