Husband and wife exhibition for Arundel Festival

Elaine Pamphilon and Christopher Marvell are the featured artists from August 10-September 1 at Arundel's Zimmer Stewart Gallery.
Work by Elaine PamphilonWork by Elaine Pamphilon
Work by Elaine Pamphilon

The venue, also as part of the Arundel Festival, will also feature the work of Giles Penny from August 18-27.

Gallery founder and director James Stewart said: “At the gallery we always try to present something special during August, something a bit different working with more established artists.

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“My reason for this is that when the Gallery Trail is on, we are suddenly exhibiting alongside 60 other venues and expect to have more visitors over the ten days of the Festival than at any other time of the year.

“This year, in our 15th year, we are showing paintings by Elaine Pamphilon alongside bronze sculptures by her husband, Christopher Marvell. We have exhibited their work before, but never together as a joint exhibition.

“Elaine Pamphilon was born into a musical family, and so it was not surprising that she too became a musician. At the age of just ten she won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music to study the harp and piano. At her solo exhibition with us in 2015, Elaine played the harp at the private view. it was enchanting!

“She started to paint in the mid 1980s at Homerton College, Cambridge after encouragement from her husband.

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“As a curator, I like to work with artists who have a discernible style, and Elaine Pamphilon’s paintings do just that. Her work is characterised by bright, vibrant colours and confident, free, naive, almost folk art style. Her influences are the painters of the 1940s and 50s – Ben Nicholson, Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious.

“Subjects for her paintings come from music, literature, still life and the landscape, particularly that around her studio in St Ives or her home in Cambridge.”

Christopher Marvell studied art at Newcastle, where he was influenced by the British Bauhaus of Victor Pasmore and Richard Hamilton. Later he moved to Cambridge, where he set up a studio at Fulbourn Manor with artist/designer Marjorie Townley. Christopher is involved at every stage of making his bronzes.

“The range of subjects for Christopher Marvell’s sculptures includes birds, animals and people, but they always have the same hand both in terms of the composition and manner of creation. For example, a dog does not really look like a dog, but we still recognise it.

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“Both Elaine Pamphilon and Christopher Marvell each have a studio, and often give each other critical opinions on work in progress.

“Having worked together, and often exhibited together for over 20 years, they trust each other to say exactly what they think and know that any advice given is honest and valuable.”

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