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Photograph of Adele working in Svalbard, High Arctic.

Artist Statement

 

 The unifying theme throughout my work is my deep connection with the natural world. I have visited many wild and remote places including the Arctic and the Amazon as well as finding inspiration nearer to home.

 

 The Arctic is a special place for me: in July 2018 I participated in the Arctic Circle residency, a 3-week art and science expedition to Svalbard in the high Arctic.  In 2022 I participated in a photography expedition to Greenland to see the icebergs and Icefjord at Ilulissaat.   These experiences, together with time I have spent in Iceland, provide much inspiration for my work.  

 

Closer to home, I live in the South Downs with access to some of the most beautiful gardens and nature in the UK.  I am working on a series of allegorical paintings which speak of my feelings about the beauty and preciousness of nature.

 

I paint in oils and aim to re-present the landscape in a personal way using gestural brushstrokes and many layers of paint.  I also create work using watercolour and paper using natural processes such as freezing and the movement of the tide. I aim to capture frost events which are becoming rare to create a lasting visible trace of this ephemeral process.

I draw inspiration for my paintings from several painting movements: from the Northern Romantic tradition to Abstract Expressionism.  I use the motifs of flowers and trees as well as sea and ice, to evoke the environmental theme. In order to conserve my inner harmony, I make joyful celebratory paintings of nature alongside more elegiac work about the Arctic, which stems from my sadness for what we have already lost,  

Biography

Adele Gibson has painted professionally since completing her MA in Fine Art at the University of Brighton in 2017.  She represents herself alongside showing work in galleries across the South of England.

 

Adele’s paintings aim to convey a sense of the sublime beauty of the natural world.  She uses the medium of oil to create layered, expressive work, and employs a diverse range of tools including an electric sander, painting wedges and feathers.  

 

Alongside her painting practice, Adele works as a freelance curator and arts organiser and successfully gained Arts Council funding for a project, ‘Let’s talk about the Anthropocene’.  In July 2019 this resulted in an exhibition and residency for 8 artists at the University of Brighton Grand Parade campus.  She selected and curated 50 works of art received from open submissions across the UK and as far afield as India, Canada and the US. For more information about this project see www.anthrotalk.com.

 

Awards and exhibitions

Sep 2023 - 'Visions of Elsewhere'.   Solo show, Watercourt gallery, Lewes, East Sussex

 

Jan 2022 - 'Freeze, melt' Solo show: Meiklejohn gallery, Lewes, East Sussex

June 2021 - 'Elementa' solo exhibition at the Star Brewery gallery, Lewes, East Sussex.

2020 - Maze gallery, Barnes

March 2020 - Root and Branch, exhibition at Kevis House gallery, Petworth, West Sussex.

July 2019: Arts Council Award: Let’s talk about the Anthropocene: project organiser and curator, University of Brighton

 

May 2019: 6 at the Regency Town House, MA alumni exhibition during Brighton Open House event

 

June 2018:  Selected artist for summer International Arctic Circle Expedition to the High Arctic

2018 - Grain Gallery, Sherborne, Dorset – oil paintings

Feb 2018: Ashdown gallery, Forest Row, East Sussex

 

Sept 2017: Shortlisted for National Open Art competition

 

July 2018: MA Fine Art show, Main gallery, University of Brighton

 

Feb 2017: Selected for MA and other Post-Graduates, Atkinson Gallery, Millfield School, Somerset

 

Oct 2015: Selected artist at PURE arts agency autumn show, Powdermills hotel, Battle, East Sussex

 

Sept 2015: Brighton Art Fair

 

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