Celebrating Our 3rd Birthday In St Andrews

Over the Bank Holiday weekend, Artery Gallery in South Street, St Andrews is celebrating an exciting and enjoyable three years in the town.

There has been great excitement and enthusiasm from the many UK and overseas visitors along with tremendous loyalty and support from local people who have claimed it as their own favourite shopping “hot spot” since the opening in May 2006. The continued growth and variety of local, national and international artists has been the major factor in Artery Gallery’s development from the early beginnings of the Crieff gallery, to the expansion of the St Andrews branch, through to its award winning website, www.arteryuk.com which brings orders and artists from across the world.

2009 has started off very bright and busy thanks to Artery’s philosophy of providing art that is more affordable and accessible, with an increase in purchases of paintings which could be a result of less people moving house and instead wanting to wake up their own walls and living space with fresh, new art.

Contemporary paintings from exhibiting artists such as Derek Collins, Colin Carruthers and Jane Duckfield continue to prove popular purchases as well as newcomers Susan Lincoln and Robert Ryan amongst many others. Thought-provoking paintings from popular artists such as Steve Johnston, Andrew Baines and Scott Carruthers continue to inspire and attract collectors from far afield.

The Director of Artery says, “Despite the gloom out there, artists are producing some of the most exciting and vibrant work we have ever had. It makes for a really promising year ahead”.

Artery is constantly bringing in quality handmade art and craft, which means there is always something new. With birthdays, weddings, graduations and anniversaries all year round, there is increasing demand from people who are looking for unique handmade art gifts as opposed to high street mass-produced items. Scottish artists such as John McPhail, Ronna Elliott, Rob Mulholland, Daniel Kavanagh and Mike Hunter are all proving that Scottish craft is as strong as ever.

Handmade jewellery has continued to show great popularity in the St Andrews gallery with Artery exhibiting works from nearly 20 different designers, all very different and unique in techniques, materials and style. Wedding jewellery has also seen a huge increase this year with many St Andrews couples having their entire party bedecked in individual and memorable pieces from Artery.

Artery Gallery has become part of the fabric of St Andrews, and like the town, is full of great character, style and individuality and if the last few years have been anything to go by, it will celebrate many birthdays to come.

Artery Gallery at 43 South Street, St Andrews (01334 478221) and 22 King Street, Crieff (01764 655722).

www.arteryuk.com

*New* David Keenan - Handblown Glass Sculpture

We are proud to introduce glass artist David Keenan as our latest exhibitor to Artery Gallery in St Andrews.

His sleek, slender figures are formed from hand blown glass and finished with a smooth frosting effect that gives his work a wonderful feel of contemporary elegance.

David is an international glass artist, whose work has been in numerous specialist glass exhibitions, including New York, Puerto Rico, and London. His contemporary glass artwork is held in prestigious collections all around the world.

"Ribbon Dance" - £85

Training as a glass artist at the mark studios in Cheshire, David also spent 8 years working on a glass artwork project in the West Indies, during which time, he developed the style of contemporary art glass that has dominated his work. David has been commissioned to design several sculptures that have been gifted to royalty, including Her Majesty the Queen.

Each glass sculpture is individually handmade and signed by David.

We think you will agree that his work is absolutely stunning and really does have to be seen to be fully appreciated.

www.arteryuk.com

New Scottish Jewellery Designer Exhibiting at St Andrews

Joanne Timoney is a full time desginer-jeweller, working from her studio in Glasgow. Trained at Glasgow School of Art with a background in Retail jewellery, her work is unusual, but still wearable every day.

Her unique designs use precious metals, acrylics and resin, blended together to create quirky and modern jewellery for all ages and occassions.

As every item is handmade, no two are the same and all designs can be modified to suit the wearers tastes.

www.arteryuk.com

The China Effect - Painting by Sheer Numbers

There have long been complaints on the forgeries of all kinds of goods from designer fashion to golf clubs, and watches to CDs and DVDs, all pouring out of China. This is nothing more than copying Western products for Western consumption. A strange way for any society to grow and prosper but what does this really mean in terms of our own values?

China's low wages and hunger for exports have already changed many industries, the art world, at least art for the masses, seems to be next, and is emerging as a miniature case study of China's successful expansion in a long list of small industries that when added together represent a huge chunk of it’s economic activity.

