A Touch Of Late Summer, Artfulness gallery, Goodramgate, York, September 4 to October 4 (From York Press)

A Touch Of Late Summer, Artfulness gallery, Goodramgate, York, September 4 to October 4

10:52am Friday 31st August 2007 in Exhibitions

With rain in June and July, and a still-iffy August, we are all hoping the real summer will stretch from now to October.

In that spirit, Artfulness gallery, in Goodramgate, York, opens its latest exhibition, A Touch Of Late Summer, on Tuesday.

The show features work painted this summer by two of the gallery's most popular emerging artists.

Emma Bateman, of Howden, will be showcasing a mix of collaged abstracts and landscapes, while Sue Nichol, from Sheffield, will be showing powerful and atmospheric landscapes and seascapes.

This is the first time that Artfulness has dedicated the front of the gallery section to two artists.

Amie Antoniak, owner of Artfulness, says: "Normally we exhibit an eclectic mix of two or three paintings by lots of different local artists, but I now feel it's time for some artists to show a selection or series of paintings so that the viewer can see a path of development within the artist's practice.

"I chose Emma and Sue as the first two artists because I feel that they are very good representatives of Artfulness overall.

"Sue has sold work consistently through the gallery since we opened in 2005 and so has Emma since she joined us in 2006."

Both artists, she added, are "very passionate and hardworking" and they create art for the enjoyment of doing so, not necessarily to sell.

"Any artist that paints purely to sell will end up making work that is shallow and soulless, " said Amie.

Emma and Sue both inject passion and emotion into their work.

"I also chose these two artists to exhibit together because I believe their artwork will complement each others, because both artists like to use bold colour and texture.

"But whereas Emma's paintings are largely abstract with a very complex surface texture, Sue's are always more figurative; either landscapes or seascapes with emphasis on atmosphere."

Sue, who is in Cornwall painting, says: "Artfulness is a fabulous gallery as it creates opportunities for emerging artists to exhibit and sell their work. It is a serious gallery that expects a high standard of work, but at the same time I've always felt able to experiment and try new developments out in my paintings for Artfulness.

"It's fantastic that now artists are given dedicated space to exhibit a selection of work, I feel really honoured that Amie has asked me to be one of the first artists to have this opportunity."

A Touch Of Late Summer features atmospheric landscapes of various parts of the country, including Yorkshire and the East Coast.

Emma says the show offers her a fantastic opportunity to show how her work has developed and progressed.

"What inspires me to paint are colours, textures, moods, feelings and emotions. I paint from my imagination and the compositions develop spontaneously, " she says.

"I like to create interesting and complex surface textures that are beautiful and intriguing to look at.

"In this exhibition people can expect to see a range of bold abstracts and landscapes full of colour and texture, often involving things I have collected such as shells, broken mirror, glass, beads, bull bearings and even real butterflies."

The private view is on Thursday, from 7pm to 9pm. Phone Amie on 01904 633316 for an invite or email info@artfulness.co.uk

The exhibition runs until October 4