Rose Jollands

Rose lives in Bradford, has a contemporary art degree and varied work experience such as craft maker and eBay business seller.

Her work consists of painting with a difference: The paint is often escaping over the edges of the frames that try to contain them.

“Like some alchemist or wizard I love experimenting with paints, powders and pigments, attempting to conjure an image from raw materials. The gesso is homemade and I often use salvaged materials, for example charcoal from bonfires and tatty second hand picture frames.”

 

Once she has built up the background layers with pools of liquid paint and doodles with brush marks, she highlights and enriches the surfaces by carefully painting detailed little patterns, drawn from historical ornamentation. This adds a deliberate florid or kitsch style to her work.

The paintings are inspired by the photos she takes of local streets. She says “Clouds and sky frequently appear in my work as they represent our continuous contact with nature anywhere outside, even in urban environments.”

Patrick Whitehead

Patrick, who runs The Apothecary Gallery in Thornton, was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire in 1957. He trained at Lincoln College of Art and Norwich School of Art where he studied Fine Art Printmaking.

He works in a range of printmaking methods, but mainly intaglio processes including collographs and etching.

”I am fascinated by the marks, tones, lines and textures that can be achieved through printmaking and its endless possibilities.”

Jochen Gren 

Jochen, from Bingley, spent a lifetime as a self-employed jeweller in Bradford and made embroideries throughout this time, which became his own designs. Their ambition and scale have recently increased.

After retirement he started painting but brush holding is difficult due to disability. Finding he was able to paint with his fingers, the spiral becoming an essential and intriguing pattern in his practice.

Jochen also designs his own tapestries, embroidered from wool. In both activities, the Spiral is an integral part of his work and forms the backbone from which the work hangs. But whilst the spiral is an intentional, accidental combinations of colour, patterns, layers and forms are vital

“I reach into the colour bag and l use whatever comes out. And this accidental picking of colour is also how I paint…I never have plans; it’s always by chance and whatever happens, happens and usually it’s a happy happenstance when it works out.”

He photographs his paintings and embroideries, and then develops new works (which are a kaleidoscope of intricate patterns and colourful lines) from these images with a vector based computer program.