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Oxford Festival of the Arts

@ Pembroke JCR Art Gallery, Trinity 2025

A trio of exhibitions at Pembroke JCR Art Gallery:

WHAT IS YOUR OXFORD? - IN FLUX - OXFORD INVERTED

'Disappearance of Worlds'

by Chantal Meza, June 2025

The work of Mexican painter Chantal Meza, which confronts

the violence, terror, and the complexities of disappearance in

both a human and ecological context.

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A look back on: Land, Sea and Sky: Paul Nash in Oxford

This past summer, from May 11th to July 9th 2024, the Pembroke JCR Art Fund hosted an exhibition on the renowned post-war British artist Paul Nash. The exhibition was the first of its kind to focus on Nash's time in Oxford and drew on the holdings of the Ashmolean Museum, the Tate archives, and number of Oxford colleges and private collections. See more about the exhibition and its events here.

NEW EXHIBITION!

JAMES GEMMILL: IN FLUX

Friday 16th May - Saturday 24th May

Private View: Friday 16th May 6-8pm

Weekdays 4pm-7pm

Weekends 11am-4pm

One of the characteristics of my paintings is that they are thickly layered. This is because I tend to paint over many of my images, sometimes discarding the first one altogether when I doubt that it has produced the result that I intended. Painting over previous pieces is, in a sense, analogous to how we live. We think that we make a new start with each new day, but we carry our experiences and circumstances with us. We each have histories. For me, working on my previous art is working on creative history. The images, shapes, colours and textures from previous pieces are crucial in the outcome of the final piece. This process of deconstruction and rebuilding is how I work. Of course, the hope is always that the final piece will be better, will say more, say enough… but even if they are not perceptible as images vestiges of the earlier versions or underpaintings are indelibly there – an emotion, a fragment of my time, a moment from a forgotten day. - James Gemmill

In collaboration with Oxford Festival of the Arts.

We're delighted to invite you to Pembroke JCR Art Gallery's first exhibition of Trinity term!

WHAT IS YOUR OXFORD?

Saturday 3rd May - Sunday 11th May

Weekdays 4pm-7pm

Weekends 11am-4pm

This exhibition is curated from chosen photographs received in answer to an open call. These stills offer a fascinating insight into what Oxford means to those who live in or around the city, or have a special connection to Oxford. Abstract, figurative, representational or unexpected they illustrate many possible ways of seeing our city, its people, the emotions it elicits, and the thoughts it triggers. One should expect a touch of humour, too.

In collaboration with Oxford Festival of the Arts, Photo Oxford and Oxfordshire Artweeks.

“They meet between me” showcases wobbly bodies, amalgamations of plump, jelly-like forms which are set against cinematic backdrops. Women take centre stage, but their expressions remain hard to read, existing somewhere between shock and pleasure. The exhibition explores Kellaway’s fascination with the display of women; the sensuality, the seduction, and the voyeurism that entangles us. In her paintings, the men appear alien and distorted, sometimes to the point where their appearance isn’t even clear, but their presence is always felt.

Kellaway’s practice explores pleasure and pain, archetypal characteristics of the woman under the pornographic lens. Kellaway also finds this interplay exists in understanding her Catholic education; a dizzying time infused with the weight of feminised religious guilt; the virtue of suffering, stigmata, and original sin. But girlhood remained a fruitful ground. For Kellaway, it offered a lasting love of pop-culture and an obsession with Sofia Coppola, Tracey Emin, Chantal Joffe, Beryl Cook, and Marie Laurencin, which she continues to carry with her. Recurring imagery in her work includes dinner tables, bare chests, excessive patriotism, sprawled gendered performance, and unrequited gazes. At heart, Kellaway is a fan, a collector reassembling contemporary and historical homage which has seeped into her brain. She uses her palette of marshmallowy-pinks and custard-yellow to sweeten and seduce the viewer into her sardonic and sexually transgressive perspective.

Her influences range from Pauline Boty, Ella Walker, Helen Verhoevenr, R. B. Kitaj, and Christina Quarles, to Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Miriam Cahn.

“They meet between me” will run from February 28th to March 9th. The Private View will take place 6-8pm on the 28th February. RSVP for the Private View at the link in our bio.

*Pembroke College wishes to inform you this show contains full (painted) nakedness

About the Artist:

Susan Kellaway (b. 2002, Blackburn, UK) graduated with First Class Honours from the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford, in 2024, where she was awarded the Emery Prize. She has exhibited across Manchester, Oxford and London, recently selling work at the Manchester Contemporary Art Fair.

