'Here and Elsewhere' 

Recent works by Maddie Willis and Carmen Alexander

Grounded in observation and personal experiences, Suffolk-based artist and metalsmith come together to share their work in parallel.

Maddie Willis

Maddie Willis works primarily in oil paint, using her surroundings to register places, stories and moments from her life. Key to this is capturing ethereal moments which, although familiar, are easily, and often, missed. One of her biggest joys about painting is when viewers can find their own memories and meanings within her work and feel a personal connection to it.

Instagram: @maddiewillisart

Carmen Alexander

Carmen Alexander's work reflects on the past lives of objects, exploring her own connection with them and the joys of discovering something new in the old. In this exhibition, she shares a new collection of jewellery inspired by ornamental features observed whilst travelling Morocco, alongside her graduate collection 'Friday Street'.

Instagram: @carmenalexanderdesign

Ruth Simpson – Landscape and Botanical Artist, Solo Show

Ruth Simpson is a Suffolk based Contemporary Artist, living near Ixworth. From here she can explore the beautiful local countryside, from its rolling farmland with its ancient woodlands and hedgerows, to its captivating heaths, flower rich meadows and wonderful wetlands.

Observing and capturing as she goes, sometimes in exquisite detail, she finds inspiration in all of its changing moods and seasons. Working mostly in acrylic paints and inks,

Ruth recreates the beauty that she sees in a way which captures not only the finest of details, but also the essence of the place, the landscape in which that detail belongs. Ruth’s paintings often depict wildflowers and grasses as their focus, but whether it be a single grass stem or a small woodland copse, they capture something that helps us to see the beauty that is so often all around us, yet is so easily taken for granted or overlooked. They capture the humble and put it centre stage, where it flourishes and comes to life, allowing us a fresh appreciation of the familiar.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruth_simpsonart/

John Robert’s Summer Exhibition.

“How fortunate we are in these difficult times to have our wonderful

old town to put a smile on our faces, That love of the place and its

people immediately struck me on arrival from London over sixty years ago.

As always the town and its wonderful river feature strongly as a theme in my

paintings on view.”

John

Step Aside and Rest Awhile

A Solo show of Oil paintings by Stephanie Bindeman

After completing a BA in Textile Design in Manchester, followed by freelance work, Stephanie Bindeman moved to Suffolk to take up a post as teacher of Art and Textiles, she later took on the roll of Head of Art in another Suffolk school. Now Selena explores and develops my own work.

“Observational studies is central to my work. I complete visual studies in my sketchbook whilst walking and travelling. I am intrigued by interconnecting shapes, textures, and colour : from the tiny and understated to the large and dramatic. I revisit these studies to select and then develop into oil paintings. “

Instagram address:  sbindemanart

Name on instagram – Stephanie Bindeman

NURTURE

An exhibition by East Anglian based Design Nation members.

You are warmly invited to join the artists for the exhibition opening at Artspace, Woodbridge on 18th June from 4pm-8pm

Caroline Hyde-Brown @artistcaz 

Hassina Khan @hassinakhanglass 

Pamela Print @pamelaprint.woventextiles 

Selina Rose @selinarose_studio 

Lucie Summers @lusummers 

Alex Waylett @alexandrawaylett 

Kate Welton @kateweltonceramics 

Karen Whiterod @balanced_earth_norfolk 

Nurture (verb) - care for and protect (someone or something) while they are growing.

Design Nation is the leading membership portfolio for contemporary craft and design in the UK. Their East Anglian group hub was formed in 2020, and connects makers working from their studios in Suffolk, Essex and Norfolk. Having met frequently over Zoom for the past six years, eight members have come together to exhibit their work. ‘Nurture’ encapsulates an exploration of each maker’s connections with either their local environment, personal well being or perceptions of identity.

Artists work across disciplines including weave, embroidery, ceramics, kiln formed glass, mixed media and textile art. The link between each maker’s practice centres around being increasingly environmentally aware.

Makers draw upon a variety of influences and experiences, from walking and connecting with their local environment, to explorations of value, balance and natural processes. The theme of Nurture is interpreted in different ways - some makers have applied personal experience of the act of making and its benefits on their wellbeing, while others have chosen to explore the idea of nurture through repurposed and eco friendly materials.

