Lamb & Flag Photographers' Gallery
The new gallery space at the Lamb & Flag provides the perfect setting for enjoying great food, surrounded by the work of talented photographers based in Somerset and the Southwest. All work exhibited is for sale, either framed and ready to take home with you, or as prints if you would prefer to choose your own frames and mounts.
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Jon and Millie are pleased to announce the first exhibitions, and welcome you to 'Meet the Photographer' evenings to hear photographers talk about their work, ask questions and enjoy a craft beer or a meal. Dates and times are listed below.
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If you would like to enquire about exhibiting please contact Liz Watts on 07765 891921, email lillibetw@hotmail.co.uk, or give us a call on 01823 421893.
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Upcoming Exhibitions and Events
David Carter​
13 October to 9 November 2019
Meet the curator and photographic editor: Thursday, 24 October (7.30 pm)
David Carter, a biology and special needs teacher, spent the last 12 years of his life in rural Somerset, devoting many hours particularly in his last decade to his lifelong passion for photography. The combination of a science background and an artistic eye gave Dave a special and personal perspective on the space and landscape around him.
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The majority of Dave’s photos were taken within 200 metres of his home in the ancient parish of Raddington, 300 metres above sea level on the edge of the Brendon Hills and Exmoor.
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Working with his Nikon D90 and basic digital software on his very clunky old laptop, David then developed his style working closely with Rupert Mardon in Langley Marsh to get his images to print quality and with Stephen Linley, local framer to get a considered final product.
Persuaded to put on an exhibition for 10 Parishes Arts Festival in 2017, Dave sadly lost his battle with poor health after overcoming cancer, and died suddenly in July 2017. The exhibition went ahead with the support of friends and family. That support from local businesses and networks, family and friends has encouraged Roz and Sophie; Dave’s family, to launch the Glass Pebble website (www.glass-pebble.co.uk) and to look for chances to share Dave’s legacy of beautiful and intriguing images in the local community.
Sarah Darke
10 November 2019 to 2 January 2020
Meet the Photographer: Thursday, 21 November (7.30pm)
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Sarah holds an MA in Photography from Plymouth University, and is an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society. Her ‘Lumen’ prints feature plants and flowers grown in her garden, which explore the beauty, fragility and interconnectedness of life.
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Having become housebound through illness, Sarah found the challenge of a small space became the catalyst to developing a much more personal and experimental practice. The digital darkroom became a way to enable practice, but proving rather clinical she began using ‘toy’ and pinhole cameras, embracing the serendipity and quirks of these cameras and using handmade books to consolidate and present work.
Experimentation lies at the heart of her practice leading her to develop the current ‘Lumen’ prints in 2015. Lumen printing is both accessible and gives a more satisfying ‘hands on’ approach to image making.
Lumen printing is a ‘camera less’ process, essentially a photogram which uses the sun to develop images on both colour and monochrome photographic paper. The subject is placed directly onto the paper and covered in glass, then exposed to the sun, with exposures ranging from hours to several days. This year she has been experimenting with adding ‘ingredients’ such as lemon juice and salt, to further enhance the image by adding texture. Once exposure has finished, the image is left ‘unfixed’ scanned, stored and a digital archival print is produced.
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Her work has been exhibited in RPS and local group exhibitions and a major exhibition featuring Pinhole Camera Artists at ‘Ale and Porter’ Gallery, Bradford and Avon, and published in accompanying exhibition catalogues. Recently she joined the Chandos Society of Artists.
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Liz Watts
3 January - 31 January 2020
Meet the Photographer: Thursday, 30 January 2020 (7.00 pm)
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Saltlands
The Somerset Levels cover some 170,000 acres, much of which lies only 3-4 metres above sea level. The area is characterized by its geometric network of drainage ditches and rhynes, built by the Dutch in the 17th century to reclaim this land from the sea. Its tidal nature and elevation, however, make it increasingly susceptible to flooding. Climate change indicators are that rising sea levels, storms, and extremes of drought and flood will ensure its eventual return to the sea.
Derelict buildings, makeshift structures and worked peat bogs evidence man’s continuous, but temporary, inhabitation of this vulnerable region. This work aims to explore the fragility of a threatened landscape and man’s ultimate inability to control the devastating impacts of climate change.
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Liz graduated from Bath Spa University in 2019 with a First Class Honours Degree in Photography.. Narrative photography is central to her practice, and her most recent projects focus on the potential effects of climate change on our landscape, and the changing role of women in society. Book design/bookbinding, balancing images with texts, is a key output for her projects and private commissions, using handmade Nepalese or Japanese decorative papers, with covers bound in leather, silk or cloth.
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Website: www.lizwatts.net
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