Verse: inverse, obverse, converse, reverse
New Paintings by Paula MacArthur
10th April – 5th May
Preview and Artists Talk Thursday 12th April 6-8pm
Meet the artist 5th May 12 – 2pm
Installation Images curtesy of Paula MacArthur
Paula MacArthur’s paintings are a personal celebration of love & a reflection on the fragility of the ideals we yearn for. They are large scale, colour saturated memento-mori which aim to explore our desires & the fear of losing the object of our desire. The paintings encompass universal experiences & reflect upon the multilayered human responses within relationships. Painterly marks describing the light & luminescence of the objects are enlarged; ornate swirls morph into bodily gestures. The haptic quality of the brush marks & dripping paint give clues to the painter’s process & this ephemerality is suggestive of the short time we are here to experience the joy and pain of life.
Throughout her career as a painter MacArthur has worked with geometry in painting, in the Rococo series the ornamental curves conform to these precise mathematical patterns. These underlying structures give an innate harmony & a grounding connection back to Renaissance ideas of universal interconnectedness & understanding. This principle of inseparability & union reminds us of the balance in our relationships both personally, politically & universally.
Painter, Paula MacArthur trained at Loughborough College of Art & Design and The Royal Academy Schools and now works from her studio in Rye, East Sussex. Paula was a prize winner at John Moores 18 in 1993, first prize winner at NPG Portrait Award in 1989 & was shortlisted for WW Solo Award in 2014.
In 2017 Paula exhibited with Danish sound & performance artist Tine Louise Kortermand in ‘Resonance & Wonder’ at Rye Creative Centre & her work was part of the Priseman Seabrook Collection’s tour of four major museums in China. Group exhibitions include ‘Slippery and Amorphous’ which toured from London to Bushwick NYC in 2016, ‘Right Here, Right Now’ alongside artists Andrzej Jackowski, Chantal Joffe & Dave McKean, Creekside Open 2015 selected by Richard Deacon, The Zeitgeist Open 2015, 20 Painters – Phoenix Brighton 2014, Crash Salon – Charlie Dutton London 2014, Open West 2013 – Newark Park & Wilson Art Gallery Cheltenham, The Perfect Nude – Wimbledon Space, Exeter Phoenix & Charlie Smith London, What The Folk Say – Compton Verney 2011. Her work is held in several public & private collections including Jiangsu Art Museum – China, Baron & Baroness von Oppenheim, Priseman Seabrook Collection, RICS, & National Portrait Gallery, London.
Twitter: @PMacArthur
Instagram: @paula_macarthur
Facebook: @paulamacarthurpainter
Broomhill Emerges 6th – 10th March 2018
‘Broomhill Bank School, located in the village of Rustall, Tunbridge Wells is a secondary school for individuals with communication or interaction difficulties and ASD.
This exhibition showcasing the artwork of our GCSE students, gives the opportunity for them to experience presenting their work in a professional environment.’
The Art and design students are presenting a variety of media. They are also showcasing mixed media collage and prints inspired by artists Katie Whitbread and Cas Holmes. Closely following their process in workshops with the artists, they used their unique conceptual ideas to execute their designs.
In the world of Design and technology we see a variety of work created at GCSE level. Textiles, Fashion, woodwork and electronics.
The SVAF OPEN 2018
7th February – 3rd March
Selection and curation by Rebecca Fairman of ARTHOUSE1 
Selected Artists: Pauline Alexander Judith Balchin Alison Berry Jo Brown Niki Campbell Andrea Coltman Christa Corner Louisa Crispin Angela Dewar
Margaret Devitt Christina France Sonia Griffin Katie Hayward Bill Hall Melissa Hill Elisa Hudson Amanda Houchen Marion Jones Maria John Sarah Jones Marilyn Kyle David Minton Venetia Nevill Diana Poliak Deborah Ravetz Julian Rowe Jane Sandoe Sabrina Shah Juliet Simpson Rachel Wickremer.
MARIA TURNER
Cara Eliza Oil on canvas 76 x 100cm
MELISSA HILL
“Rohingya Toile de Jouy” Digitally printed wallpaper
60 cm x 360 cm
Living in an Aquarium. 6/10.
