Our seventh viewing room showcases the work of Ely-based landscape painter Melanie Goemans and fen-based willow weaver, Danny Sealey
Melanie Goemans grew up in the Lincolnshire fens, living in Italy between studying Florentine Renaissance Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London (BA Hons. and MA with distinction). Then followed MA Fine Art (Painting) at the University of Gloucestershire, and a series of residencies including at the Florence Trust, Highbury. She now works from her studio in Cambridgeshire.
Over the years Melanie has exhibited across the UK including at the Jerwood Space, Sarah Myerscough Fine Art, Thompson’s City Gallery, jaggedart, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, Kittoe Contemporary, The Art Buyer & Friends, all London; Belgrave Gallery, St Ives; The Stratford Gallery, Stratford upon Avon; Gallery 94 at Glyndebourne Opera House; Irving Contemporary, Oxford; Eastwood Fine Art, Hampshire; Beaux Arts, Bath; Cornwall Contemporary, Penzance; Hayden Gallery, Marlow. Her work is held in collections worldwide including The Dorchester, the Pizzuti Collection, Imago Mundi, Exton Park Vineyard, Fox Linton, Bridgeman Art Library. She was shortlisted for the John Moores Painting Prize (2020), The John Ruskin Prize (2025) and has featured in the ING Discerning Eye and National Open Art Exhibitions.
... Hers is a beautifully quiet, subtle, provincial art evoking a sense of transience and of receptiveness. It felt very English and somehow akin to poetry. I could well imagine her work accompanying the poetry of Philip Gross, for example, or Edward Thomas.’ - Anthony Haynes, publisher (2013)
Following on from Febrruary we are showing a second collection of work by Cecilia Willis.
Twenty years in Asia has given Cecilia a profound appreciation of a Japanese aesthetic and this together with her decorators eye has influenced her creative work ever since. Cecilia has a need to make; from jewellery she turned to clay and has been throwing at the wheel for 17 years. Returning to England in 2014 she set up her studio in Norfolk.
With a background in interior decorating, working in a quintessentially English Country House style, a move to live in Japan for a few years proved to be a revelation for Cecilia. Her beautifully balanced ceramics marry the best of both worlds.
Cecilia loves the generosity of the bowl form, seeking a simplicity and elegance of shape and striving to create glazes of luminous colour and depth for her pieces. Her bowls and dishes are intended as much for the decoration of a space as for the serving of food. Exploring the moon jar form, looking for the rightness of brush mark decoration and achieving a particular colour of glaze are all part of the excitement as the work evolves. Cecilia uses a fine white stoneware fired in an electric kiln.
OPENING TIMES
WEDNESDAY-FRIDAY: 11am to 4pm
SATURDAY: 11am to 2pm
OR BY APPOINTMENT AT OTHER TIMES.
