The Gardens Gallery Cheltenham

"I spent my career as a self employed lecturer teaching finance to senior management teams around the world and hadn’t picked up a paintbrush since I was thirteen. Then a few years ago a surprise Christmas present from a desperate husband, who had no idea what to buy for me, changed everything. The “10 Painting Lessons for Beginners” uncovered a passion and helped to develop my painting ability. Inspired by the love of my garden and our landscape in all its forms, especially the trees, rivers and flowers, I set about putting down on canvas the images that caught my imagination. Walks in the country and gardens are now punctuated by “Ooh, I’ve got to paint that!”  These paintings are some of the results so far..."

Artists Mhairi Treharne, Belinda Ireland, and Emma Roberts present The Space Between, an art exhibition brought together through a year of reflective practice and mentoring at the Newlyn School of Art in Cornwall, the trio recognised a strong resonance between their works, each embedded in a sense of narrative, nostalgia and memory.

Mhairi Treharne is a Cheltenham-based Canadian-born artist whose distinctive work is based on small wooden plaques. The plaques are oil painted, adorned with wood singe marks and stitched with wire to create paintings that are prepared to hang directly on the wall without a frame. Paintings depict scenes from Treharne’s past in Canada and present in Gloucestershire.

Complementing these works is Belinda Ireland, a contemporary figurative artist, who works from her studio in the South West. Ireland’s work explores colour and light, creating a harmonious, almost luminescent, relationship between her subjects. She treats the surface of her paintings as a collection of different hues and shapes that inform a mood and interlock into imagined narratives.

Finishing the trio is Emma Roberts, also based in the South West and focusing her fine art practice on figurative works with reflections on the importance of memory and how it makes our living history.

The Space Between exhibition will include a range of three-dimensional pieces, paintings, and drawings. The majority of work is for sale and the artists will often be available for discussion.

The artists have been collaborating remotely during the lockdown period to create an exhibition that welcomes the public to visit the Garden’s gallery and access contemporary art being created in Cheltenham and beyond.

Visitors to the Gardens Gallery, Montpellier Gardens, Cheltenham, can view the exhibition between 10:00am to 4:00pm on Thursday 10th December until Monday 14th December, or by appointment text 07472 148300.

Ireland, Treharne and Roberts are currently working on a series of shows bringing their work to other galleries, and have a following exhibition at Birdwood House, Totnes, planned for May 2021.