AN exciting new exhibition of art work by Matthew Wood, Susan Kane, and Pete Monaghan and sculptures by Sharon Griffin will launch at the award-winning Ffin y Parc art gallery from Sunday, May 26.

The show will run until Wednesday, June 19 and features a collection of new interiors by Welsh artist Matthew Wood. Matthew is currently artist in residence at The Judge’s Lodging in Welsh Marches.

Of his work Matthew explained: “Once a week since October I have made the journey to Presteigne moving all my materials in and out of the building each time.

“Every painting produced was completed in one sitting, when I would aim to capture the atmosphere and sense of place anew each time. The more visits I made the more familiar I became with the essence of the place and I would arrive with stronger feelings of where and what I would like to paint.”

Matthew was born in 1973, and trained at Middlesex, Birmingham and the University of Wales. He lives with his wife and children near Welshpool.

Landscape artist Pete Monaghan has also returned to Ffin y Parc with a new collection of works which incorporate his past in illustration. Pete, from Gloucestershire, worked as an illustrator for twenty years. He now divides his time between his studios in Aberystwyth and Southern Germany. This will be his fourth show at the gallery.

“Pete’s background as an illustrator informs his bold and clear paintings of Welsh vernacular architecture,” explained gallery owner Ralph Sanders.

“From initial sketches in the open, he refines and reworks his images in the studio, layering and covering, to create collages which are sophisticated as well as being evocative and affectionate.”

Manchester based painter Susan Kane worked as a designer for 20 years before returning to her first love: painting. Following the success of her last Ffin y Parc show, she has returned with a new collection.

“Her work is calm and controlled, clean and considered,” added Ralph

“Always balanced, understated and elegant, the paintings seem almost to have materialized instantaneously.”

Also exhibiting will be eminent sculptor Sharon Griffin, with a new collection of highly-collectable, individual pieces. Sharon grew up in Telford, and trained at the University of Wolverhampton. This is her third show at the gallery. Ralph concludes: “Sharon’s work bears the marks of her fingers; the scratches and dents from her tools become the scars and bruises that life and time inflict; her figures speak eloquently of resilience and survival.”

Ffin y Parc is in Betws Road, Llanrwst, Conwy. www.welshart.et.