Kellaway was selected for the North West Graduate Platform Award as part of the “MADEIT” 2024 cohort, wherein curators selected her as the CASS Art Prizewinner, granting her an upcoming solo show at CASS Art in Manchester. Her recent accolades include winning the Oxford Review of Books Art Prize (2025) for her piece "Should I Get the Bill?” and being shortlisted for the VAO UK & International Emerging Artist Awards (2024). Furthermore, in 2023, she received the Mapleton-Bree Prize.

Her recent projects include a commission from the BFI Film Academy to create a poster for their movie screening, “Teenage Monsters”, serving as the Creative
Director for St John’s College Commemoration Ball, and working as an Art Counsellor at a specialist Art centre in upstate New York.

Instagram: @susankellaway.studio
Website: www.susankellaway.com

Pembroke JCR Art Gallery invites you to our next exhibition, “They meet between me”, a collection of paintings and drawings by Emery Prize winner Susan Kellaway.

“They meet between me” will run from February 28th to March 9th. The Private View will take place 6-8pm on February 28th.

Opening times for the exhibition are as follows:

Saturday, 1st March: 12 - 3 pm
Sunday, 2nd March: 12 - 2 pm
Monday, 3rd March – Thursday, 6th March: 12 – 2 pm
Friday, 7th March: 6 -8 pm
Saturday, 8th March: 12 - 3 pm
Sunday, 9th March: 12 - 2 pm

Events:

Saturday, 1st March: Guided Talk by the Artist: 1 - 1:30 pm

Billy-no-mates Workshop: 3 - 4:30 pm

*Pembroke College wishes to inform you this show contains full (painted) nakedness

'Three Short Films'

Experimental short film showreel by Thomas Nicolaou.

15th February –16th February 2025: Saturday & Sunday only.

Screening Times: 15th February –16th February 2025.

2pm, 3pm and 4pm.

You are cordially invited to view “Three Short Films”, an experimental short film showreel by Thomas Nicolaou. Includes new work “City Break”.

Thomas Nicolaou is a British, Oxford based visual artist, graphic designer and tutor. Thomas studied printing, publishing and graphic design and worked for a number of years in publishing as a designer. The first book he made was the artists’ book Pensées with British artist Jeremy Deller. He is a graduate from the MA Photographic Studies (now MA Expanded Photography) course at the University of Westminster (2016). His photography, films and books have been exhibited/screened both in the UK and internationally at exhibitions and festivals, including at Belvedere21 (Austria), VCAS (Austria), Pitt Rivers Museum (UK), Photo Oxford (UK), Modern Art Oxford (UK), Photo Fringe OPEN20 (UK), Printed Matter (US), NIMAC (Cyprus), Whitechapel Gallery (UK), Photo Romania Festival (Romania), Tate Modern (UK), Tate Britain (UK) and Cabinet Gallery (UK).

THIS FRIDAY: RSVP for Private View in bio or via QR code!

The Private View for Paula Dhiman: Big World, Small World will be taking place this Friday, 24th January, 6-8pm.

RSVP not compulsory - please come along even if you don't get a chance to RSVP!

Pembroke JCR Art Fund is excited to announce our first exhibition of Hilary term 2025:

'Big World, Small World' by Paula Dhiman

"Big world, small world is an uplifting exhibition showcasing the importance of the little things in both life and that live around us. With this exhibition, I wanted to offer a moment to pause, appreciate and acknowledge all that is around us.

So often we get caught up in our own worlds and lives that we often overlook the beauty of everyday and the small things in it. When taking each of these photos, I was brought back to the present moment and was left with a positive feeling as I observed what was around me. Sometimes this was peace, sometimes it was hope and often it was a new perspective of the world and me in it. Big world, small world acts as a reminder of all the life in us and around us.

I hope you enjoy the exhibition and find something in each photo you can take away and keep with you for time to come and if anything, to get you through the winter months!"

Follow Paula's journey on Instagram @_pd65 or email at paula.dhiman@gmail.com for more information.

Further information on this exhibition is available on our website.

The closing event of Krikor Momdjian's Life Map of a Wanderer: Transcultural Relations is taking place on Friday 15th November, 5-6:30pm!

RSVP at Linktree in bio, more info below.

"In his talk, Krikor shall refer to the essence of his works and their relation with his personal life experiences. Revealing the meaning of Art in his daily life, shaped by the different cultural identities he embodies - Dutch, Lebanese Armenian. As well the influences of the three cities, Paris, Florence, Jerusalem, where he also lived and studied, forming together the core of his quest as an artist to find answers to his questions...

He will talk about a recent series of works made after he returned to the spot in Drenthe where he lived his first eight months in The Netherlands after leaving Paris definitely in 11979 to start with his professional life as a visual artist and poet. The 'Encounter' then with his soulmates Vincent and Piet (van Gogh and Mondrian) in Drenthe, was decisive as he was longing to be near Mother Nature.

