ANDREA KELLAND's 'RETROSPECTIVE at 75' exhibition.
at Oriel Q Gallery, Narberth (2nd floor of the Queens Hall)
Wednesday to Saturday each week until 26th October
This is a superb exhibition of paintings and screen-prints, covering 60 years of Andrea's life, from 1959 until now.
As you go up the stairs in the Queens Hall, on the landing there are the prints and the framed actual gauze screens that Andrea used to create them, and alongside them some flower studies which were made to use as designs for her screen-printed flower cards .
At the top of each stairway are oil paintings : 'Heron-priested Shores' & 'Above and below'. Then, on reaching the top floor, don't miss the 'story-boards' in the back room which give real insight into her creative life. In the Small Gallery there are 45 small paintings & drawings, where you can sit to contemplate & peruse. The Main Gallery has larger works , a mixture of Oils on canvas and of watercolours.
Andrea is a long-term member of the Royal Watercolour Society of Wales .
Her Artistic life started properly upon going to Kingston Art School in 1960, gaining her NDD in Fine Art. Following that she did a year of teacher training in Brighton, where she learned some new skills like screen-printing and the disciplines of bookbinding. But she never taught, instead raising a family in Devon, where she started screen-printing for some income, and then printed designs onto fabric for beautiful smocks. Making clothes then took her onto starting a mail-order clothing business called Schmocks, which she did for 12 years while raising her family. When her children left home, Andrea yearned to paint again so moved to West Wales, near friends, in 1998. From then on she printed and painted and held many exhibitions of her work. Andrea is a local artist, living in New Moat, and exhibits mostly at the Goat Street Gallery, St Davids & at The Golden Sheaf Gallery in Narberth.
Alongside Andrea's work, there are stunning sculptures and 'wall-works' by Perryn Butler who lives in Haverfordwest.
As many will know, Oriel Q closed temporarily, due to lack of funding but is being kept alive by a caring volunteer team. If the gallery were to close, it would be a dreadful loss not only to Narberth but to Pembrokeshire as a whole. It is a vibrant and beautiful gallery which should be supported as much as possible.
