A NEW exhibition by well-known local artist Olivia Argent, entitled Studies in Dark and Light - Dancers and Seascapes, opens at Tenby Museum and Art Gallery on July 2.

Within this exhibition, Olivia is exploring two passions, ballet dancing and the landscape of her adopted town by presenting them through the chiaroscuro of dark and light, the abstraction of dark space and the revelation of light.

Amongst her new works are featured eight small paintings inspired by photographs taken backstage of the Bolshoi Ballet Company at Covent Garden by a friend, Andrei Mishin.

The photographs were inspirational not only for their abstraction, but also for the suffusion of light that emerged from backstage.

The exhibition will also feature drawings of tango dancers and the flamenco, capturing the fluidity and sense of movement and passionate tempo of these dances.

Alongside the darkness of the backstage pictures will be the lightness of the seascapes.

Olivia has said in the past: "I have lived and worked in Tenby for over 30 years and like a homing pigeon, I always return to my point of reference - inspired and nurtured by its landscape, seascape and people."

The seascapes included in the exhibition were inspired by her journeys to her studio, observing the shift of scenery as she walked across the expanse of the Tenby beaches.

On these walks, she often observed an almost ethereal white light that barely divided the distance of the horizon from the sea, the two melding together with the brightness of the skies.

Into these seascapes, she has woven images from poems and words taken from the Welsh language and these cultural artefacts add a further dimension to the work. These pictures of the light and open outdoors act as counterbalance to the enclosed shadowy backstage of the ballet.

Olivia's exhibition is on at Tenby Museum until July 31. Some of the works will be available for purchase.