Summer Exhibition 2024 - Devon Artist Network

In celebration of our twentieth anniversary, Devon Artist Network presents a special online exhibition showcasing artwork from members in response to the theme of New Beginnings.

The Devon Artist Network grew out of the first Open Studios event held as a pilot project in 1999. Initially known as ‘The Nine Days of Art,’ the event was held every two years and split across North and South Devon. The Network itself was founded in 2004 with the ambition to connect artists and promote the creative arts across the region.

Now with a current membership of nearly 600 artists, Devon Artist Network has recently refreshed its mission putting artists at its centre and recognising Devon as a creative county.

Artists are the real alchemists

The online summer exhibition, New Beginnings, is a celebration of our history whilst looking to the future.

Never still, always adapting, artists may well be the real alchemists, able to transform, draw, mould, reinvent, revitalise, renew and refresh the way we see and experience the world.

We will be adding new artwork throughout the summer so please keep checking our online gallery for the latest updates. To take part in a wider conversation check out our social media platforms using the hashtag #NewBeginnings

Graham Stevenson

As annuals, poppies might be seen as vibrant expressions of new beginnings. They provide a fresh and delicate flower, with the most amazing colour,

Helen J Allen

Taking inspiration from the natural environment and urban industrial spaces, exploring the sharp contrast between the two – from Brutalist architecture to Dartmoor and its beautiful, and sometimes brutal, landscape

Gigha Klinkenborg

This captivating piece of glass art embodies the essence of renewal and transformation. The artwork is an organic form in translucent hues of blue.

Kasia Turajczyk

Merged elements of cats and Japanese culture in my new tempera painting, combining anthropomorphic feline figures with traditional Japanese attire

Ian McConaghy

A recent 3D work combining painting, collage and sculpture, inspired by Neuworld, a futuristic thriller set in 2200.

Rachael Bennett

A series of drawings about the emotional residue left behind after previously working landscapes (farming and mining on Dartmoor) have ceased.

Gillian Burbidge

The sunflower represents an in-extinguishable light and has personal relevance representing a young person exploring their New Beginnings. Eliot’s poem inspires and echoes this journey.

Lou Griffiths Art

I am a wood artist who loves to give discarded wood a new lease of life such as this piece of cherrywood offcut from a local arborist.

Liz Swinbank

The ferns and flowers have been made by free machine stitching onto a soluble fleece base. Once the stitching is complete the fleece is washed away leaving just the stitches.

Janet Atherton

Painting has become my New Beginning following my retirement as a mental health nurse. I feel I am only just scratching the surface of this magical media

Rosemary Bonney

Known primarily as a Dartmoor landscape painter using oils, acrylics and mixed media

Michael Jones

Reproduced from the original monoprint, this piece captures the view across Dartmoor National Park in Devon from Poundsgate

Janec van Veen

Kali is the goddess of destruction and death, and, simultaneously, creation, rebirth and new beginnings.

Beth Osment

‘Grow’ captures the power, strength, beauty and simplicity of a new shoot pushing up, growing upwards and putting on leaves to become a plant

Jacqueline Seviour

Whispering Wilderness captures the promise of a fresh start and the hope it brings as the sun rises over Dartmoor.

Gillian Taylor

This collection of individually handmade envelopes was made from World War II love letters. Each tiny envelope is lined with gold paper.

Marion Adams

The dandelion clock must disintegrate so its seeds may fall to earth and new life spring up. This cycle, repeated throughout nature, is contained within finite time

Amy McCarthy

This eye catching piece celebrates new starts; new beginnings and change. A great gift for a folklore lover or for someone making a new start.

Tom Jervis

A watercolour of a bullfinch nest, inspired by a love for a nature

Ray Rawlings

A watercolour painting depicting a summer meadow awash with wild flowers, essential for wildlife

Dream Bleed Arts

The process of change and growth can be painful and can feel like a detachment from our previous self. Sometimes, this process is needed

Norma Walton

Woodland Snowdrops

Acrylic/ collage/mixed media on canvas

50x50cm

Lynda Kettle

The warm hues of dawn breaking through the horizon symbolise the start of a new day, filled with promise and potential.

Irena Boobyer

Irena combines different paper cutting techniques to re-visit old themes and re-present them in a different way

Jan Andrews

This piece is based on a line that I once read which included the words
‘never underestimate the power of the planted seed’.

Irene Hirons

A new day, a new birth, the start of a life with the freshness and wonder of a woodland glade

Sara Ballarano

A painting of a Foal taken from photos and sketches of an Arabian foal made at Coombe Farm, Gittisham, Devon.

Catherine Kennedy

Twice a day the cleansing of the surface of the beach can be taken as a metaphor for our own need to cleanse our minds periodically

Geoff Sellick

Dartmoor in springtime. After many weeks of dreary weather and grey skies the bright blue sky represents the hope of bright colours for the spring and summer months.

Christophe Szpajdel

An artwork in response to the Ukraine War

Angie Seaway

A call for new beginnings to rewild our cliff tops, hedges and path ways.