'Above and Below' is the title of an exhibition by artists Nick and Joy Rasmussen who explore elements above and below the waterline in paintings and sculpture.
The 'below' part is Nick's: he has sculpted from sheet metal a collection of creatures which live in the water, both shallow and deep, of river, lakes and oceans as well as a pair of life-size cormorants perched on a piece of driftwood.
An early piece featured fish emerging from a wreck, sculptures of pike and minnows, seahorses and lobsters followed, with larger sculptures including marlin and sharks. Nick exhibited in Colchester and Maldon, and since moving to Wales has shown his work in Porthgain and in Tenby.
The family's move to Wales in 2001, and their proximity to Pembrokeshire beaches, created the opportunity and direction for Joy to re-engage with her own creativity after years of encouraging students. She produced half-a-dozen pieces, thick wet plaster applied by hand to board to create wave shapes, then painted in acrylic. These quickly sold through local galleries and more refined images showing the power of the sea followed.
Achieving the representation of strength through the use of plaster, and of translucency through paint effects, Joy's waves form one strand of the 'Above' of the title. The other strand is inspired by Joy's aerial journey over Pembrokeshire. Taking a trip in a small plane, Joy experienced the county's beauty and diversity from above, taking at least 200 photographs of the coastline, including wave patterns and currents, beaches, cliffs and headlands.
The resulting work - plaster or plaster and sand, sealed with gesso, painted with layers of acrylic rubbed off and reapplied - gives an impression of Joy's experience. The horizon tilts in dizzying views of the land and sea. Many of the larger paintings are unglazed, leaving the texture of the plaster available to touch.
'Above and Below' is an exhilarating exhibition, combining strength and delicacy, metal and plaster, in images and objects both large and small. While Joy's paintings range through all the greens and blues that the sea can be, Nick's pieces take on the subtle burnishes and sheens of wet and cool creatures from the deep.
Also showing in the Ridgeway Room is a fine collection of small traditional oil paintings by Pembrokeshire artist Stella Watras.
The exhibition, to which everyone is welcome, will open at Art Matters Gallery, Tenby, on May 27 and continue until June 16. The gallery in South Parade, next to the Fire Station, is open from 10 am to 5 pm every day except for Wednesdays, and further information about this exhibition may be obtained by telephone (01834-843375) or e-mail ([email protected]">[email protected]). The exhibition may also be viewed on the website (http://www.artmatters.org.uk">www.artmatters.org.uk).