With the art market seen as a lucrative area, China continues to rapidly expand its art colleges, turning out tens of thousands of skilled artists each year willing to work cheaply. In the village of Dafen in particular, just outside Shenzen, factories have been set up purely for these art students and graduates to work, where the assembly line paintings are produced and sold throughout the world via the Internet.

The artists working on the assembly line divide up the colour, each possibly only using 2 or 3 colours. Working their way briskly along a line of up to 20 identical contemporary-style paintings, the artists will apply perhaps a few strokes of brown, while the next worker along applies the red, and so on.

The fact that the country is producing hand painted copies of old masters is only a small part of it. The main push by China has been in the broad market for works that retail for anything up to £200, with painters who work from postcards or images on the Internet. Due to the amount of interest the original works gain, popular artworks on all levels from across Europe and the US, are being copied in China and then exported back into the Western market. China's ability to turn what has long been an individual practice into a mass production industry will no doubt affect small-scale artists, as well as many galleries and various art colonies in the West.

When someone purchases one of these ‘Original Oil Paintings’, they are acquiring a piece that could have been painted by 10 different artists. So what is the advantage of owning such a thing? If all you want is something to decorate the walls and something that has no individual meaning or worth, surely a £1.99 poster would suffice.

So what can be done about the influx of copies arriving from China? As an art gallery, we are always trying to take steps to protect our exhibiting artist’s work, but the volume of artwork on the Internet is staggering and realistically impossible to keep track on what is being copied. The main aims are to protect the artists that create the original work and help the buyers protect their investments.

Perhaps copyright laws need to be more stringent. Previous laws were set up prior to this mass-production industry, so the principals and practice of copying art in general has changed considerably. If the laws on copyright were to be updated someway then that could go a long way in protecting the artist’s work.

www.arteryuk.com

The Artery Gallery Guide to Pearls - Testing, Buying and All You Need to Know!

Here at Artery Gallery, we have a huge selection of genuine pearl jewellery with earrings, necklaces, tiaras, bracelets and even pearl hair slides available.

Buying pearls takes careful consideration, as they are a piece of precious jewellery, which will last a lifetime, seeing you through every trend and fashion imaginable. This is why Artery Gallery have decided to give you a helping hand with our pearl buying guide.

You need to learn how to know when a pearl is genuine, or simulated. A genuine pearl – freshwater, cultured, or otherwise, can be identified by rubbing it against one’s tooth. A real pearl will feel rough, gritty or sandy against a tooth, whereas a false, simulated pearl with feel smooth and silky. This will not damage a genuine pearl, but I wouldn’t imagine it would be particularly good for teeth, to do this on a regular basis!

Growing a Pearl

Pearls are formed in different ways, depending on what type of pearl has been developed. Saltwater pearls tend to come from oysters, whereas freshwater pearls tend to come from mussels – however, pearls can occur naturally in any shell, though a naturally produced pearl is very rare.

Cultured saltwater pearls are generally formed by injecting a tiny bead made from shell, along with a piece of oyster tissue, into a live oyster. The soft tissue helps form a ‘pearl sac’ and the bead irritates the inside layer of the oyster. As this occurs, the oyster starts to produce nacre, which is the mother of pearl coating found on the inside of any shell. By coating the tiny bead layer upon layer in nacre, it stops it irritating the inside of the oyster and this produces a pearl.

Cultured freshwater pearls are produced more or less the same way, but instead inserting a small piece of soft mantle tissue into a mussel, rather than a shell bead. This pearl growing technique for cultured freshwater pearls creates a pearl that is formed entirely from nacre without the tiny shell bead centre.

Names and Shapes

‘Potato’, ‘Rice’ and ‘Seed’ named due to their resemblance.
‘Baroque’ pearls are irregular shaped.
‘Button’ pearls are often flat one side and rounded on the other.
‘Coin’ pearls are grown flat like a coin.
‘Stick’ pearls (or ‘Biwa’) are long twig-like irregular shaped pearls.

Modern pearl culturing techniques now allow us to grow pearls in all different shapes, and can be seen in shaped such as stars or diamonds. Of course they would never grow like this naturally, but it makes a great alternative to more traditional styles.