The 'Artist's Book', as the central piece of the exhibition, together with the series of the 14 paintings 'Transcultural Relations between colours, Forms and Numbers', will be the main subject of Krikor's talk - As a Celebration of Life!"

Krikor's life motto is: To Life!

Some photos from the Private View of Krikor Momdjian's Life Map of a Wanderer: Transcultural Relations last Friday!!

It was a success, and great to see so many of you there! We'd love to see you again for the Artist's Lecture on the 15th November if you can make it - RSVP at the link in our bio or on our website. More details about the lecture to follow.

Pembroke College JCR Art Collection are delighted to host a free response*able drawing workshop as part of a wider project on participatory art and democracy for the transnational Horizon 2020 grant ARTIS.

This will be an exercise-based workshop which will be an exciting opportunity to explore practical art skills led by experts.

This workshop will take place on October 31st from 6:30-8pm, with a short introduction in the art gallery, followed by a drawing workshop within college.

We have a limited capacity, so please RSVP via the Linktree in our bio.

**RSVP Link in Bio**

Private View for this term's exhibition, 'Life Map of a Wanderer - Transcultural Relations' THIS FRIDAY!

5:30-8PM

@pembrokeoxford
@pembrokejcr
@krikormomdjian

Pembroke JCR Art Gallery invites you to our first 2024-25 exhibition, by Armenian artist Krikor Momdjian: 'Transcultural Relations - Life Map of a Wanderer'.

19th October-17th November, 12-2pm, Saturdays and Sundays only.

Private View & Film Screening: Friday 18th October 5:30-8pm – RSVP link to follow.

Artist’s Lecture: Friday 15th November 5-6:30pm – RSVP link to follow.

Through this exhibition, we shall experience 50 years of development of his work. These paintings will reveal his quest for understanding the relations between colours, forms, and numbers. At the same time, they will reflect the influences of different cultural identities he embodies— Dutch, Lebanese, and Armenian— as well as the influences of his education in three cities— Jerusalem, Florence, and Paris. The exhibition's central work is a painted fold-out book titled 'Artist's Book'— Ode to Life! Կենաց. Krikor's recent special publication 'Letters to Vincent / Brieven aan Vincent' dedicated to his soulmate Vincent van Gogh will also be presented.

Krikor will lecture on the 15th of November at Pembroke College, with the title of this lecture also being 'Life Map of a Wanderer - Transcultural Relations'. During this lecture, Krikor will speak about the exhibition as well as how these works relate to his personal life experiences and the meaning of art in his daily life. In addition, Krikor will talk about a recent series of works made after he returned to Drenthe, a place in the Netherlands where Krikor lived after leaving Paris in 1979 to start his professional life as a visual artist and poet. Krikor will also expand upon the influence of Vincent Van Gogh and Piet Mondrian in this period of his life and its role in helping him connect to nature.

Krikor's life motto is: To Life!

@krikormomdjian
@pembrokeoxford
@pembrokejcr
@pembrokemcr

Come along to the gallery this Friday for a chance to see the Pembroke 400 Characters exhibition!

400 Characters showcases "the unique experiences of those members who have made up this community in times past and today".

Open 10-12 for all members of college, but Freshers are particularly encouraged to visit the gallery for the first time!

Coming soon to the Pembroke JCR Gallery: our MT24 exhibition, featuring work by Krikor Momdjian.

Krikor Momdjian is a multidisciplinary visual artist and poet born into an Armenian family in Lebanon in 1947. He will present recent works at the Pembroke JCR Art Fund in his newest exhibition 'Life Map of a Wanderer — Transcultural Relations'. Through these pieces, we will experience 50 years of development of his work.

Krikor's life motto is: To Life!

The exhibition will take place 19th October-17th November, along with a Private View and Artist's Lecture.

For more information, click the link in our bio to access our website.

The JCR art gallery welcomes you to a talk given by internationally renowned graphic artist, musician, and filmmaker, Dave McKean, and art-historian, author, curator, and lecturer, David Boyd Haycock.
They discuss Dave’s work and the historical contexts behind it.
In 2016, McKeam wrote and illustrated Black Dog: The Dreams of Paul Nash for the 14-18 Now Foundation a the Imperial War Museum’s commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the First World War. He has recently published Thalamus, a 2-volume retrospective collection of his art.
Tonight from 6:30 - 7:30pm in Pembroke College’s Pichette Auditorium. Tickets are free and linked in our bio!

