This spring Lantic Gallery is pleased to exhibit work from three leading West Country artists; Ian Mackay, Jane Ryan and Shirley Foote.

This spring Lantic Gallery is pleased to exhibit work from three leading West Country artists. The beautifully constructed and delightful automata by Ian Mackay and the quirky, distinctively painted automata by Jane Ryan, complemented by the abstract landscapes of Shirley Foote.

Jane Ryan studied Fine Art at Chelsea School of Art and moved to West Cornwall in 1988, she uses a lot of reclaimed wood, appreciating the history of the material and recently she has been using oak which is good to work with gives a lot of weight to the pieces. All of Jane’s pieces are one off, no two are the same although they have recurrent themes over the years which reflect her seaside home, gardening, food and she hopes that her work is infused with genuine humour. She has always been more interested in decoration and form than clever mechanics and her toys have simple mechanisms designed to charm rather than to amaze.

Ian Mackay grew up in South London, and began a lifetime's journey westwards with a ceramics degree at High Wycombe, followed by Small Studio Practice at Hereford College of Art. After a Crafts Council Training Grant he worked under Toymaker Jim Edmiston in 1989 and then settled in Bath and began his own toymaking and automata business with the help of a Crafts Council. Since then he has exhibited widely in Britain; in Germany, America and Japan.

Shirley Foote studied at the West of England College of Art in Bristol and Bath and lives in Cornwall. Before starting to paint full time in 1998 she worked professionally in ceramics for 30 years concentrating on sculptural forms, including stoneware animals and boats. Inspiration comes from many sources; landscapes, rock strata, cracks in walls, rusty patches on old metal, but most of all from wild, isolated landscapes and marks of man on the land. ‘Painting for me is like going on a journey, you are not always sure where you are going, sometimes you don’t remember where you have been, but you instinctively know when you get there. I believe that there is a right time for everything…now is my time to paint’.

Exhibition runs from 13th April to 11thth May 2013. The Exhibition will be held at Lantic Gallery, 38 Gold Street, Tiverton, Devon EX16 6PY. For more information please visit www.lanticgallery.co.uk, email info@lanticgallery.co.uk or call 01884 259888