Art Upstairs was selected by the Affordable Art FAIR team as one of the Top Ten new galleries to be present at the Autumn Affordable Fair., 18-22 October There were over 18,000 visitors to the Fair, and over 1000 visited the gallery, with thousands of other glancing as they passed.. “Welcome to north Devon” was frequently used as a call to attract people’s attention.
Sandy Brown, Merlyn Chesterman,Rachel Stanton,Lesley Anne Cornish and NQ Fine Art & Illustration were five north Devon artists, part of the ‘New Atlantic Wave’ being shown at the Art Upstairs gallery (Stand L7).
Sandy exhibited a selection of ceramics and two major painting at the Fair. Her work was ‘snapped’ by various Interior Designers for future talks with their clients.
A first showing of SLAB! where careful examination of the work reveals a climber on the face of the north Devon ‘Walk of Life’ rock face. Climber and ropes were placed by climber Tom Randall as if he were climbing the print. Merlyn saw the last two prints of ‘A Sapphire Sea’ sold at the Fair.
Rachel’s ‘Expansive’ was chosen to be exhibited on the ‘Under £500’ wall in the entrance to the Art Fair. This work sold on the first evening as did various other of her seascapes.
Lesley’s group of ‘Inkings’ based on ink doodles ranged from ‘Quorum’ to ‘A Story with Nanny’ attracted a a lot of attention, and quite a few ‘snaps’ for future reference.
NQ Fine Art and Illustration whose gouache paints of nature with a sense of humour attracted a lot of attention and a commission for a copy of one painting which had been already sold!
These artists and maker’s works reflects the diversity of creative work within the New Atlantic Wave. As the strength and awareness of ‘The Collective’ (as they are referred to by the Affordable Art Fair team), more members of the wave will land in London, and other art fairs in future.