One of our artists Stella Tooth has recently completed a commission via the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.
If you’d like to find out how it came about, how the commission progressed from start to finish, and what the sitters thought of it click here.
Commission a portrait from the Lots Road Group Beyond the Door exhibitors
On the eve of International Friendship Day Art & Soul portraiture and music art blogger, and LRG member, Stella Tooth looks at camraderie and the joy and power of exhibiting as a group of artists.
She says, “As one of the founding members of the Lots Road Group of portrait artists I’m delighted – for the first time since lockdown last March – that we are able, once more, to exhibit together again.
Conceived in the dark days of the first lockdown on Zoom, a technology which was new to us (remember that?) we came together around an idea sparked by a FT article ‘The Pandemic is a portal‘ by Arundhati Roy.“
The author said: “Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal…”
She went on to say we could carry on in the way we had with our avaricious ways or we can walk through it ready to imagine and fight for another world. We decided that that would be our theme.
If you would like to read the full blog please click here.
To see our ‘Beyond the door’ online catalogue click here.
A portrait in oils of Robin Hanbury-Tenison, world famous explorer, President of Survival International, re-wilder of the Cornish countryside – and COVID-19 survivor, features in a new London exhibition which opens next week.
The portrait, by Sarah Reynolds of the Lots Road Group will be on show at the Bermondsey Project Space – a gallery in the heart of Bermondsey’s vibrant artistic area – from Tuesday 27-Saturday 31 July from 11am-6pm.
‘Beyond the Door’ will reflect on the unprecedented times we have been living through. It will feature portraits by 15 artists in the group generated during the pandemic when our own front doors have defined the way we live. The doors to our homes have been both bulwarks against a dangerous world and a means of escape from confinement. The word ‘beyond’ in the title of the exhibition is deliberately ambiguous, allowing exploration of both interior and exterior worlds through the medium of portraiture. Artists have chosen subjects whose experiences are representative of the unfamiliar limbo through which we have all been passing. These include people who have had Covid, those we have been locked down with, those we have only seen on Zoom or Facetime, fellow out of work creatives – and ourselves – never has there been a more appropriate time for self portraits!
This year the group has invited a guest artist to join them, Melissa Scott-Miller RP, NEAC, RBA. Scott-Miller is an acclaimed artist specialising in portraits and urban landscapes – which often include elements of portraiture. Her work is therefore the embodiment of the dual interior and exterior theme of this exhibition. She has continued her usual practice of painting landscapes en plein air during the pandemic so far as humanly possible and has also worked at home including creating a portrait for this exhibition. In another innovation this year the group will be showing a selection of other recent work reflecting the diversity of members’ practices and their preoccupations during the past year.
The exhibition catalogue will continue the Lots Road Group’s usual practice of including a narrative with each portrait, giving both artist and sitter a voice – something that makes the group unique. The catalogue is introduced by Robin Hanbury-Tenison.
Hanbury-Tenison’s was the embodiment of an outdoor life until he had to spend seven weeks in hospital with minimal chance of survival. He credits a visit to the hospital garden as the turning point in his recovery and is now raising funds for more such healing gardens, a cause to which the Lots Road Group will encourage contributions at this exhibition. Click here for his fundraising page.
Exhibiting artists:Rebecca Asghar, Alla Broeksmit, Martin Burrough, Matt Collis, Hero Johnson, Christine Klein, Sharon Low, Fiona Mitchell, Maureen Nathan, Hilary Puxley, Colleen Quill, Lucinda Rendall, Sarah Reynolds, Mark Stevenson, Stella Tooth
Media previews:
LRG’s Hero Johnson will be showing a small portrait at this year’s Royal Society of Portrait Painters exhibition which runs to the 15th of May at the Mall Galleries. Tickets can be booked in advance on the Mall’s website.
‘Beyond the Door – portraits and other recent work’ the latest exhibition by the Lots Road Group of portrait artists is scheduled for the end of July.
Bermondsey Project Space, 185 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3UW
Tuesday 27-Saturday 31 July 2021, 11am-6pm
The Lots Road Group’s latest exhibition, ‘Beyond the Door’ will take place in Bermondsey Project Space – a gallery in the heart of Bermondsey’s vibrant artistic area from Tuesday 27 to Saturday 31 July.
‘Beyond the Door’ will reflect on the unprecedented times we have been living through.