The exhibition will be open daily from the 19th-24th June, 10am-5pm.

The Edge - Sea and Land - Solo Show by Susan Gray

Susan Gray formerly trained in Fine Art at Buckinghamshire University.

Now, a full time artist she is exhibiting regularly, teaching and demonstrating.

Endlessly fascinated by the sea Susan paints directly onto boards or canvas

on the beach or in the landscape, working quickly and intuitively trying to capture the

energy and movement.  She works in both oils and acrylics and is a member of the

National Acrylic Painters Association.

Artist Residency in Cornwall 2004,2006,

International Art Festival in Mainz and finalist for the British Art Prize 2022.

Instagram;  susangrayartist

Artist - David Norman abstract painting, solo show.

‘I love bright colours and use loose and expressive brushstrokes to convey brightness and energy. I see the colourful world in which we live as a tapestry of motion and excitement and try to convey this with a variety of thick and textured brushstrokes. 

Instagram: @newstreetartist

Landscapes of East Anglia and the Continent

Peter Burman began painting on a full time basis in 1964 and soon came to be regarded as one of East Anglia's finest landscape painters. His work has been exhibited in London since 1981 at the "Upstairs Gallery" at the Royal Academy and more recently at "John Martin Gallery" Albemarle Street and "Oakham Contemporary" St. James.

Peter works in the traditional manner, basing his oil paintings on watercolour sketches executed "en plein-air." Although best known for his views of East Anglia and the South Coast, his subjects also include Venice, Provence, Elba and many other parts of Europe. His work may be found in private and public collections both in this country and abroad.

THE GREAT BLUEBIRD POTTERY

CHARITY SALE

Large range of beautiful handmade ceramics donated by local artists

Thursday 21 May 2026 to Wednesday 27 May 2026 10am to 5pm

ARTSPACE WOODBRIDGE, Apothecary House, 64 Thoroughfare, Woodbridge IP12 1AL

In aid of St Elizabeth Hospice - Registered Charity No. 289154

instagram: bluebird_ceramics

Seascapes & Woodlands

Paintings by Christine Hofmann

Painting crystal clear coastal waters has been Christine’s passion for many years. Initially inspired by prolonged stays in Australia and the beauty of its pristine beaches, her more recent work has been focusing on Mediterranean coasts - the French Riviera, Corsica and the Tuscan Archipelago.

Her compositions cover a range of different ways of looking at water, often set against the contrasting elements of sand, rock, sky and plants, while a close-up look has been one of her favorite themes: ”You discover a whole different world – shapes dissolve, others appear, and patterns within patterns are revealed…”

Apart from a selection of breathtaking water scenes, Christine Hofmann will also show the first paintings of her new woodland series. “It’s been a hugely enjoyable but also challenging journey so far. Woodlands are incredibly multi layered, and I love working with shades of green.”

While there is a personal connection to all the scenes captured in her paintings, she selects those that she feels will resonate with a wide range of people “I simply try to capture the essence of what makes nature fascinating for us to look at.”

Her large, true to life paintings have been very popular in her exhibitions in Munich, Sydney and London. She is thrilled to show her work for the first time at Artspace Woodbridge.

Between Light & Line

Wendy Raysford - Painter

Garry Magee - Ceramics

Mother and Son, Jill and Seth Draper are thrilled to announce their second joint exhibition at Artspace.

Although life has moved them around Britain, they are still heavily influenced by their roots in Suffolk. The pair share a love of everything coastal but express it from their own unique perspectives.

Seth Draper makes a mixture of automata and sculptures. His work has a whimsical feel that reflects the British seaside but due to the reclaimed materials he uses it also has a timeworn quality inspired by the Suffolk coastline of is youth. The Automata are carefully designed so you can enjoy bringing the coast to life.

Jill’s watercolours focus on the quiet beauty of the landscapes and seascapes around her, encouraging us to stop and look- at the reflections in a pool of water, or the patterns of sand on the shore, or the glory of sunlight and shadow.