Next in the Paul Nash series: Out of Chaos: A Documentary

Acclaimed documentary director Jill Craigie's enlightening account of the role of art in WWII is something of a filmic mural. From Henry Moore's drawings of the London Underground during bombing raids to Stanley Spencer's evocative shipbuilding panels, via Evelyn Dunbar's depiction of land girls, all the big names in the 1940s art world make an appearance in this film. Paul Nash is shown at work in Oxford's Cowley Dump, making sketches for his WWII masterpiece 'Totes Meer'.

“Wars are ubiquitous in the everyday lives of people who imagine themselves living in peace. Yet, it is easy not to see them, even if they are constantly in the news. In this lecture, guided by works of Paul Nash and others, Aida Hozić, Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Florida, whose research is situated at the intersections of feminist political economy, cultural studies, and international security, proposes that to see wars, we must look sideways, elsewhere, outside of the frame of the visuals served to us daily.”
In collaboration with Oxford Festival of the Arts, we are excited to invite Aida Hozić, Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Florida, to give this talk which will give insight on artistic interventions into the landscape of power within the context of the paintings of Paul Nash. This will take place on Wednesday 15th May at 6.30pm.
Tickets are linked on our website and in the link in bio.

Land, Sea and Sky | Paul Nash in Oxford
From the 11th May - 9th June. Gallery open 11am-4pm on weekends and
4pm-7pm on Thursday & Friday.

The exhibition will be open for half an hour before and after each of the events linked to it. Entry is free, however booking is recommended.

In summer 2024, Land, Sea, and Sky will draw on the holdings of the Ashmolean Museum, the Tate archives, a number of Oxford colleges and private collections, seeking to bring the work of renowned British surrealist painter and war artist Paul Nash to a new generation of viewers – shedding light on the Oxfordshire locations that inspired his work and the Oxonian women who supported him. This project is in collaboration with Oxford Festival of the Arts and a team of curators, writers, researchers and art historians from across the country.
For more information on linked events, click the link in our bio to access our website.

Linked to Oxford Festival of the Arts' exhibitions of James Gemmill’s and Gavin Lockheart’s art at Pembroke College, we are delighted to welcome Sonja Klaus, whose creative portfolio includes working with some of the world’s most talented directors in the event, television and film industry.

Sonja’s credits include Gladiator, A Good Year, Babylon AD, Kingdom of Heaven, X Men First Class, American Gangster, Prometheus, In Darkness, Merlin, Alice in Wonderland, The Odyssey, The Power, The Aftermath, Terminator Dark Fate, A Christmas Carol, and Tomb Raider, as well as Mr Selfridge Season 2 for ITV and the BBC’s Taboo.

She recently finished designing the 6 part series of Great Expectations for Scott Free / FX and Disney. She is an active member of BAFTA and AMPAS (sitting on the European Events Committee) and was Chair of the BFDG for the last two years. Sonja is a mentor at several universities in Film and Television Design, The festival is delighted to welcome Sonja also as our designer for our FESTIVAL HALL this year.

Pembroke JCR Art Gallery invites you to our new exhibition this Trinity: Just Looking

Featuring the work of James Gemmill and Gavin Lockheart.

20th-28th April, 11am-4pm weekends, 4pm-7pm weekdays excluding April 22nd (closed), and 6-8pm April 25th. Artists will be in attendance.

Private View 19th April 6:30pm-9pm.

Sonja Klaus in conversation with James Gemmill and Gavin Lockheart, Pichette Auditorium, Pembroke College, 25th April 6:30pm.

Oxford Festival of the Arts is delighted to be working together with the Pembroke College JCR Art Collection to present “Just Looking” – an exhibition of the work of James Gemmill and Gavin Lockheart. There is a subliminal thread across these works – they play on different possible interpretations of stories told/untold – and that is what is fascinating about James’ and Gavin’s work. They tell a story (or do they?), but that story is completely up to the viewer. There is a darkness in some of the paintings, a link to horrors around us and man’s inhumanity to man, but is there a glimmer of hope? That is up to you.

With its references to the darkness of war and conflict, this exhibition also links to the foundation of the PC JCR Art Collection established in 1947 by Anthony Emery, a mature undergraduate who came to Pembroke to read History following his return from WWII; and leads on to our next exhibition of works by British surrealist painter and war artist Paul Nash, which will be shedding light on the Oxfordshire locations that inspired his work and the Oxonian women who supported him.

“I hope that the imagery in this new body of work reflects an empathetic story of a truth about the human condition in today’s world.” [James Gemmill, 2024]

“I’m an unreliable narrator – so the interpretation is left up to the viewer.” [Gavin Lockheart, 2024]

‘Terminus’ by William Lowry opens today, and will run 11am-4pm daily until Wednesday the 6th. Come see the “poignant, hopeful, yet also menacing” atmosphere William has created, and make sure to come to his Sound Performance and Q&A tomorrow, Sunday the 3rd at 6pm.