It will feature portraits by 15 artists in the group generated during the pandemic when our own front doors have defined the way we live. The doors to our homes have been both bulwarks against a dangerous world and a means of escape from confinement. The word ‘beyond’ in the title of the exhibition is deliberately ambiguous, allowing exploration of both interior and exterior worlds through the medium of portraiture. Artists have chosen subjects whose experiences are representative of the unfamiliar limbo through which we have all been passing. These include people who have had Covid, those we have been locked down with, those we have only seen on Zoom or Facetime, fellow out of work creatives – and ourselves – never has there been a more appropriate time for self portraits!
This year the group has invited a guest artist to join them, Melissa Scott-Miller RP, NEAC, RBA. Scott-Miller is an acclaimed artist specialising in portraits and urban landscapes – which often include elements of portraiture. Her work is therefore the embodiment of the dual interior and exterior theme of this exhibition. She has continued her usual practice of painting landscapes en plein air during the pandemic so far as humanly possible and has also worked at home including creating a portrait for this exhibition.
In another innovation this year the group will be showing a selection of other recent work reflecting the diversity of members’ practices and their preoccupations during the past year.
The exhibition catalogue will continue the Lots Road Group’s usual practice of including a narrative with each portrait, giving both artist and sitter a voice – something that makes the group unique. The catalogue will be introduced by one of our portrait subjects, Robin Hanbury-Tenison, world famous explorer, President of Survival International, re-wilder of the Cornish countryside – and COVID-19 survivor. Hanbury-Tenison’s was the embodiment of an outdoor life until he had to spend 7 weeks in hospital with minimal chance of survival. He credits a visit to the hospital garden as the turning point in his recovery and is now raising funds for more such healing gardens, a cause to which the Lots Road Group will be contributing at this exhibition.
Exhibiting artists:
Rebecca Asghar
Alla Broeksmit
Martin Burrough
Matt Collis
Hero Johnson
Christine Klein
Sharon Low
Fiona Mitchell
Maureen Nathan
Hilary Puxley
Colleen Quill
Lucinda Rendall
Sarah Reynolds
Mark Stevenson
Stella Tooth
LRG’s Sarah Jane Moon is taking part in Heart of the Matter, curated by Mollie E Barnes, Founder of She Curates, at the Gillian Jason Gallery.
The exhibition launches tomorrow (Monday 8 March) on International Women’s Day 2021 and will open in the gallery’s 3D Virtual Viewing Room and run until 15 April.
Heart of the Matter features new and recent works from a stunning line-up of artists incluing Tracey Emin, Bridget Riley and Chantal Joffe,
In support of International Women’s Day theme of 2021, both Gallery and Curator will #ChooseToChallenge gender inequality in the art world while providing a platform for emerging and established artists. http://www.gillianjason.com
If you would like to learn more about Sarah Jane, click here to read an interview she did a while back with the Mall Galleries.
And if you’d like to take a virtual tour of her studio with The Net Gallery click here.
Although not unexpected it is still very sad to hear of the death of Katharine Whitehorn, a pillar of journalistic society as I was growing up.
The opportunity to paint her for the Lots Road Group exhibition – and get to know her – over many sittings in my studio in London was a huge pleasure and delight.
Her humour was legendary and she entertained me over many hours.
The sittings were usually followed by a liquid lunch in my kitchen – lovely memories to treasure for always.R.I.P. dear Katharine
Very sorry to announce that the Lots Road Group’s next exhibition, ‘Beyond the door’, due to open on 9 November, has had to be postponed due to Covid-19 restrictions. Please watch this space for news of its rescheduling in the New Year.
Lots Road Group artist Rebecca Ashgar has just completed a portrait commission of Carys Petty from a photo taken on the day she qualified as a nurse.
Carys is currently working as a General Practise nurse in two different GP surgeries in South Wales as part of a primary healthcare team.
The commission, from Rebecca’s cousin, chimes with the theme of Instagram initiative #portraitsfornhsheroes which a number of LRG artists have taken part in, started by Portrait Artist Tom Croft.
Under the initiative, Rebecca, Martin Burrough, Christine Klein, Sarah Jane Moon, Maureen Nathan, Hilary Puxley and Stella Tooth painted free portraits to thank nominated frontline staff.
Some them finished their NHS portraits in time to be included in an online exhibition which can be seen at https://artsandculture.google.com/
One such portrait not previously featured on the LRG’s site is this sensitive portrait by Christine Klein.
The Lots Road Group 