New English Art Club's Annual Open Exhibition 2015

On Wednesday I attended the Private View for the New English Art Club's Annual Open Exhibition 2015 at the Mall Galleries.

I was there at the invitation of Paul Curtis, who is exhibiting flower studies painted at St Ives. These share a quality of light with the work of Winifred Nicholson and have a similar interest in contrasts and movements between the interior and exterior.

Paul lives between London and Sheffield whilst painting full-time and delivering workshops and courses on painting and drawing throughout the UK. He is the resident curator of artworks for the Blue Moon Cafe and gallery in Sheffield and in 2011 was elected a Life Member of the New English Art Club.

I also enjoyed seeing the work of Louise Balaam, Michael Cooper, Julie Held, Peter Kelly, Salliann Putman, and William Selby, among others. Bob Brown, Charlotte Halliday, Anthony Morris and Charles Rake have all contributed paintings of churches, while Paul R Gildea has included Saint Boy and John Whitehill Jacob's Ladder.

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Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters - Rainbow.

Anthony De Jong Cleyndert: Time and Place

Anthony De Jong Cleyndert was the 2012 winner of "Best in Show" at the Gibberd Gallery Annual Open Exhibition which showcases a wealth of unique local artistic talent special to Harlow.

His current exhibition at the Gallery is entitled 'Time and Place' and includes abstract oil paintings alongside some of his earlier screen prints. The show celebrates his love of the Essex landscape, especially Wideford, along with bright captivating screenprint monotype images.

He has written that "Living in Florence for a year, the element of the spiritual in Art came upon me with a great impact. Some time later I felt an affinity with Blake’s views of the fallen man; the subdivision of the original innocent man into the individual elements that make up his being. These ideas echoed in me the striving for understanding and harmony, to overcome the conflict and incompleteness of our looking."

Anthony has a studio at Parndon Mill which, with  its delightful riverside setting, workspaces for artists and others, plus a Gallery, plays an active part in the Harlow community promoting the visual arts. 'Time and Place' is open until Friday 22nd February.


The Gibberd Gallery is a purpose built contemporary exhibition space in the centre of Harlow on the mezzanine floor of the Civic Centre. It is home to the important collection of British watercolours donated to the town by sir Frederick Gibberd in 1984. The programme is a lively mix of local and national shows attracting a broad audience and each year there is a 3D focus within the programme emphasising Harlow's status as a sculpture town. The gallery is run by Harlow Art Trust a charity formed in 1953 which also commissions and purchases sculpture for the town.

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Florence and the Machine - Breath Of Life.