Isle of Wight What's On Guide: 2024 Events OnTheWight

Making my Mind up: Vidya Wolton Free

24 Apr – 5 Jun 2010

Exhibition

Quay Arts

Sea Street
Newport Harbour
Isle of Wight
PO30 5BD

01983 822490

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Making my Mind up: Vidya Wolton Free

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Vidya wolton

Sat 24 April - Sat 5 June Rope Store Gallery, Quay Arts Centre

Island artist Vidya Wolton began her art training in the early 1990s. She completed a Foundation course in Art and Design at Portsmouth College of Art, Design and Further Education, before going on to study Fine Art at West Surrey College of Art and Design.

Originally, Vidya trained as a scientist; having studied Ecology at Lancaster University in the mid-1980s. This brought her to the Isle of Wight, where she worked in Environmental Education as a Field Studies Tutor at the Medina Valley Centre for five years. This grounding in Ecology and a love of the Island’s countryside has continued to influence her work as an artist. Themes relating to nature have had an enduring impact and were particularly evident in her previous Solo show ‘Abstract Nature’ at Quay Arts five years ago.

In ‘Making my Mind up’, nature continues to reassert itself, however in this new body of work, darker themes are also explored, much to do with the human condition and in particular, relating her experience of teaching art in HMP Parkhurst for 18 months in the education wing and hospital. Bars and ladders appear in the imagery, together with television screens and monitors.

Vidya comments: ‘Was I slightly paranoid? Yes, probably at times.’

Recent work continues to assimilate these experiences and reflects the human condition through psychologically charged portraits, with works on canvas, board and in the form of books. Explorations have also included the production of a large number of hand-folded boxes that will be exhibited alongside 2D work. These have been produced over the past two years; resulting in a vast collection of over a hundred boxes, many on display in the gallery. They are all individually painted or drawn onto and mark the passing of time in her studio with a whole variety of subjects forming the focus for the imagery.

The title of the exhibition is all to do with ‘Making my Mind up’ as an artist. Vidya brings together of all those decisions which go into making a piece of work and then ultimately putting it out into the public domain of the gallery. This is the culmination of several years work, providing an eclectic mix but with a very definite theme.

Sneak previews of what to expect in the exhibition can be viewed from her website, as well as Vidya’s blog’s on what it is like to be an artist living and working on the Isle of Wight; celebrating the Island and its people as a source of inspiration.

Image: © Used with the kind permission of VidyaWolton



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