Recent exhibitions: Kindred Spirits and Dora Holzhandler

Kindred Spirits was an exhibition by Natalia Dolgova and Peter Whiteman at The NorthLight Gallery  featuring their highly accomplished paintings rich in mythology and spiritual landscapes. The NorthLight Gallery has a mission:

• To encourage and celebrate creativity, hospitality and the Christian faith.
• To provide a welcoming space to enrich friendships, families and to develop community.
• To encourage learning and enjoyment through, the arts and heritage.
• To honour the original vision for the charity as established by William Brooke in 1912.

Natalia Dolgova was trained in monumental art in Magadan and St Petersburg. Her work has always been inspired by the spirits and legends of the places she has lived from the Chukchi of Siberia via the sophistication of St Petersburg to the calm of northern Denmark and now to the Yorkshire countryside.

Peter Whiteman is best known for his work creating costumes and items in films such as Harry Potter, Gladiator, Braveheart and The Mummy and for his designs for stage and exhibitions. Here he returned to his first love, painting, presenting some 40 works embodying the spirit of music. Each piece is inspired by different music and the "spirit" may be seen as a physical presence in the piece or as an atmosphere visible in the painting.


Sylvester Fine Art recently held a solo exhibition by Dora Holzhandler featuring oils and works on paper.
The exhibition was in association with The Goldmark Gallery and was opened by David J Glasser, Chairman of the Ben Uri Gallery.


Dora Holzhandler, born in Paris in 1928, is acclaimed in Britain and overseas for her enchanting, richly decorative paintings of everyday, often specifically Jewish, life. Rooted in a mystical perception of reality, her pictures are non-academic in perspective and depict the timeless Jewish world, her own childhood in Paris and London, and more general celebrations of humanity: lovers embracing, motherhood, religious contemplation.

Sparkling with innocent humour, her paintings draw no distinction between the sacred and mundane and are renowned for intricately detailed patterns - typically squares and floral motifs - which are reminiscent of Polish folk-art, Persian miniatures and Byzantine mosaics.

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Jeff Tweedy - Be Not So Fearful.