Ann Marie Coolick

Triple Rainbow Cake, Pop Art Sculpture

2023

Puddle of Yum, Original Pop Art Sculpture This collaborative cake sculpture was created by Ann Marie Coolick and Palm Springs artist by Betsy Enzensbe...

Artist Commentary: This piece is inspired by the flight of birds, and the joy in seeing the flight. Created from nine winged bamboo and fused glass sculptures. These pieces can be h...

A joyful depiction of a towering celebration cake decorated in edible wild flowers. This painting has a great deal of texture, vibrancy and character. Kerry Louise Bennett, artist and painter, has original artworks available with Wychwood Art in our gallery and online. Working from her home studio in Sheffield, Kerry Louise Bennett (b.1972) makes colourful paintings loaded with texture and pattern. Her previous lives working in set design, upholstery and photography, and her passion for music and literature, all feed into the semi-abstract interior and still life compositions she paints. In one sense the objects painted and the relationships between them can be seen as arbitrary, necessary only to serve a sense of spatial orchestration, and the abstract sensibility of a process-led artist, however, an element of romance and storytelling always seems to emerge in her charming characterful paintings. Colour and composition, strong mark-making and the pure materiality of paint drive my creative practice, but of course everything I make reveals something of me - the introvert, the observer, the dreamer. I work over multiple layers before finding the story the painting wants to tell. In some ways I feel like the conductor of an unruly orchestra - there is a musicality to my work, and my visual vocabulary draws on the everyday to capture a kind of unconscious narrative that transforms chaos into calm, worry into joy, the mundane to the magical. Kerry says of herself: I am obsessed with colour first and foremost – it’s impact is so visceral, but mark making is also important – usually expressed through pattern and the shapes of things often scratched into the surface of the paint, with textures then built up over many layers. My visual vocabulary draws on the ordinary stuff of life - chairs, plants...

Lisa Meek transforms books by cutting their bindings, painting the pages and folding them to create floral blossoms rooted in the words of the authors. Each page has been lightly tinted adding a dimension of color to the work without obscuring the words on the page. Lisa Meek’s sculptures, collectively titled Biblio Botany, possess a duality that is reflective of the artist herself and her eclectic range of interests. As a practicing medical professional with an inherent artistic drive, Lisa Meek has made impactful contributions to those she interacts with in both office and gallery spaces. The polarity of these worlds conglomerate beautifully, manifesting through her notable success in both fields. Lisa’s pursuit of a cosmetological career has always been paralleled with a desire to create, to utilize her artistic prowess in order to share her perspective and initiate important conversations. This desire has been integral to her experience since early adolescence, when she began acting upon her creative drive by depicting nature scenes.  The process in which Lisa assembles her sculptures is quite complex. In order to achieve depth and nuance, Lisa employs considerable intention throughout the planning process. With great admiration and ponder, Lisa cuts pages out of various literary works which highlight topics she wishes to discuss, human rights often being central. Attention to detail is vital; certain books possess qualities unsuitable for paint and shape manipulation. Every aspect of her work is deliberate; the symbolism associated with color and flower species, the pairing of literature, the minute details of shape and object placement. This layered production process exemplifies Lisa’s contemplative nature.  Prior to 2018, the majority of Lisa’s work was created on traditional canvas. Spurring from her exposure to contemporary mediums, she was able to redefine her creative denotations and expand her personal definition of art. The surface work of Liza Lou...