Beyond the door

Conceived on Zoom in the first few weeks of the pandemic, The Lots Road Group’s ‘Beyond the door’ exhibition has been a long time coming. But our fantastic designer member Sarah Reynolds has now created this poster and work is progressing apace on our online catalogue.

The exhibition, to be held at the Bermondsey Project Space opposite The White Cube, will feature portraits by 15 artists in the group and contemplates life on both sides of the doors that have defined our lives during the last eighteen months, both as protection from a hostile outside world and the means of escape from confinement.

The Lots Road Group studied portraiture The Heatherley School Of Fine Art ‘Our portrait Your story’ sums up our approach to portraiture where, uniquely for a group, we tell the story of our sitters in words as well as picture. In this way we hope to explain the importance and unique qualities of portraiture in the age of photography.

Portraiture allows you to see yourself through the prism of the artist’s eye… and It protects your image through time. Through our regular shows and commissions, we have asked what portraiture means to you. And you have told us you want us to record moments of transition – births, childhood, leaving home, weddings and posthumous portraits to keep treasured memories alive. In addition, some of you like us to work from agreed photographs where others, less time-starved perhaps, enjoy the experience of sitting. But whatever your preference, one thing’s for sure: collaboration is at the heart of a portrait and we welcome such collaboration with you.

Click here to learn more.

Hero Johnson self portrait in Mall Galleries RP show

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’ scheduled for end of July

‘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. 

by LRG’s Colleen Quill

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 artist Hero Johnson pays tribute to her sitter/mentor Barbara Hosking CBE

Hero Johnson, who first portrayed Barbara Hosking CBE for the Lots Road Group’s Portrayed! exhibition, has paid tribute to her sitter and mentor.

“She inspired and mentored so many women over her long and illustrious life and I will always be gratetful to have been among them,” she said.

The International Women’s Forum UK commemorated its 25th Anniversary in 2015 with a portrait exhibition of 16 of its most inspiring women – its four founders and its first 12 chairs.

IWF UK is part of the International Women’s Forum, an organisation which advances leadership across careers, cultures and continents by connecting the world’s most pre-eminent women of significant and diverse achievement.

The portraits – contained in this online catalogue – were created by artists in the Lots Road Group. Barbara was married up with Hero, appropriately, by the drawing of lots, and they discovered they both had a connection in Cornwall.

Portrait of Barbara Hosking CBE by Lots Road Group British figurative artist Hero Johnson

Hero Johnson with Barbara Hosking CBE

Interview with Stella Tooth explores importance of narrative in her work

LRG’s Stella Tooth has been interviewed by Alison G Saunders, artist and educator for her March blog.

In a wide-ranging interview, Alison explores the importance of narrative in Stella’s work, her inspiration – and more.

To read the interview, please click here.

Stella’s first foray into digital art using Procreate on ipad pro – Los Pacaminos’ Jamie Moses at the Half Moon Putney

Sarah Jane Moon to exhibit with Gillian Jason Gallery

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.

Art & Soul: new blog on portrait and music art

LRG member Stella Tooth has begun a new blog about portraiture and musician art at a time when the UK’s culture industry has been seriously affected by the pandemic, yet is demonstration its ability to heal.

Stella’s blog will be published on the fourth Monday of each month, in case you would like to bookmark it.

Click here to read her first blog on The portrait as legacy and this month’s on The portrait as society glue.

Do hope you enjoy reading them!

Congratulations to LRG sitter Natasha Farrant on winning major prize

We’re delighted to congratulate Natasha Farrant, one of the authors whose portrait featured in Lots Road Group’s exhibition ‘The Art of Reading’, who has won the most prestigious prize for children’s literature, the Costa Children’s Book Award, for her novel ‘The Voyage of the Sparrowhawk’.  

Natasha was painted in her garden looking amused by one of her earlier novels, ‘Lydia’, by LRG member Hilary Puxley.

The prize winning novel, set in the aftermath of World War I, is a classic adventure story which follows the epic journey of two friends and their dogs on a narrowboat as they set off through England and across the channel to France to find lost loved ones and a place to call home.

Natasha says she was interested in how lives can be rebuilt after a huge trauma, and her story shows her young heroes bravely shaping their own destinies – a theme that must resonate with today’s young readers. 

Hilary Puxley’s portrait of award winning author Natasha Farrant

A tribute to Katharine Whitehorn – by her portraitist Sarah Richardson

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

Sarah Richardson in her Chiswick studio with pioneering Observer columnist Katharine Whitehorn

Vote for LRG’s Sarah Moon at BP portrait awards!

You can now vote for your favourite painting in this year’s BP Portrait Award Exhibition at the Aberdeen Art Gallery… If you’d like to vote for Sarah’s portrait of the very brilliant Lola Flash, here’s the link:

https://lnkd.in/e6F-sAG

BPPortrait #BPPortraitAward

Lola Flash by Sarah Jane Moon.