SUFFOLK INSPIRES by Alice Ridley and Spadge Hopkins

Alice Ridley and Spadge Hopkins have come together again to show you their response to the beautiful and inspiring county of Suffolk.  Spadge Hopkins is showcasing his love for the wildlife and birds spotted around the shores and rivers, with stunning metal sculptures using light and shadows to create wonderful effects, while Alice Ridley captures the landscape and her home in oils and charcoal.  Alice's inspiration is the landscape as well as her home, looking at and studying the beautiful light found in this county.  This is a show that can't be missed if you, like Alice and Spadge, love Suffolk.

Instagram

@alicesarthouse

@spadgeart

Artist Jim Nind

Doing Different

The way we see, and the way we respond to what we find there, are primarily features of the cultural conventions we inherit. To step beyond, to think different thoughts, to enact new ways of working, is to challenge those shibboleths – the ‘holy cows’ that go very largely unquestioned in our day-to-day cultural lives. To do things differently is to step outside the conservative societal bosom and to progress upon a migrant journey into places that may seem odd. So the emerging products and the processes through which they are made may appear strange, and to risk adopting such things may render the maker ‘alien’.  In making this show of his work Jim entices the viewer to embrace difference and to explore the potential for affirmation through the process of ‘Doing Different’

Instagram: @ jim.auto

Artists

Delia Tournay - Godfrey

James Maberly

Gerry Spiller

David Spiller

Liz de Planta

Claire Fried

David Stone

EXHIBITION

Title: COASTAL CAPTURE

Paintings by Mary Gundry & Graham Rider

Ceramics by Sue Eyre

Mary Gundry

I find it difficult to talk about what motivates me to pick up a brush or a pencil - it's a kneejerk response usually - perhaps to the way the light is falling on the sea, or the way two figures walk hand in hand, or how a swimmer emerges from the sea. I don't know what I'm going to paint until I see it in front of me and then I face the challenge of expressing what I've seen with the emotion that I felt at the time. I have been using my imagination more recently creating midnight scenes of fishermen which are more about colour and light than the subjects themselves. A different and exciting direction for me.

Instagram: marygundryartist

Graham Rider

Graham is primarily a landscape painter with a particular focus on the hinterland between land and sea. Increasingly he has become more interested in the inhabitants of the shoreline and the restlessness of the scene, the rise and fall of the tide, the flights of the birds and their patterns of flight. The whole scene with its energy and enduring shift between permanence and temporary patterns and structures. Necessarily the technique he uses is looser, more impressionistic, his sources more eclectic, the method of planning and composition build up more layered. Over the years Graham has completed various commissions such as a tryptch of Liverpool St. station for Railtrack now in the National Railways Museum, he has works in public and corporate collections as well as in private collections including the Duke of Bedford.

Instagram: grahamriderartist

Sue Eyre

Sue is a ceramicist living in Clare, the smallest town in Suffolk. She hand builds her quirky and colourful ceramics in her garden studio, complete with woodburning stove to keep her toasty warm through the winter. Sue took up pottery in 2017 after several years of watercolour and acrylic painting, and was immediately drawn to the limitless possibilities of clay. She loves colour and her ceramics are extremely vibrant and full of humour. Sue exhibits and sells her work in several shops and galleries throughout East Anglia, particularly on the North Norfolk coast. Together with a fellow potter,she organises Clay in Clare each September, a very successful selling exhibition involving numerous ceramicists. She is a member of Anglian Potters and is part of their Social Media team. Sue confesses to having a lifelong crush on Bob Mortimer and is the proudowner of a very lively cocker spaniel called ….Mortimer!

Instagram: sue_eyre_ceramics

An Exhibition of paintings by Rosemary Claydon

with Pottery by Kate Reynolds and Robert Wickens

  A RETIREMENT.

“Picking up a paintbrush for the first time in forty years was quite daunting. I had no idea what I might achieve but I wanted to find out. Artists colours replaced the dried fragments in my childhood paintbox and I acquired a few new paintbrushes. These later became redundant when I discovered the joys of using a mop-head brush. After spending many hours attempting to paint vast skies, water and boats all along the coast and at Pinmill, I realised that I needed to acquire some real painting skills. Several two-day painting courses at Snape and Flatford followed.

    A visit to the Royal Watercolour Society‘s annual exhibition at The Mall Galleries changed everything. I was stunned by the vibrant, contemporary paintings using various combinations of pastel, ink, gouache and watercolour. To learn more I contacted several of the artists to find out whether they offered any short courses. In this way I travelled to the North Yorkshire Dales, Cornwall and Cumbria. Soon I felt free from all the conventions that previously I had thought were sacrosanct.