TIME CHANGE: Pembroke JCR Art Gallery invites you to a live 25 minute electronic sound performance followed by an artist Q&A on Sunday, 3rd March at 6pm!

Featuring dark melodic synths, atmospheric lighting, and eerie ambient music, the performance will respond to ‘Terminus’, our upcoming exhibition by Emery Prize winner William Lowry. Entry is free and open to all!

The exhibition will take place from Saturday, 2nd March until Wednesday, 6th March, open from 11am-4pm daily. The link to RSVP for this event is linked in our bio!

Some pieces from our upcoming exhibition ‘Terminus’ showcasing the work of multimedia artist and winner of the 2023 Emery Prize, William Lowry. @williamlowry.art

‘Terminus’ showcases an extensive body of new drawings, sculptures, and original music. It draws on both contemporary and classical imagery to explore existential questions of continuation and finality. Images of hippodromes, racetracks and amphitheatres call to mind the crumbling vestiges of dead empires and civilisations, while depictions of wrestlers, soldiers and sportsmen conjure up associations of control, subjugation and domination.

These images, among others, are presented either as spotlit drawings, within backlit-sculptures, or as light projections, forming a complex network of objects both large and small. They sprawl throughout the dimmed gallery space, terminating with a larger installation piece which towers at the far end of the gallery. Meanwhile, an original soundtrack hums in the background, creating an atmosphere which is poignant, hopeful, yet also menacing.

‘Terminus’ is open Saturday, March 2nd - Wednesday, March 6th, 11am until 4pm daily, with a Private View and drinks reception in the gallery on Friday, March 1st from 4pm until 6pm. The exhibition is free to attend and open to all.

Pembroke JCR Art Gallery invites you to our next exhibition by Emery Prize winner William Lowry: ‘Terminus’. RSVP at the link in our bio.

‘Terminus’ is open from Saturday, March 2nd - Wednesday, March 6th, 11AM - 4PM daily with a private view on Friday March 1st, 4PM - 6PM.

‘Terminus’ showcases an extensive body of new drawings, sculptures, and original music. It draws on both contemporary and classical imagery to explore existential questions of continuation and finality. Images of hippodromes, racetracks and amphitheatres call to mind the crumbling vestiges of dead empires and civilisations, while depictions of wrestlers, soldiers and sportsmen conjure up associations of control, subjugation and domination. These images, among others, are presented either as spotlit drawings, within backlit-sculptures, or as light projections, forming a complex network of objects both large and small. They sprawl throughout the dimmed gallery space, terminating with a larger installation piece which towers at the far end of the gallery. Meanwhile, an original soundtrack hums in the background, creating an atmosphere which is poignant, hopeful, yet also menacing.

William Lowry was born in Oxford, England in 2001, and graduated with First Class Honours from the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford in 2023. Lowry has exhibited work at Modern Art Oxford, one of the UK’s leading contemporary art spaces, and the Ashmolean Museum.

@williamlowry.art
@pembrokeoxford

Monica Sjöö, Swedish artist, activist, writer and eco-feminist, first visited the neolithic monuments at Avebury in 1978, where she had her very first encounter with the Great Mother. Modern Art Oxford writes that ‘this was an awakening, which established Sjöö’s life-long relationship to the sites, which she considered the sacred remains of ancient matriarchal societies.’

‘Meeting the Ancestors at Avebury’ (slide one), and ‘The Goddess at Avebury and Silbury’ (slide two) are on display as part of Modern Art Oxford’s revelatory retrospective ‘The Great Cosmic Mother’, the first major survey exhibition of Sjöö’s work – which is now open just down the road from our gallery space until 25th Feburary 2024. Make sure to check it out! @mao_gallery

The monument at Avebury was also an artistic preoccupation of British surrealist painter and war artist Paul Nash’s – a lithograph of Nash’s ‘Landscape of the Megaliths’ (slide three) is owned by the Pembroke JCR Art Fund. Its reinterpretation, the eerie ‘Equivalents for the Megaliths’ (slide four), gently abstracts the neolithic standing stones into almost computative geometrical solids, placed incongruously on the uniform lineaments of a stubble field after the wheat harvest. It is paradigmatic of his surrealist spirit.

Pembroke JCR Art Gallery is currently fundraising for a landmark exhibition, ‘LAND, SEA, SKY: Paul Nash in Oxford’ in May 2024 – exploring the life and work of Nash in the year of the centenary of the Surrealist Manifesto, shedding light on the Oxfordshire locations that inspired his work, and celebrating the Oxonian women who supported him. The link to our donation portal is in our bio! £35 keeps the gallery open for a full extra hour.

