Symbol
Xmas group Show
23 November – 4 January 19
Opening 7:30pm Friday 22 November
Open Sundays until xmas 12 - 4pm
Symbol - A symbol is a mark, sign or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different concepts and experiences.
Or
A thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract.
From the political to the religious, the functional to the frivolous, symbols permeate every facet of our lives. At Christmas symbols are everywhere but in the current climate symbols have become even more potent.
To celebrate this holiday season Cupola Gallery brings 55 artists together to showcase the diverse landscape in which we find ourselves. Paintings, ceramics, printmaking, sculpture, photography, installation, glassware and jewellery are on display.
Symbols are represented in many forms across the exhibition from the literal to the obtuse.
The fluidity of symbols in 2D work is fascinating; in John Pedder’s prints the simple forms can be read in a myriad of different ways. In the case of “Have You Seen That Girl’s Hair” the image can bring up ideas of Greek myth (medusa), a Jewish menorah or even indigenous American art. The landscape is a classic subject of the painter and can be used as a symbol for the raw power of the earth, the industrial devastation wrought by man or the harmony of nature.
Symbols used to conjure memories crop up in the show too. Where would this time of year be without the humble OXO cube? Liam Collins dishes up a double dose of nostalgia by reforming them into Rubik’s Cube Christmas decorations. Mary Sewell’s investigations into Sheffield industrial past with the excavation and subsequent inhumation in plaster of artefacts, represents a historical memory.
Symbols can be more ambiguous leaving the viewer to interpret them how they see fit, from the sumptuous colour fields of John Brokenshire or Myfanwy Williams to the textural explorations of Miguel Sopena or Sinclair Ashman.
Animals crop up throughout the exhibition in the ceramic rodents of Sonia Tyrna to the grass seed insects of Fumi. The symbolic nature of animals is hard to escape.
Finally, let’s not forget one of the biggest symbols at this time of year, PRESENTS! We have a fantastic range of hand made gifts, cards and jewellery to show those special people in your life just how much you care.
Artists exhibiting:
Adrian Bates, Alison Britton-Paterson, Allister Malcolm, Anastassia Zamaraeva, Andy Cropper, Barbara Sykes, Barry Cottrell, Cath Dunn, Catriona Archibald, Chris West, Christine Anderson, Claire Lee, Corrina Rothwell, Dan Broughton, David Lucas, Eleri Bates, Emma Whiting, Evelyn Albrow, Fumi, Gill Gathercole, Heather Burwell, Hilary Cartmel, Hilary Mee, Janet Halligan, Jennie McCall, Jess Heywood, Jessica Briggs, Jo Brown, Joanna Whittle, John Bainbridge, John Brokenshire, John Pedder, Kate Walters, Kathryn Watson, Kay Bainbridge, Karen Sherwood, Laine Tomkinson, Laura Pedley, Liam Collins, Mariel Borst Pauwels, Mary Sewell, Miguel Sopena, Myfanwy Williams, Nicola Lebon, Olinda Everett, Paul Evans, Paul Schatzberger, Penny Philips, Philip Lee, Rachel McDonnell, Robin Godde, Sam Groom, Simon Dobbs, Shakespeare Glass, Sinclair Ashman, Sonia Tyrna, Stephen Horsted, Stephen Todd, Sue Burley, Svetlana Ochkovskaya, Tomas Rowell