Art of Home Life (From Stroud News and Journal)

Art of Home Life

STROUD House Gallery opens the new year with a skewed look at domesticity, in the shape of the exhibition Home Life which opened on Wednesday, January 12.

The show is crammed with all things domestic; from a full size paper kitchen to a table spread for a meal. Jackie Brown, who studied in Winchester, presents a carnivalesque meal with a confectionary pig, made by the same process as Sugar Mice.

"The carnival can be seen as an outlet celebrating and apologising for human nature," said Brown.

In amongst a wide range of artists from throughout the UK, there are four artists from the local area exhibiting.

Melanie Russell attended the University of Gloucestershire for her Foundation year, before going on to Cardiff to study for her BA. She has lately completed her MA at the Slade. The work that she brings to Stroud House Gallery is from her final year show in London. Russell has constructed various life-size items from layers of material.

"I want to celebrate mundane and often ignored everyday surroundings and celebrate them with simplicity and charm," she said.

Colin Glen lives in Stroud. He also attended the University of Gloucestershire at Foundation level before moving on to Goldsmiths and then to Birbeck College where he studied for an MA in Art History. He is showing his Suspender project, a close study of mattress springs which was created at the Stroud Artspace in 2003.

There are also installations from Cynthia Whelan and Edward Hopper-like paintings from Anna Bianchi.

Home Life runs at Stroud House Gallery, Station Road, Stroud, from Wednesday, January 12 until February 11. The gallery is open Wednesday to Saturday and the opening hours are 10.30am-5pm or by appointment.