Marion Taylor and Kerry Harding, There And Back Again at the Penwith Gallery,St.Ives.
Kerry Harding’s, Pink Plough 2, had an impact with muted tones but a strong feeling of landscape so much so I found myself in the place, making several returns to this piece to see what it was it evoked. Other pieces from her work, Beacon Gorse 11 and Glimmer also raised images of my own feelings for the atmosphere and response to similar landscapes and the emotional pull it can raise. Harding’s painting had a feeling that they to could be expanded further with even bigger atmospheric landscapes which would allow you to enter her space and embrace what drew her to these images in the landscape. I felt I wanted to see more. Marion Taylor’s orange and black background to her opening piece in the “Toxic Dark Waters series” captured the real atmosphere of a busy seaport at night. I appreciated the technical skill in keeping the drama of the piece but not over painting it, to add more detail. In “Early morning across the Thames “ she captured the atmosphere that an early commuter would feel as they surveyed the Thames. (Price range of work £300 -£4500) Mounting the show cost £2,400.
Karen H Saxby, Plymouth College of Art
Volume 30 number 6, July / August 2016 p 40