Whilst driving in Cumbria one beautiful evening, the sunlight glinting on the tops of the grey stone walls fleetingly reminded me of the effect achieved by tearing across a piece of newsprint. The tops of the glistening walls resembled the newly created white edge of torn newsprint. The next day I set to with newspaper and paints to create a Cumbrian Landscape. Nowadays, I use various combinations of watercolours, gouache and pastels with newsprint. The shapes and patterns of the letters and numbers are often the inspiration for the painting. Otherwise, a painting might be based on the meaning of the text. The newsprint is never randomly selected.”

                                                                                Rosemary Claydon.

Exhibition of New Works - Springtide 26

The East Anglian Group of Marine Artists (EAGMA) is a small group of professional and semi-professional artists with a shared enthusiasm for depicting marine subjects.

In addition to holding exhibitions, EAGMA meets socially and takes part in outdoor painting days several times a year, often including one session “afloat” on members’ yachts or aboard a Thames Sailing Barge.

The group originated in 1979, when six marine painters met at the famous “Butt and Oyster” pub at Pin Mill on the banks of the River Orwell in Suffolk. Soon others were invited to join, including several well-known and highly regarded artists drawn to the marine subjects along the East Coast. Following an inaugural exhibition in 1980, EAGMA has progressed in both quality and diversity and is now regarded as a respected organisation.

“Springtide 26,” the upcoming exhibition at ArtSpace Gallery in Woodbridge, will feature many new works by members of EAGMA, including local scenes of the Deben and Orwell.

A local Women’s Group exhibition - showing paintings, prints, ceramics and sculpture for sale or commissions taken

Artists

Lisa Berry

Claire Fried

Brenda Nash

Geraldine Spiller

Honor Surie

Valerie Armstrong

Kate Reynolds

Claudia Silva

To Artists, Collectors and Friends

    Thank you for your visits.

Each year we take some time to improve the Gallery,

fresh paint to walls and plinths,

mend the easels and deep clean everywhere.

We are therefore closed until the end of February 2026

Wishing you a Happy New Year and

looking forward to seeing you all soon.

If you would like to rent the gallery for a day for a drawing class,

please get in touch

Artspace Team - enquiries@artw.co.uk

John Roberts Solo Winter Exhibition

3rd - 17th January 2026

open every day between 10am-3.30pm

The winter exhibition by local artist John Roberts, pays homage to

our wonderful old town with some new work featuring the glorious

architectural mix. In addition there is aspecial focus on the town’s

 pubs which also includes many from the surrounding localities in a 

series of drawings.

Louise Sant - Jeweller

Garry Magee - Ceramicist

Wendy Raynsford - Painter

Claire Fried - Painter

Suffolk Artist Kate Roocroft studied Textile's specialising in surface print at the University of Central England in 1998 and later focussed on her love of oil painting in 2021 she began selling her work through galleries and exhibitions.

Kate’s creative process is very experimental  and includes building layers with acrylics and oils and mixed media. Creating abstract  and interpretations of local landscapes with simplified blocked areas of colours and many layers to incorporate texture and depth. 

Kates work takes inspiration from artist Paul Klee.

About the Connection Project

How connected are you to your local landscape and if you had to depict that connection through a series of photographs what would you portray?

The Connection Project was set up by Suffolk Landscape Photographer Gill Moon. The inspiration came from the question above.

The project began in January 2025 with the connection of 8 photographers from different parts of Suffolk who all came together through a shared love of photography and the landscapes of Suffolk.

The bodies of work that make up this project explore our connection with landscape and nature, with rural traditions and with our emotional wellbeing and the past. Each story is personal to the photographer who photographed it but each tells of a deep connection with the landscapes of Suffolk

Remembering in Paint

Klair Bauly -Artist of Natural Materials

Brigitte Girling - Painter in Acrylics and Mixed media

Klair Bauly -Artist of Natural Materials

Klair specialises in working with natural materials. She uses paints made from pure minerals, paper from plants and natural fibre textiles. It is important to her to create art without causing environmental impact, both as a working artist and in the work left behind in the future.

