Summer Exhibition By Ansari Prints
Summer Exhibition 2022 .WHO WERE THE NEREIDS?
The Summer exhibition 2022 by The Lettering Arts Trust at The Fermoy Gallery, Kings Lynne introduces The Nereids. The Nereids are sea nymphs or sea goddesses in ancient Greek. Daughters of the old man of the sea, Nerus. Unlike their siren counterparts, they were seen as protectors of the seas, their bounty, fisherman and sailors. I was really excited to have been asked to create a hand-carved plaque depicting a Nereid of my choice by The Lettering Arts Trust. I was among several lettering artists who were asked to contribute a piece of work to for this summer exhibition. They all had to be roughly the same size so that they all fit well together as a whole.
We were given free rein to interpret our sea nymph/goddess which resulted in many exciting and unique interpretations of the Nereids. I have picked just a few of my favourites from the exhibition which runs in conjunction with the Kings Lynne Festival, Fermoy Gallery in Norfolk, UK. The exhibition runs until 31 July 20 22. https://www.kingslynnfestival.org.uk
Doris, Nereid of the Seas Bounty by Charlotte Howarth. Hand Carved Welsh Slate with Acrylic Paint.
Limnoreia, Nereid of the Salt Marsh by Louise Tiplady. Hand Carved Carrara Marble Plaque.
Thetis, Goddess of the Sea by Ratchel Butler. Hand carved limestone.
Keto Goddess of Sea Monsters in Nerieds Summer show 2022.
When I was asked to choose a sea nymph I chose Keto, Goddess of sea monsters. She consorted with her brother Phorkys to produce a brood of fearsome monsters including the she-dragon Ekhidna (viper), sailor-devouring Skylla (crab), the hundred-headed serpent Ladon, the one-eyed Graiai (grey ones), and the petrifying Gorgone’s (terrible ones). I chose Ladon which is a several-headed sea serpent for the monster. I’m planning on making a Multi-block relief print of Keto. So watch this space!
Keto, Goddess of Sea Monsters, hand carved, Welsh slate plaque by Zoe Ansari.
Dione, The Nereid of the Divine by Lara Townsend. Hand-carved Riven Welsh Slate with Moon and Stars gilded in palladian leaf.
Menippe, Nereid of Strong Horses/Strong Waves by Gordon Hayes. Hand-carved Welsh slate with acrylic paint.
NEREIDS PRIVATE VIEW, SUMMER EXHIBITION 2022, The FERMOY GALLERY, KINGS LYNN.
It was a very busy private view and was a lovely opportunity to meet Letter carvers Charlotte Howarth and Louise Tiplady whose work I have included in this post. It was so good to see their work at the exhibition in the flesh. I also exhibited alongside my good friend Ratchel Butler who carved Thetis. There is some really diverse and beautiful examples of relief carving in stone, marble, slate and wood as well as weaving and calligraphy.
THE LETTERING ARTS TRUST SUMMER ART SHOW 2022.
The exhibition is curated by the Lettering Arts Trust which has been running for around 30 years. It was established by Harriet Fraser who after finding it hard to commission a suitable bespoke memorial for her daughter wanted to make it more accessible for people to commission from lettering artists. They now have a varied pool of skilled craftspeople for clients to choose from in their books. Commissions are not only for memorials but celebratory pieces, garden sculptures and works of art for your home.
The Lettering Arts trust funds support training and apprenticeships for letter carvers in stone, slate, wood and calligraphy. This helps to pass on the skills to future generations and keep the craft alive. If you are interested in any of the pieces featured here, they are available to buy from the Lettering Arts Trust. https://www.letteringartstrust.org.uk
Letter Carving & THE LETTERING ARTS
This may seem like this has little relevance to printmaking, and yes it is a diversion from my usual practice but before I took up printmaking again I was predominantly a letter carver in stone and slate for nearly 20 years. Most of my work was memorial work such as headstones and cremation plaques. Occasionally I would make commemorative pieces for weddings and celebrations and house plaques. I am now quite excited about the prospect of making more work for exhibitions and making prints based on my stone carving work. Designing, transferring a design on to lino and carving a lino block is not that dissimilar in process, the only major difference is obviously the printing and that the medium is paper and not stone. I’m really looking forward to working more in both mediums and each discipline informing the other. https://ansariprints.co.uk/about/
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