The first exhibition of the year at Rye Art Gallery, Land -Sea -Sky with Karl Terry opens on January 25 and continues until March 16. It is two years since Karl’s first solo show at the gallery and he returns now with over 40 new works.
An accomplished and prolific en plein air painter, Karl Terry is inspired by the landscapes and seascapes of Kent and East Sussex, around the country and further afield. His paintings of Camber and Rye Harbour, Dungeness, the big skies of the marsh and the landscape around his Isle of Oxney home and studio, are expressive responses to the changing light and weather conditions. Light glints off rivers and the sea, marram grass bends and sways in the wind on Camber dunes, waves crash on rocks, and moody ever-changing skies are captured with broad expressive brushstrokes. He uses colour to capture light – the golds of a low winter sun, the brightness of the reflections off water, muted mists, the bluey-purple of snowy shadows. All of which gives his work so much immediacy and atmosphere.
Dr Julian Day, curator of Rye Art Gallery, is thrilled to exhibit his new paintings. “With the work selected you can see just how Karl has developed and grown as a painter, now really on the top of his game. His passion or as he calls it, ‘an obsessional illness’ keeps Karl so in touch with the many beautiful landscapes that surround us in Sussex, whether it is the land, sea or sky, this sense of place dominates his composition as a reminder of just how close he really is to his natural surroundings.”
Julian is full of praise for Karl’s enthusiasm and passion for painting outdoors. “Karl is a quiet modest man but always quick to offer encouragement to others starting out on their painting journey. Karl is in part responsible for encouraging the gallery to launch our first en plein air show and competition in Rye last summer. We attracted painters from all over the country and will repeat it again this year.”
Karl Terry is delighted to be holding his second solo exhibition at the gallery. “For this show I haven’t strayed far from home, but focused on our local landscape. Luckily, in this wonderful part of the world one doesn’t have to look very far to find inspiration and I hope that in this show my love for the area is evident. I have also included a few fish still lives – a joy to both paint and eat!”
Karl Terry is a member of the Rye Society of Artists, the Royal Society of Marine Artists, the Wapping Group of Artists and has just been elected as an associate member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters.
The Rye Art Gallery is open from Monday to Saturday: 11am – 5pm, Sunday: 11am – 4pm Closed: Tuesdays.
Image Credits: Karl Terry .