Many people associate pearls with weddings, as pearls are traditionally white, however due to modern pearl growing methods, pearls now come in myriad colours, from emerald green, to deep red. Paler colours on the other hand are generally naturally occurring – pale pinks, peach, lavender, silver, gold, cream and white tend to be naturally coloured. The pearls take on their colour from the inside of the shell they are growing in.

Colours such as turquoise blue and fuchsia pearls tend to be dyed this way. Pearl dying techniques have changed massively over the decades, and now the colours look as real and even, as if it had occurred that way naturally.

Quality and Value

There are five points that measure a pearls quality – size, shape, colour, lustre and surface and the pearls are graded according to these points.

Pearls can vary greatly in size, but needless to say, the larger the pearl, the more rare it is, therefore more valuable, and worth a higher grade. The closer to a perfect round shape, will also improve value of a pearl, though a perfect round pearl is nearly impossible to find.

It really comes down to personal taste though, as many designers now make jewellery specifically from different shaped pearls particularly stick pearls.

The natural colour of a pearl also affects It’s grading or value, but obviously nowadays with new dying techniques, this isn’t as important as it once was. A colour is judged by basic tone, evenness and luminosity. Pearls from certain areas only ever achieve certain colours naturally – Tahitian pearls tend to be varying shades of blacks and greys (and are usually quite large) and South Sea pearls are found in shades of rich cream and gold.

The Lustre of a pearl is one of the most important things to grade a pearl. Lustre is graded from B – AAA. The lustre is the luminous shiny surface created by layer upon layer of nacre forming. Some pearls can appear chalky or cloudy on the surface, which is not as desirable. The best lustre for a pearl is AAA – a tip is to look in the surface of a pearl for your reflection. The clearer you see your reflection, the better the pearl. To reach perfection, the surface of a pearl would need to be flawless – no indentations, ridges or rings. This sort of pearl is extremely rare and valuable, as most pearls have naturally occurring surface indentations and ripples. This only adds to their unique quality though.

The worlds largest pearl was a 14.1lb pearl found in a giant clam in 1934, valued at 60 million dollars, and the most expensive pearls ever sold was in 2004 at Christie’s Auction. Reaching 3.1 million dollars. Although Artery Gallery doesn’t have any pearls worth a million dollars, we have many pieces of pearl jewellery to make you feel that way.

www.arteryuk.com

New Glass Artist at Artery Gallery - Mike Hunter

Multi-award winning glass artist Mike Hunter of Selkirk, on the Scottish Borders, is the latest exhibitor at Artery Gallery in St Andrews and Crieff. Mikes work really is of the finest quality, each beautiful piece is hand crafted and intricately designed with great care and attention to detail. He has a real passion for working with glass, which shows in the quality and defines his years of experience gained from working with some of the finest glassmakers.

He began his love affair with glass as a small boy, gazing with fascination at the colourful, magical twists contained in the marbles he played with. Later, as a 17-year-old apprentice with Wedgwood Glass of Kings Lynn, Norfolk, he remembers asking the master glassblowers how the intricately designed glasses he had seen at the museums were made. None of them could tell him.

It struck him then just how many skills of the 18th century were being lost as more and more machines were introduced to glassmaking, and he determined right then to figure out how they were made and to see if he could learn the techniques himself. On many trips to the museum, without being able to pick up the glasses, he peered into the display cabinets and took notes. After seven years of trial and error at the factory during his lunch breaks, he succeeded in perfecting a technique of embedding coloured glass canes and air into the stems of glassware – a technique not used commercially since Victorian times.

Mike went on to spend 11 years with Wedgwood, training under master glassblowers from the UK, Italy, Austria, Germany and Scandinavia, and attaining the position of master glass blower and coloured animal maker.

At his studio in Selkirk, Mike produces designs with cane-working techniques, creating traditional contemporary glassware styles based on the designs of 16th and 17th century Venice and 18th century England. He created his flagship technique of “vetro”, the Italian for glass, which demonstrates the combination of his natural talent for design with the highest level of technical skill. The result is a vast array of colour in design that speaks of his unique relationship with glass; the glass on the blowing iron becomes one with Mike as, with a sense of ease and speed, the molten glass is commanded into form – his “vetro”.

