When we are deep in day dream, we reflect openly on the way things could be. This can blur the imagined and the real. We stir from this altered state and just for a moment it imposes itself on the real world and we see things as we imagine them to be rather than reality says they are. The images arising from these moments if captured have a gentle sense of myth about them. Memory immediately makes them ambiguous… maybe it was really like this. These moments captured still more formally in the medium that is painting serves to confirm their need to be considered as real, the chance they may never have existed becomes irrelevant… these ‘…what if…’ moments are the essence of my work. It sits firmly in the Romantic tradition.
‘…. and the intention, now petrified, had become an object…’ We surprise ourselves with how things can be, caught out of the corner of our eye.

Location: Folkestone
Contact: jhhwright@mac.com
Website: www.jonathanhwright.com

My main medium is wood, although i do occasionally employ stone and paint. It has an inherent beauty that I love to explore and refine.

I love the way it ages, splits even rots and try to utilize these factors in my work. I am currently experimenting with ways of capturing and preserving wood in its rotting state.

The majority of my work is created with recycled material collected along the river Medway or from local woodland. Subjects range from mushrooms to angels and I learn from each piece I carve.

Location: Gillingham
Website: www.uniquewoodcraft.com
Contact: mark@uniquewoodcraft.com

I was educated in the middle of a wood in deepest Surrey, the outcome was 4 A’ Levels, a plethora of other pieces of paper, and a deep sense of trust and wonder at the natural environment. I spent my rebellious twenties in the hub of the artistic community in London’s East End developing an understanding of the language of imagery. These embryonic visual sensibilities were more recently honed and refined at Canterbury Christchurch University where I have recently completed a degree, Fine and Applied Art.

My working practise instinctively retains a figurative element, something immediately recognisable which draws the viewer inward to reveal a deeper soliloquy, or extract a personal dialogue, I see no reason to use further means of disguise to hide the meaning from the viewer, since a purely visual means of communication is always going to require more from the viewer, and thus result in an understanding on a more intimate level. I want my art to be a revelation rather than an exercise in disguise; I choose to concentrate instead on Johnson’s premise “The basis of all excellence is truth”.

My work is an exploration into the nature of form in the natural world, beginning with the human form, continuing to other life forms living in closer communion with the planet, and ending in the stuff of the earth itself – in clay.

I constantly find myself searching for conceptual validity, for me it is a matter of the form serving the content rather than existing in its own right. Form is nothing without content.

I am especially interested in the concepts engaging artists such as Goldsworthy, Beuys and Gormley, their celebration of the symbiotic relationship between ourselves and the natural world, and the healing aspect. My work deals with the crisis of our alienation as a species being one and the same as the ecological crisis, and the reunion of the two bringing about a cure. My premise was to explore the notion of the universality of living things being part of the whole and not separated from it. A premise diametrically opposed to the ideas governing minimalism. An exploration that would take me directly back to the material I was using – the language of clay – to reconnect with the crux of what I wanted say, to listen to the primordial cry of the earth. ‘Heard’ is the silent scream of the earth. It is the stripping away of the manufactured sounds that engulf our lives and a revelation of the ‘sound’ that matters. Just as Rauschenberg mourned a loss of authenticity and his contemporaries acknowledged our alien status now we are recognising that a reunion with authenticity is required for holistic progress. This also requires a rejection of art as elitist and a reconnection with the language of the masses.

Location: Whitstable
Website: www.clarebeattie.com
Contact: clarembeattie@btinternet.com

Often depicting retreat, my work elaborates on the continuum of rhythm and pattern and is concerned with mathematics, natural cycles and the interconnection of all living things. Through repetition, the work explores the building blocks of growth, whilst at the same time considering the formal relationships between balance, line, space and form. Paper and card are frequently used as a medium to convey the importance of recycling and emphasize the endurance and resilience of nature, whilst expressing fragility of form.

Location: Sevenoaks
Website: www.theresart.me.uk
Contact: info@theresart.me.uk

My philosophy is that of an holistic experience where Art can enrich the whole of our lives and transcend other boundaries. With 30 years experience of teaching and stimulating creativity in others I hope this is evident in all that I produce.

My work illustrates a passion for experimentation within a variety of media. I explore expressive methods of exploiting often rich, colourful and subtle nuances of form, light, shadow, colour and texture. I will frequently combine intensely personal abstract colour work using luminescent pigments and patination within oil and inks on canvas, paper, and silk, fibres, wood and metal.

Sculpture : Rough Sailing: I am fascinated by the qualities and movement of water, and I felt that the sharp simple contrasting shapes of the sails against the tumbling splash of the surf emphasised that idea, to make a powerful image.

Location: Bishopsbourne
Website: www.crowscamp.co.uk
Contact: janet.crowscamp@btinternet.com

I am a sculptor and traditional carver who works in wood, stone, clay & wax.  I work with the organic nature of the material to create ornamental and figurative art and to bring portraits to life.  I also carve and restore period pieces such as furniture and church ornament.  I also do traditional gilding and hand carved lettering.

Location: Rochester
Website: www.professionalcarving.co.uk
Contact: sarahliptrot@professionalcarving.co.uk

I specialize in creating stunning, organic vessels for the interior using a range of complimentary and jewel like colours. My love for glass grew from the interest in the illusive characteristics of molten crystal. I studied Three Dimensional Design (Glassblowing and architectural glass art) at University College for Creative Arts, Farnham from 2003-2006. Since graduating I have exhibited my work throughout the UK and have been lucky enough to work with clients such as Berkeley Design & Build, and celebrity Interior Designer Kelly Hoppen among other private buyers.

My glass designs are striking and intriguing- inspired by cause and effect. I use traditional glassblowing techniques such as colour overlay and cane application to build colour in layers- which is surrounded by clear, molten crystal making each piece highly refractive. The exterior form is manipulated to dictate a contrast between interior and exterior form and create a unique cavity which is revealed once cut. The pieces evolve through the polishing stage where the face is polished to reveal layers of colour and the interesting interior void. I love to use this process because it creates exciting, individual pieces and I am always fascinated to see what the glass has created.

Each experience challenges my mind and skills, inspiring my new collections. I intend to explore this fascinating process as the signature attribute which defines my work. The one off pieces are heavy and tactile and add a blast of colour and sophistication to the interior, made to last a lifetime.

Website: www.suzannethornton.co.uk
Contact: sbear.design@hotmail.com

Sea-inspired furniture and sculpture made from driftwood and other treasures collected along the muddy creeks and inlets of Faversham’s salt-marshes.

Location: Oare | Faversham
Website: www.mudlarkfurniture.com
Contact: oarenick@hotmail.com

Born in Kent 1952, my life changed direction in 2002 when I put behind me some thirty years of working as an art director/illustrator to study sculpture. I completed my BA at Christ Church Canterbury in 2006. In 2007 I became artist-in-residence, student then tutor at the Cyprus College of Art.

In 2006 I was principally a stone carver and maker of measured life drawing.
Now I work with stone, wood, twigs, kebab sticks and colour.

My drawing too has changed from painstakingly detailed illustrations to more instinctive oil pastels. I use them as stubs, almost my fingers…it feels like I am carving in colour. More often than not these drawings are inspired by and derived from mythology, ancient archaeology and dreams.

Currently living and working in the Creative Quarter, Folkestone, Kent.

Location: Folkestone
Website: www.johnsims.yolasite.com
Contact: jscyprus@hotmail.co.uk