Bronze on found oak
34 x 30 x 20 cm
Vanishing Point Polycarbonate Twin Wall Plastic, Paint, Threads & Glue 40cm x 40cm x 1cm
Installation: acrylic on calico, metal powders, wood, Perspex, toy locomotive, perambulator. 182 x 210 x 110 cm
White Cube
Graphite powder and pigment on 300 gm. paper mounted on aluminium
47cm x 67cm
Acrylic and Oil on Linen
70 x 70 x 4cm
Acrylic and Oil on Linen
70 x 70 x 4cm
JANE SANDOE3, 2, 1 High Rise
Oil on board, framed in grey painted wood
780 x 525m
Mixed media on paper
223 x 184mm
BILL HALL Maigh Eo Window
Etching & aquatint 27 x 22 cm (Framed)
Minehead: St. Just: Etching, aquatint & drypoint 53 x 40 cm (Framed)
SARAH ABERCROMBIE JONES
Strands I Archival Ink on Paper 405 x 405 x12mm £140
Strands II Archival Ink on Paper 405 x 405 x12mm £140
Twelfth Station
Hand made felt 54 x 54 cms
ELISA HUDSON Side by Side
Oil on panel
Graphite on Bristol 40 x 40 cms
VENITIA NEVILL Unspoken Words Ash, earth and glove on Perspex shelf 30 x 16 cm
Abstract Desert iv
Acrylic Watercolour and Oil Pastel Framed 54 x 53 cms
Pastel on Paper
53.5cm x 44.5
Mist Rising
Acrylic on canvas 53 x 63 cm
The Rhubarb Triangle 1
Oil, graphite, pastel and acrylic on wooden panel
30 x 40 x 2 cm
Ink and Acrylics on canvas 80 x 98 cms
Rust and Bone
Salt aquatint etchings with emboss
Unique etchings with aquatint and emboss. 35 x 835 cm
FLEECE and FABRIC A Textile experience with Judy Balchin, Angela Carole Stocker and Sue Evans
January 15th – 3rd February
You are cordially invited to the Private View
on Thursday February 1st 5 30 – 7 30pm
The embroiderer and felt maker Judy Balchin has invited Angela Carol Stocker and Sue Evans to join her in the Sevenoaks Kaleidoscope Gallery from Monday January 15th until Saturday February 3rd.
Come in and see the results of the textile residency and collaboration. The exhibition also features work from the differing textile practices of Judy Balchin, Angela Carol Stocker and Sue Evans.
The final week from Monday 29th January until Saturday 3rd February sees the ‘Fleece and Fabric’ exhibition of textile sculptures. Needle felting workshops will bring the show to a close.
There will be three needle felting workshops; facilitated by Judy during the exhibition.
They are suitable for complete beginners and a finished piece will be made during both.
Details can be found at www.woollyfelters.com
To book a place please email Judy at judybalchin@gmail.com
WEE WOOLLY WONKIES
Friday 2nd February
10am until 12.30pm £20
One of our most popular workshops where you will learn the basics of needle felting and how to create a wee woolly creature!
All materials and light refreshments included.
Come and have some fun and learn the magic of needle felting. You will be taught how to make a little character animal or a face using just some Norwegian wool and a felting needle. The venue is the lovely Kaleidoscope Gallery, above the library in Buckhurst Lane, Sevenoaks, TN13 1LQ, where you will meet like- minded crafty folk.
FELT-A-FACE
Wednesday 31st January
10am until 3.30pm £40
Join us to learn how to needle felt a selfie, a family member or just a fab face!
Bring a packed lunch and a photo if creating a family member.
All materials and light refreshments included.
We are sorry but FELT-A-FACE on Saturday 3rd February is already fully booked.
During the first week Angela Carol and Judy will be resident and working in the Gallery.
Angela Carol will spend the week concentrating on producing an artwork based on responses to books made by the library staff and exhibit this new work on January 19th.
Week commencing 15th January.
The second week from Saturday 20th until Friday 26th all three artists will work together to produce a collaborative artwork that will incorporate their very different styles. Nothing is planned so the outcome is unpredictable.
Visitors are welcome to come and chat about the work in progress during both weeks when the artists will be working in the gallery from 10.30 until 3.
PLAY!
Come in and PLAY! Or join in one of the free SVAF events in the Gallery space.