Mike has received high recognition and exhibited his work throughout Scotland and England. As well as a commission for Lord and Lady Milburn of Paxton House, Berwick-on-Tweed, he was invited to provide reproduction glasses for the Hornblower series on ITV, and he designed the trophies for the Scottish Businesswomen’s Association Awards in 1998 and 1999. His beautiful creations are stocked at the most exclusive outlets: Asprey and Garrards, New York and London, Harrods of Knightsbridge, The Room in Chelsea, Wing On Hong Kong, and Cameo in Paris.

www.arteryuk.com

Christmas Shopping Ideas - Art Gifts

Artery Gallery is a Four Star Arts Venue attraction with VisitScotland and has become a leader amongst Scottish contemporary art galleries.

Here at Artery Gallery we have gathered a wonderfully eclectic range of contemporary art and handmade craft from local, national and international artists.

With galleries in both St Andrews and Crieff, as well as an extensive and secure website, buying original art has never been more accessible and affordable.

Our range of paintings, sculpture, jewellery and useful art has never been stronger. All original, everything unique!

Paintings by popular abstract artist Derek Collins with his 'Flaming Art' and the stunning work by the renowned painter Steve Johnston.

Sculpure from Ronna Elliott, Frank Wilson and Tom Payne

Stunning handmade silver jewellery from Brazil by Patricia Gurgel-Segrillo and from a little closer to home in Scotland, contemporary silver jewellery by Christine Forsyth

The ever popular handmade steel clocks from Tim Fowler and Whittle Design

Beautiful vases by Daniel Kavanagh and useful sculpture and clocks by John McPhail

Click on the links provided to view these selected works or visit our main page at www.arteryuk.com where you can navigate around the Artery Gallery website and shop for your unique Christmas art gifts with confidence.

Or you can visit either of our galleries at;

43 South Street, St Andrews (01334 478221)

and

22 King Street, Crieff (01764 655722)

Buy British Made!

Since the economic downtown, everyone has become more wary of their own spending, and rightly so. It’s not just Britain’s economy that has seen a slide, but the world economy as a whole has slumped.

This does not mean though that no one has any money anymore, because employment is still high and people are still earning. What Britain needs to do now is simply look after itself.

Sir Alan Sugar was recently quoted as saying “Buy British to support the British economy”. This is not just a throw away comment to grab a headline, this is something that we should all think about doing.

There may well be some items that are unavoidable of course. For example, kids this Christmas will inevitably be after the usual computer consoles and electronics, and if you end up buying a British “Wii”, the chances are you have got the wrong thing!!

Unfortunately of course, so much stuff is made in China these days that it is very hard to find a British product, particularly in such areas as electronics and clothing.

The arts and crafts market however is a good example of where to find good quality British made products. Buying an artwork as a gift is ideal primarily because of its individuality coupled with the knowledge it has been handmade by a skilled craftsperson or artist. The receiver of such an art gift will also notice and appreciate the work and thought that has gone into finding and selecting the piece.

It’s not just a case of supporting the craftsperson as an individual business and helping to keep them in employment, but can also go someway in supporting the supplier of the artists materials, the framers, delivery and courier companies and of course the shop or gallery where you purchased it from. It’s a large circle of activity that gains the support with every purchase of a British made product.

So not only are you buying into an artwork that you can enjoy, or give to someone else to enjoy and treasure, but in your small way you are helping employment and the British economy stay as healthy as possible and regain it’s strength.


www.arteryuk.com

Prince's Trust Enterprise Award 2008

Here at Artery Gallery, we wish to congratulate Lora Leedham, one of our extremely talented jewellery designers, in winning the Prince's Trust Enterprise Award 2008 for the West Midlands.

(Lora Leedham accepting her award)

The Prince’s Trust Celebrate Success Awards West Midlands honoured the achievements of disadvantaged young people supported by The Trust who have succeeded against the odds, improved their chances in life and had a positive impact on their local community.

The award ceremony took place at the Birmingham ICC and was hosted by ITV Central presenter Joanne Malin. All the finalists were selected from the 3,800 young people supported by The Trust in the West Midlands over the past year.

