Digswell Arts Alumni Karen Picton, who was based at the Farmhouse in Stevenage, is exhibiting at The Gallery Steel Rooms, Brigg, North Lincolnshire from 10th November 2018 – 21st January 2019. Following her solo show ‘Land as Material and Meaning’ at the gallery during the Summer, Karen joins a group of artists who have also exhibited there during 2018 and have been brought together for the Winter Show as part of the Gallery’s Case for Place project. A Case for Place is an interdisciplinary project involving artists, writers and composers whose work is concerned with the land, how we see it, live in and use it. Supported by The Arts Council England and the research led group Land2 the project brings together work by early career artists alongside nationally and internationally acclaimed artists. During her Fellowship with Digswell Arts, Karen began using earth as a painting material to explore the nature of the land around Hertfordshire. She now travels around the country using the earth and rocks in each area as mediums that define the land’s character and recall a human relationship with the environment. In Lincolnshire, Karen discovered an intriguing geological variety from the low lying fens to the chalky uplands of The Wolds and onwards to the coast. Exploring these areas, she describes as “having a feel of a place that is somehow secretive” her  paintings reflect hidden aspects of the land from dark concealed spaces to the traces left behind from the abandoned medieval villages that are dotted around the county.

The Winter Show can be seen in the main gallery at Gallery Steel Rooms and there will also be a ‘Winter Open show’ for local artists in the Case Gallery.   Alongside these two exhibitions the gallery has invited all artists to contribute a postcard sized piece of work to be shown in their  ‘Field Notes Space’ and will run from 10th November – 19th January. Further information about Gallery Steel Rooms Winter Show can be found at: https://gallerysteelrooms.com/exhibitions-opportunities/ Workshops and events connected to the Case for Place project can be found at: https://gallerysteelrooms.com/workshops-events/