Hom
Featured Artists' Exhibition
The Ballroom, Tregwynt Mansion

Ruth Goodger, Martin White

 The exhibition will run from 19 August to   5 September 10.30am to 5.30pm.


A New Form of Fine Art Revealed at Tregwynt Mansion
Slate Inlaid Marble Scagliola by Martin White alongside the vigorous images by Ruth Goodger


Martin White is an established artist who has had numerous exhibitions. After studying at Farnham Art School Martin has, at various times, taught art, made movies, lectured at art college and worked as an illustrator. As an illustrator he made jacket covers for Richard Adams’ Shardik and The Plague Dogs; the cover and text illustrations for Patrick Moore’s Legends of the Planets and Uriah Heap’s album cover Firefly. He has also produced artwork: painting, drawing, body-printing, and body-casting. For one project he constructed 30 life-cast standing figures in ‘ciment fondu’. Martin continued with personal experimentation throughout and this exhibition showcases his discovery using marble and slate casting.
Ruth Goodger has also had work in many exhibitions and, after recently completing a BA (Hons) in Fine Art at the Carmarthen School of Art, her degree show was exhibited at the Old Truman Brewery in London’s trendy East End. Ruth works with paint, pencil and charcoal on a variety of surfaces; board, paper, computer screens. In this exhibition she also uses traditional Japanese paper.

Talking to Martin White, one of the two featured artists in the ‘Lines’ exhibition for Fishguard Arts Society in Tregwynt Mansion, is to begin to see how an artist’s way of working evolves. Martin’s eclectic seeking of knowledge has triggered a dynamic new art form producing stunningly beautiful works of art ‘slate inlaid marble scagliola’.


Martin explains, ‘Exploring ideas with my line drawings and working with slate dust and glue, powdered marble mix and powder paint, I realised I had stumbled upon a new fine art form. This method fits into my current practice. My research work principally takes the form of line drawing which lends itself perfectly to translation into ‘slate’ lines and intuitively applied pure pigment which penetrates the marble inlay.’

Discussing subsequent research, he says, ‘Resourceful ancient Roman plasterers invented an economical method of interior decoration which they called ‘scagliola’, using gesso, glues, marble chippings and semi-precious stones to resemble marble itself. The combination of materials and technique results in a complex texture and richness of colour not found in naturally veined marbles. I am pleased to acknowledge my unwitting annexation of this worthy craft.’
http://www.martinwhiteart.co.uk


The other featured artist in this ‘Lines’ exhibition is Ruth Goodger. Ruth’s current enthusiasm is to use water as a less controllable ‘third party’ to the outcome of the image. Mainly working in portraiture Ruth uses ink, paint, pencil, charcoal to create a sense of the energy of the individual. Using water to work back into the image involves an element of risk but when it is successful adds an expressive element that even the artist may not have envisaged.
Ruth Goodger’s work also explores images and text found on social media. Using her skills with life drawing and portraiture she captures the fragment of hand or face that is seen when people are totally absorbed by a laptop or phone screen and oblivious to their surroundings.