PRINT PRIZE AT FEN DITTON GALLERY
Winner Stefan TIburcio
Dreams featured dramatically in the last year. Among my own fantasy scenes, alongside a sunny pavement café with an Italian waiter on hand -was a real live art gallery complete with the buzz of stylishly dressed charming party goers, glasses of wine in hand .
The resilient Fen Ditton Gallery served up this sequence at their opening the other day. Fewer people, scheduled visits and the usual precautions did not detract from the sheer joy of a beautifully curated space – and the luscious view of a Spring garden through a long Gothic window of this elegant gallery. Unbelievably there was a glass of wine. Strange how things we took entirely for granted suddenly become as wonderfully welcome as if Ganymede himself had broken off from serving the gods on Mount Olympus and descended to pour a chilled Sauvignon or two for us mere mortals.
On top of the sheer novelty this perfect gallery of the imagination, the Fen Ditton Gallery has initiated a Print Competition with a generous £500 prize, Judged by a panel of the true cognoscenti - Nigel Hall print maker and Rebecca Jewell (printmaker and collage artist) along with Fitzwilliam supremo Elenor Ling and the discerning Fen Ditton Gallery manger and artist Hannah Munby
Predictably the prints are wonderful
Brian D Hodgson: 23 Days of Absorption
Hannah comments: “I think printmaking is such a fascinating and skillful art form, now attracting new interest among contemporary artists and collectors. Particularly now after such a tough year for the industry, I feel it’s important to offer the chance for artists to present their work to new audiences.”
Lotte Attwood adds:
“At long last we can open the gallery again. We’ve really missed have visitors and holding physical exhibitions. We look forward to welcoming you to this diverse and eye-catching print exhibition, the first to be held at Fen Ditton Gallery”
At long last indeed. The dream begins to come true for us all. Such a varied collection demands attention. I talked to Brian Hodgson whose 23 Days of Absorption ( above) involved twenty three ascents of the Welsh mountain he etched for his submission. In all weathers, sometimes the wax of his pallet froze, he persisted to render this monumental work literally etched with his own bleeding hands. Remarkable. And I very nearly bought the wonderful green serentiy of Laura Boswell’s Between Cliffs at St Abbs Head ( pictured below in as large a scale as I can muster) with its lovely perspective and feel of infinite serenty.
Warmest congratulations to the Fen Ditton Gallery who have emerged as stalwarts throughout the Lockdown. We now only await the opening of the new walkway to their gorgeous gallery to get more art lovers, particularly young ones, off to view their carefully curated exhibitions.
Hannah Munby and her mother Lotte Attwood
