Gallery Exhibition
Explore our latest exhibition in the gallery this season, featuring work by:
Svitlana Kozmin (14 April - 12 July)
Svitlana Kozmin is a landscape artist in Wales. Svitlana was born in West Ukraine and grew up in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. It was here that she developed a profound love for the enchanting forests and crystal streams that surrounded her, and nature continues to be a significant influence in her artwork.
Having come to Wales some twenty years ago, Svitlana and her son settled on the South Coast, and she now lives and paints in Swansea. She draws her passion and inspiration from beautiful woodland scenes, open skies and sea views of the local area.
Svitlana was privileged to train with the nationally renowned artist Mihailo Figel, the founder of the West Ukrainian School of Art.
She graduated and completed her studies with Masters in Fine Art at Ivano-Frankivsk State University, Ukraine in 1992, and having moved to Wales, continued her studies at Bangor University and later at Reading University in 1998 - 2000. She has since spent nearly fifteen years in education, teaching Art and Design.
Svitlana paints predominantly in oil on canvas and has also produced artwork in multimedia. Her paintings are owned by private collectors in many countries around the world and have been featured in Art Fairs and in extended Plein Air projects around Europe.
Tracy Newman and Oswaldo Merchor (14 April - 12 July)
Oswaldo has lived on the Norfolk Coast for the past 45 years. Originally from Peru, he comes from a family with a long artistic tradition.
Oswaldo acquired his admiration for nature as a young boy. It was in Peru, with its wonderful and exotic varied wildlife that his lifelong passion for the natural world began.
Completely self taught in technique and design his main sculptural subjects are birds. Many months of study and research go into each of his works, ensuring each sculpture is a skilfully crafted work of art which are cast in bronze and/or cold cast bronze resin.
Oswaldo says he is very fortunate destiny delivered him to Britain where a passion for wildlife is shared by so many people and, at the same time, considers himself very lucky to be able to create sculptures of the subjects he loves most.
He is a permanent exhibitor at the internationally renowned Bird Fair at Rutland and has also exhibited at the Society of Wildlife Artists Mall Galleries London, the Royal Show, the Royal Highland Show, Malcolm Innes Gallery Lon- don, Art in Action and the CLA Game Fair amongst others.
Owsaldo’s work is widely collected, two well known personalities who have purchased his work being HRH Sophie the Countess of Wessex and Bill Oddie.
Tracy has always had an interested in wildlife. He comes from a farming family on the English/Welsh border near Monmouth. As a youngster, he was encouraged to draw and paint. At the age of five, a family trip to Sir Peter Scott's Wildfowl Trust at Slimbridge inspired him. The chance to get close to 'tame' wild birds that would feed from the hand, started a real passion for wildfowl and their conservation.
Tracy went onto study at Newport College of Art and then specialised in 2D design and visual communications in Cardiff. After graduating he worked in graphic design for a number of national and international companies based in London and the South East. He has also been closely involved with a number of wldlife travel companies based in Spain working as a designer for the Andalusia Wildlife Guides, Worldwide Birding Tours and as a wildlife guide with Sierra-Trek and Iberian Lynxland.
The paintings and limited edition prints on display depict the wildfowl and other birds he finds most invigorating.
For a number of years, Tracy has been collaborating with his great friend and sculptor, Oswaldo Mérchor. Some of the work on display is a collaboration between them and has been cast in his workshop in Wales from Oswaldo’s moulds and then hand painted/finished by Tracy.