‘A WORLD AWAY’ Exhibition Tour 🖼🎨

Artist and curator-led tour of the exhibition and spoken word event - with words from authors Sally Bayley and Patrick McGuinness, and poetry from Arthur Osofsky.

Wednesday 15th November, 6-8pm
Pembroke College JCR Art Fund Gallery (5 Brewer Street, Oxford)

Join us for a special event to discover the stories and places that inspired ‘A WORLD AWAY’. Gabriella Bailey and curator Myroslava Hartmond will give a tour of the exhibition together with creative friends, who will offer their responses to ‘A WORLD AWAY’.

Please register your interest at the link in our bio!

@gabriella.bailey
@myroslava.hartmond
@pembrokeoxford
@pembrokejcr

Preview of some pieces from our upcoming exhibition ‘A WORLD AWAY’:

1. Ruth of the Cornfield, drypoint
2. Three Bathers, oil on board
By @gabriella.bailey

3. Tess at Tantridge Cross, gouache
4. Ridgeway Landscape, oil on board
By @julianbailey.jad

Don’t forget to RSVP for the ‘A WORLD AWAY’ Private View and Drinks Reception from 5-8pm on Friday 3rd November. Link in bio!

Mark your calendars... it’s two weeks until:

Private View and Drinks Reception for ‘A WORLD AWAY’
Two Generations: Gabriella Bailey and Julian Bailey
Friday 3rd November, 5-8pm
Pembroke JCR Art Gallery, 5 Brewer Street, OX1 1QN

‘A WORLD AWAY’ invites you to experience worlds real and imaged through the eyes of two generations of the Bailey family - @gabriella.bailey and @julianbailey.jad.

Please RSVP via the link in our bio. Alcoholic, non-alcoholic beverages and nibbles will be served!

Pembroke JCR Art Gallery is delighted to invite you to our very first exhibition of the new academic year.

A WORLD AWAY
Two Generations: Julian Bailey and Gabriella Bailey

4th-19th of November 2023 (Saturdays and Sundays only, 11am-4pm)
Private View: Friday 3rd November, 5-8pm

‘A WORLD AWAY’ invites you to experience worlds real and imagined through the eyes of two generations of an artistic family with links to both Oxford and Dorset – places that have shaped the literary universe of many writers and artists.

Painter and printmaker Gabriella Bailey works primarily with the mediums of oil paint and dry point - using them to craft an enchanting universe of colour and form imbued with an often somehow medieval or monastic quality. This is Gabriella’s debut exhibition.

Her father, British painter Julian Bailey works mainly in oil paint and gouache, employing a concise, colourful style that, though appearing spontaneous, is the product of a meticulous process of refinement and controlled destruction.

Julian’s painting Four Youths on a Wall, Santa Maria del Mar, is paradigmatic of his preoccupation with standing and seated figures, a preoccupation that also emerges in Gabriella’s work. It was donated to the Pembroke JCR Art Collection in 2007. The piece will be displayed as part of ‘A WORLD AWAY’ in dialogue with a host of new pieces created by both Julian and Gabriella especially for the exhibition.

Curated by Myroslava Hartmond.

Link in bio for Private View RSVP.

@julianbailey.jad
@gabriella.bailey
@myroslava.hartmond
@pembrokeoxford

We are delighted to announce the winner of the 2023 Emery Prize: William Lowry (@williamlowry.art)!
William has recently completed his BFA at the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford, and will be exhibiting at the Pembroke JCR Art Gallery in Hilary Term 2024.

William writes:
‘My work combines drawing, printmaking, sculpture and sound to probe themes of personal and collective memory, masculinity and queer desire, myth and modernity.

In Acheron (2023), my degree show installation, I staged a piece of elaborate architecture with an accompanying original soundtrack, recalling imperial-ecclesiastical structures and triumphal ceremonies. The idea was to subvert these in an off-kilter hellscape (in classical myth, Acheron is one of the rivers in Hades) that was theatrical, unnerving and poignant.

Being awarded the Emery Prize is an enormous honour and I am very excited to work with the team at Pembroke to stage a show at the college gallery in the coming academic year.’

The first featured image is from William’s Capsule I, II, & III (2023), the next four are from Acheron (2023), and the final four are from Matador (2023). You can find more of William’s work at williamlowry.portfolio.site.

Join us on Wednesday for a Private Viewing and Drinks Reception with @jermainefrancisstudio, whose exhibition A Pleasant Land is currently showing as part of @photooxfordfestival!
If you fancy finding out even more about this incredible artist, come along to the Artist Talk and Q&A on Friday 5 May

RSVP for both through the link in our bio!