Being in nature is a constant inspiration, walking the coastline and countryside, to inform abstract paintings she creates work to portray the feeling of being in a place, a moment in time. Using repetition and minimalism to create a sense of calm contemplation; to allow space to breathe and be still, in the moment.

Balance, harmony & simplicity bringing a sense of calm contemplation is at the heart of her ethos. Creating art without harming the environment brings a purity to her expression.

She has work in collections in USA, Canada, Norway and the UK.

Graduate of West Surrey College of Art & Design 1976-79

Instagram: @klairbaulyartist

Brigitte Girling - Celebrating the humble humdrum of life.

Brigitte Girling is a self-taught, contemporary still life artist living in Suffolk, UK.

Brigitte celebrates the beauty of the ordinary and every day. Those precious small moments of whimsey and charm often unnoticed and overlooked. The mundane and domestic. She sees and feels the underlying beautiful narrative of life, whether busy and messy or quiet and still.

Working primarily with acrylic paint and some mixed media, She creates intuitively, from her imagination, until the painting chooses to reveal itself. This process leads to the build-up of many layers. A process resulting in a beautifully textured surface full of past ideas, scratches, scrapes, washes, marks and colour.

Brigitte states ‘I hope my art brings you joy, smiles and fills you up with happiness too.’

Instagram: @brigittegirling

BIRDS AND LANDSCAPES

by BRIN EDWARDS SWLA

with Jewellery by HELEN WALLACE

Brin Edwards is a wildlife and landscape painter who works from his straw bale studio near Sudbury in Suffolk. A member of the Society of Wildlife Artists his work focusses on light and atmosphere giving a contemporary twist to natural subjects. The paintings are the result of direct field observation and are worked up in the studio from on the spot sketches and compositions. The show includes some thrown ceramic bowls and sculptures also of wildlife subjects.

Instagram brinedwards_art

www.brin-edwards.com

Helen Wallace

Helen Wallace has always had a love of jewellery and a fascination for how pieces are put together. She has an advanced jewellery diploma through the Jewellers Academy in London working on intricate stone settings and designs. She has worked for many years with fine silver clay enjoying the tactile experience and flexibility it allows and finds the enhanced texture and detail in the final pieces very rewarding. She takes much of her inspiration from the natural world and incorporates the ides, shapes and forms into her bespoke handmade jewellery.

Title of show: WildWire

Paul Green is a self-taught artist and sculptor.

He draws inspiration from his love of nature, passion for birds, and his previous career as a nature reserve warden at Minsmere. Paul’s work has been featured on Channel 4’s “Grayson’s Art Club” and displayed at the Manchester Art Gallery.

Paul specializes in sculpting wildlife by observing various species and capturing their essence through the use of wire. Each piece is unique and can take many hours to create, using only wires and pliers. You might find him twisting wires at any of the birding hotspots along the Suffolk coast.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paul.green_wildwire/?hl=en

Colour / Form, is a joint exhibition between painter Gabriella Buckingham and ceramicist Karen Byford. Gabriella Buckingham's colourful art juxtaposes beautifully with the bold shapes of Karen Byford's vessels. Both artists appreciate strong form, which Gabriella explores in her experimental still life paintings and her intuitive abstracts. The artists became lifelong friends while studying different BA Hons art degrees in Kingston Upon Thames in the late 1980s and have been working full time in art and design ever since. Gabriella has been a fine artist for several years and her work featured in the 2025 RA calendar after her second showing at the RA Summer Exhibition. Karen works internationally as an architectural designer and runs her own gallery and pottery practice in Kent. This will be the launch of her new collection. 

Gabriella Buckingham Painter

https://www.instagram.com/gabriellabuckingham/

Karen Byford Potter

https://www.instagram.com/KlaybyK/

IAS SMALL WORKS 25

Artists from the Ipswich Art Society show Small works for the ninth year here in Artspace Woodbridge

NICOLA COE 'YEARTIDES'

Nicola Coe will be exhibiting a solo show of new works inspired by a year of seasonal changes in nature.

Nicola uses natural inks and tools to create both her works on paper and her sculptural pieces.

A gentle and peaceful exhibition reflecting a deep love and respect of the natural world.