Birmingham based jeweller Lora Leedham had a tough start in life, growing up in an area where underachieving at school and lack of opportunities were the norm. But Lora went in search of something more and was determined to make something of herself against such difficulties.

She took a huge gamble by starting up her own jewellery company with the help of The Prince’s Trust. The gamble paid off and her business is now booming with nearly forty stockists across the UK and Europe, including both branches of Artery Gallery.

Lora has been selling her work succesfully here at Artery Gallery for the last two years, with her Venitian Glass Heart Pendants in particular proving a massive hit with our customers.

Well done Lora and may your success continue.


www.arteryuk.com

Bridal Jewellery at Artery Gallery

Artery Gallery has expanded its handmade jewellery collection to include a range of high quality, unique bridal accessories.

Scottish Jeweller Angel Neal specialises in Bridal jewellery, designing and making everything from necklaces and earrings, to tiaras and hair fascinators. Her bridal jewellery designs come in silver, gold, pearl and crystal styles. Her extensive range means there is something to suit every bride, and to match every wedding dress!

Angel started making jewellery at the age of fourteen, following that with her first business creating luxury bridal jewellery, eventually leading her to the position of finalist in the 2007-2008 FMG International jewellery Design Competition in the category of natural pearls. Artery Gallery now stocks a vast range of Angel’s pearl and bridal jewellery, with different designs of tiaras, necklaces, bracelets earrings and hair adornments all available to try on in the gallery. Angel also undertakes bridal consultations and individual commissions.

Lara Baxter specialises in bespoke 18 carat gold and silver wedding jewellery. Her range of designs includes made-to-order kilt pins, necklaces, tiaras and rings. In fact, she designed and made the jewellery for her own wedding in 2007, making her own solid gold and silver tiara, her new husband’s kilt pin, and her bridesmaids jewellery. The simple, organic designs of her pieces are influenced by her surroundings on the west coast of Scotland where she grew up. Lara learned her trade from her mother, a successful jeweller herself, before setting up her own workshop. Lara can undertake commissions to co-ordinate your whole bridal party.

Matching your jewellery to your bridal gown can be difficult, but jeweller Angela Learoyd designs pearl jewellery in rainbow colours to suit all shades of dresses and skin-tones. With beautiful natural pale pinks to baby blues, and gold colours, Angela’s pearls can be used for traditional brides, bridesmaids, or more unusually coloured bridal dresses. Angela is a member of the British Jewellers Association, The Association of Contemporary Jewellers and Visual Arts Scotland.

Check online at Artery Gallery to view the different styles and ranges from our exhibiting jewellers.

Wedding Gift Registration Service at Artery Gallery

You can now register your wedding gift list at Artery Gallery.

Our wedding gift registration service offers you the opportunity to commemorate your wedding day with a list of gift ideas for your friends and family to choose from.

Anything from clocks, to paintings and wall hangings are available, giving you the inspiration and opportunity to build your own collection of unique, original artwork.

When registering your wedding or civil partnership, you receive a catalogue of ideas and suggestions from us, which you can also add your own choices to. When you have chosen all the gifts you hope for, we will complete your registration by adding you and your partner-to-be to our website – with a web-page of your very own. This will include photographs, dimensions and prices of all the items you choose, with a secure, online purchasing function. Your friends and family will be able to browse the pages of your gift list before deciding on their purchase.

Friends and family can even combine their finances to purchase a larger item such as a painting. Paintings can be reserved for your list by paying a small deposit of 20%.

Create you own unique wedding gift list today here at Artery Gallery.

www.arteryuk.com

Tom Payne - "The Grunts"

Tom Payne graduated from the Kent Institute of art and design in 2000 and has gone on to become a successful self employed sculptor and model maker. His sculptures are generally figurative based and built using coiling techniques in high-grog crank clay.

He says “I concentrate on poise and character rather than realism but like my figure to be easily recognisable and relatable too. My finishing is normally quite rough as I like to show the surface and making-marks such as fingerprints.” Each ‘Grunt’, as Tom calls them, are one-off pieces, however they exist in themes and groupings.