@pembrokeoxford @pembrokejcr @pembrokemcr @oxford_uni @oxunistudents @cherwelloxford @theoxstu @theoxfordblue @theisismagazine @onyxmagazineox

Pembroke College JCR Art Collection is delighted to partner with @jermainefrancisstudio and @photooxfordfestival to present A Pleasant Land | A History Deferred

Francis interrogates the idea of the Pastoral Landscape as a space of neutrality - politically & ideologically - where the relationship to the Black presence is alien due to its historical absence.

Free entry every Fri-Sun 14:00-16:00 from 14-30th April!

Join us in celebrating the opening of our latest exhibition, Routes of Desire by Emery Prizewinner @sabaqizilbash. The gallery is open 12-2pm weekdays and 12-4pm on weekends — and admission is free!!

Join us tonight for a talk and drinks reception with Emery Prizewinner @sabaqizilbash to celebrate the opening of her exhibition Routes of Desire! After the talk, join us in the gallery for a private viewing

Pembroke College JCR Art Collection opens the exhibition year with an overview of William Andris Wood’s macabre and mysterious figurative painting. Featuring artwork that spans two decades of the artist’s commitment to reflecting on today’s world while drawing on the Romantic tradition, ‘DE PROFUNDIS’ is a highly personal account of Wood’s struggle to come to terms with being diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, the inadvertence of death, and the violent dynamics of contemporary society.

William Andris Wood was born in 1977 in Denver, Colorado. After graduating from Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design, he undertook an apprenticeship with renowned colourist Jim Valone. Wood moved to Oxford, England to be closer to world-renowned museums, the dynamic art scene, and the Romantic painters and poets, whom he considers his peers.

Myroslava Hartmond is a British-Ukrainian curator and creative consultant who is known for her work with dark and difficult subject-matter. After graduating from St Anthony’s College, Oxford University, in 2014, she ran the Triptych art gallery in Kyiv, Ukraine, before returning to Oxford in March 2022.

Find out more about the exhibition at www.pembrokejcrart.org

CONTENT WARNING:
This exhibition contains adult content as well as images and themes related to death and sexual violence that some viewers might find distressing. Viewer discretion is advised.
DISCLAIMER: All work is the Artist’s, and all opinions are his own.

About last night: Our committee members and curator enjoyed going to see the Ruskin School of Art BFA and MFA degree shows… some wonderful emerging artists. It’s open until Wednesday so check it out!

#art #artgallery #artist #artists #emergingartist #student #students #oxford #ruskin #painting #drawing #sculpting #painter #sculptor #photo #photography #photographer #textiles #textileart #installationart #videoart

Celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee! We don’t have an artwork of the Queen in our collection so borrowed this regal lady as a stand in!

Our collection was only established a few years before Queen Elizabeth II took the thrown, and both have seen some big changes in the world. Our collection continues to be run by undergraduate students, acquiring works to share with Pembroke students and the wider public, whilst championing emerging artists.

Featured image: Robert MacBryde, Woman at Table, 1948

#art #artgallery #arts #print #printmaking #artcollection #platinumjubilee #jubilee #queen #queenelizabeth

Portraits with concealed eyes….. Jean Jones and Percy Wyndham Lewis.
Come see these artworks on display as part of ‘Jean Jones: In Dialogue with Modern British Painting’. This weekend! Open Saturday and Sunday 11am-4pm. Free admission

Find us is central Oxford. Discover more on our website www.Pembrokejcrart.org

@jeanjonesestate #art #artgallery #gallery #oxford #free #painting #landcape #landscapepainting #portrait #portraitpainting #stilllife #painter #modernart #postwarart

Last chance to meet the artist Jean Jones through her artwork in ‘Jean Jones: In Dialogue with Modern British Painting’. This weekend. Open 11am-4pm Saturday and Sunday. Free admission.

Find us is central Oxford. Discover more on our website www.Pembrokejcrart.org

@jeanjonesestate #art #artgallery #gallery #oxford #free #painting #landcape #landscapepainting #portrait #portraitpainting #stilllife #painter #modernart #postwarart

FINAL WEEKEND! Join us and see Jean Jones: In Dialogue with Modern British Painting.
Open this weekend only. 11am - 4pm Saturday and Sunday. Free admission.

Find us is central Oxford. Discover more on our website www.Pembrokejcrart.org

@jeanjonesestate #art #artgallery #gallery #oxford #free #painting #landcape #landscapepainting #portrait #portraitpainting #stilllife #painter #modernart #postwarart

Which still life?: Jean Jones (top two paintings) or Duncan Grants?