The clay is first rolled into a sausage, making sure each one is roughly the same standing height, before being chopped and bent into their required seated, crouching or standing position. The details are then sculptured into the clay creating the basic shape of the figure together with the posture and hand gestures before further detailing including trouser folds and muscle tone is added. When the sculpture is complete and firing has taken place, the pieces are then quickly smoke-fired with wood chips to a very low temperature which gives the desired finished result.

A finished Grunt can quite happily stand or sit there on his own, but the best visual effect is experienced when they are placed into a group. This gives a fantastic and sometimes quite comical impression that some kind of conversation or debate is taking place between the Grunts.

Tom’s work has been displayed all over the UK as well as being involved in several high profile public art projects since graduating. Most notable of these projects include Tom helping in the construction of the site for ‘Dino Dig’ at the Natural History Museum in 2006. Tom was commissioned to create lifelike clay dinosaur bones that were to be buried in sand, ready for children to excavate during an exhibition at the Museum.

Prior to that In 2005, Tom was commissioned by a recruitment marketing company to make models for the ultimate 'People Brand' at the AHHRM Awards (Association of Healthcare Human Resource Management). The campaign was to brand Whipps Cross University Hospital in London as a Trust that has an exciting future ahead and recognises that their biggest asset going forward is their people.

Models were created based on real-life employees, one from every department within the hospital. Images of Tom’s sculptures were used for advertising posters that were displayed on London buses and taxis, in brochures and on the web. The campaign was well received both internally and externally including helping to win the 'Best Employer Brand' Award itself.

Tom was also involved in an environmental advertising campaign that was aired on MTV in 2007. He was asked to create a Polar Bear mould to be used as an animation for the television adverts aired on the channel through Spring of that year.

The sculptures by Tom Payne are on show for the first time in Scotland at Artery Gallery in both St Andrews and Crieff, and can also be viewed online at www.arteryuk.com

Buying Handmade Over The Mass Produced

The rapid rise of the large chain store culture and global manufacturing has left us furnishing and dressing alike. It’s almost like the consumer is being told what to buy because the shelves are full with goods of all the same design and colour as the next shop. Our ties to the local and human sources of our goods have been lost.

Mass production has always been with us, generally speaking as a way of ensuring quality. But this has not always been the case. Taking printing as an example, the earliest printers initially showed perfectionist tendencies, probably because the hand operated press machine and letter stamps were all created by hand to do the job. In the late sixteenth century, printing began to turn into an industry. It was largely considered at the time that these industrial printing practices should never allow commercial considerations to lower the typographical standard of books and printed documents.

But things inevitably went the other way in the nineteenth century after the invention of the steam press. The necessity to produce cheaper books and newspapers meant that standards fell, and mass production began to gain its poor reputation. It was during the nineteenth century that artist and writer William Morris began to worry that mechanised production was taking away opportunities for individual creativity, and to almost dehumanise people's working and social lives. Morris planned to counter these apparent problems with a revival of handicrafts. Numerous craft based associations, guilds and communities were founded, and the idea of something being hand made all of a sudden became rather fashionable. The customers for these hand made products were of course the better off for this change.

A memorial to what became known as the ‘Arts and Crafts Movement’ is now preserved at Standen in Sussex, a grand house decorated by William Morris himself.

It is often considered that buying a handmade gift involves that little bit more consideration and thought. You buy into something that is a unique, one off creation, and in today’s world that is still consumed by mass produced goods, it makes it all the more satisfying.

A handmade craft, whether it’s in the form of a painting, clock, pottery or jewellery, will be chosen for its pure individuality and will instantly reflect the personality of the purchaser.

If it has been purchased for the purpose of a gift, the buyer may well feel the satisfaction of supporting an artist or craftsperson as well as being confident of giving something of quality and uniqueness. Likewise, the recipient of the handmade gift receives something that is one-of-a-kind, and made with care and attention. It is the result of skill and craftsmanship that is clearly absent in the world of large-scale manufacturing.

If you are looking to buy, whether for yourself or someone else, buying handmade can help us reconnect with ourselves and therefore certainly better for both maker and buyer.

Above: Allan Craig Arts and Craft style copper clocks, mirrors and sconces
Top of post: Kerry Whittle, John McPhail and Tim Fowler

www.arteryuk.com