LAST CHANGE - OPEN THIS WEEKEND: Discover the enigmatic paintings of Jean Jones in dialogue with key artworks from our collection.

Open this weekend11am-4pm. Free admission.
Find us is central Oxford. Discover more on our website www.Pembrokejcrart.org

@jeanjonesestate #art #artgallery #gallery #oxford #free #painting #landcape #landscapepainting #portrait #portraitpainting #stilllife #painter #modernart #duncangrant #postwarart

OPEN TODAY: Take a closer look at personal connections behind the enigmatic paintings of Jean Jones, on display in dialogue with key artworks from our collection.

Open weekends 11am-4pm. Free admission.
Find us is central Oxford. Discover more on our website www.Pembrokejcrart.org

@jeanjonesestate #art #artgallery #gallery #oxford #free #painting #landcape #landscapepainting #portrait #portraitpainting #stilllife #painter #modernart #postwarart #photographs #photography #ephemera #closerlook #discover

Who painted it best: Jean Jones or John Piper? Which painting of a church do you like best and why?

OPEN THIS WEEKEND: Discover the enigmatic paintings of Jean Jones in dialogue with key artworks from our collection.

Open weekends 11am-4pm. Free admission.
Find us is central Oxford. Discover more on our website www.Pembrokejcrart.org

@jeanjonesestate #art #artgallery #gallery #oxford #free #painting #landcape #landscapepainting #portrait #portraitpainting #stilllife #painter #modernart #johnpiper #postwarart

OPEN THIS WEEKEND: Discover the enigmatic paintings of Jean Jones in dialogue with key artworks from our collection.

Open weekends 11am-4pm. Free admission.
Find us is central Oxford. Discover more on our website www.Pembrokejcrart.org

@jeanjonesestate #art #artgallery #gallery #oxford #free #painting #landcape #landscapepainting #portrait #portraitpainting #stilllife #painter #modernart

Wish we were taking a nice stroll through Jean Jones’s painted landscapes today! Hope you are all enjoying your bank holiday Monday!

OPEN NOW: Discover the enigmatic paintings of Jean Jones in dialogue with key artworks from our collection.
Open weekends 11am-4pm. Free admission.
Find us is central Oxford. Discover more on our website www.Pembrokejcrart.org

@jeanjonesestate #art #artgallery #gallery #oxford #free #painting #landcape #landscapepainting #portrait #portraitpainting #stilllife #painter #modernart

OPEN TODAY: Take a closer look at the details in Jean Jones’s enigmatic paintings, on display in dialogue with key artworks from our collection.

Open weekends 11am-4pm. Free admission.
Find us is central Oxford. Discover more on our website www.Pembrokejcrart.org

@jeanjonesestate #art #artgallery #gallery #oxford #free #painting #landcape #landscapepainting #portrait #portraitpainting #stilllife #painter #modernart

OPEN TODAY: Discover the enigmatic paintings of Jean Jones in dialogue with key artworks from our collection.

Open weekends 11am-4pm. Free admission.
Find us is central Oxford. Discover more on our website www.Pembrokejcrart.org

@jeanjonesestate #art #artgallery #gallery #oxford #free #painting #landcape #landscapepainting #portrait #portraitpainting #stilllife #painter #modernart

OPEN THIS WEEKEND: was wonderful to see so many people at the preview last night of Jean Jones: In Dialogue with Modern British Painting.
30 April - 15 May | open weekends 11am-4pm

Find us in central Oxford. Discover more on our website www.pembrokejcrart.org

@jeanjonesestate #art #artgallery #gallery #free #oxford #painting #painter #paint #landscape #landscapepainting #portrait #portraitpainting #selfportrait #dartmoor #stilllife #womenartists #femaleartist #postwarmodern

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Portraits:
What you lookin' at?

An online exhibition

Portraits

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Explore our collection with our new online exhibition Portraits: What you lookin' at? Discover paintings, sculptures, photographs and drawings which depicture figures and faces. Some of the sitters stare out of the frame, looking back at the viewer. Others are seemingly unaware they are being watched, captured unawares.

Explore the exhibition now

Collection Favourites
an online exhibition walkthrough and guide

While the gallery remains closed to the public, we are delighted to offer digital access to our collection on display. We have continued the Collection Favourites display, incorporating favourites selected by the governing committee of JCR students and Pembroke College staff.

Explore Collection Favourites

What is your Collection Favourite? Tell us via email or social media

jcr.artfund@pmb.ox.ac.uk | @pembrokejcrart | #collectionfavourites

COLLECTION

Discover our collection of Post-war British artworks. We have over 300 artworks in our collection including drawings, paintings, sculptures, photographs, prints and digital works.