December 12th – January 13th 2018
PLAY! Features work by SVAF artists. Ann Bridges, Margaret Barrett, Melissa Hill, Sonia Griffin, Juliet Simpson, Andrea Coltman, Elisa Hudson, Rosalind Barker and guests Hugh Ribbans, Adam Green and Jack Gould
Thank you to the SVAF selectors, Marilyn Kyle, Elisa Hudson, Ann Bridges, Bill Hall, Rosalind Barker and Sue Evans.
PLAY!
Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states
‘That every child has the right to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.’
SVAF artists have responded to the theme ‘PLAY’ in engaging, extraordinary and challenging ways. Much of this exhibition, in the Kaleidoscope Gallery, Sevenoaks, is interactive. Children and adults will find objects and images to react to, to enjoy and to wonder at.
Paintings, prints, montages, sculptures and models await your presence: only then will they spring into life!
Play is the highest form of research. – Albert Einstein
Story time and PLAY!
Was 11am on Wednesday 20th December
With Museum curator Sue Gosling and artist Juliet Simpson.
Stories in this Story time were based on the Noah’s Ark by Sevenoaks artist Juliet Simpson and the magical carved wooden cars and engines of the late artist Jack Gould.
Museum curator Sue Gosling told stories, Juliet Simpson opened up her beautiful Noah’s Ark and SVAF artists supervised a play session with these and toys from the Museum collection.
A joint Kaleidoscope Museum and Gallery event using both spaces.
The Ark was so successful it was opened again at the drop in on the 28th
PLAY! Thursday 21st December
Drop in 9 30 – 12 30am or 1 30 – 3 30 pm.
With artist and designer Ann Bridges and the ‘Morphun’ educational brick construction system.
Ann Bridges is a painter/printmaker who also ‘plays’ with plastic bricks for an international toy construction system company. ‘MORPHUN Makes Learning More Fun’
Discover the amazing shapes that can be made using just Squares and Triangles.
Your designs will be displayed on the wall of the Gallery giving children the opportunity to win an awesome tub of ‘Morphun’ bricks.
Suitable for children over 3.
Parents must accompany children to this workshop.
Many families joined Ann in a design session.
PLAY! 28th December 10 – 12
All ages are welcome to join in and PLAY! with artists Melissa Hill, Elisa Hudson and Amanda Hopkins for ten minutes or two hours. Experience the energy and fun of playing with artists to create three different works of art.
Hang your art on the Gallery wall as part of the exhibition.
The workshop is part of PLAY! An SVAF community exhibition
Ink, glue and paint will be used in this workshop so wear messy clothing!
Suitable for children 3+
Parents must accompany children to the workshop
PLAY!
Kim’s game in the Gallery using the beautiful watercolour drawing of Ann Bridges.
THE SEARCH FOR THE DEEP SELF
Deborah Ravetz 27th November – 9th December
Deborah Ravetz writes…
‘I work as a painter, a writer, lecturer and practitioner of Social Sculpture. Last year I published a book called The Art of Being Human, in which these strands come together in synthesis. This event will concentrate on my social sculpture project, ‘The Search for the Deep Self’.
Issues of individuality and freedom will be explored. Joseph Beuys coined the phrase Social Sculpture because he wanted to widen the remit of art to include much more than objects. He famously said that everyone was an artist. What he meant was that in each one of us there is the capacity to re-imagine the world. In this event these concepts will become concrete’.
14th – 24th November 
‘Making my mark’
Kent county Council’s Specialist Fostering Team supports children and young people with disabilities, alongside their foster and Short Break families throughout Kent. Thoughts and feelings about their lives and experiences can often go unnoticed or unheard so we invited these children and young people, as well as their foster and Short Break families, to make their mark on plain white canvas.
The result is an exhibition of very different and contrasting images that capture their voices in a variety of different ways. It is uplifting, heart-warming, touching and very personal to all those who have contributed to date and continues to be built on as new canvases come in.
It reminds us that they are all individuals in their own right and when they come together they shine with a shared sense of belonging and positive self-worth.
This exhibition will travel round Kent exhibiting at Folkestone Quarter House, Gravesend, Sheerness Library, Canterbury, Sessions House Gallery Maidstone and Thanet (Dates to be confirmed.
Kent Fostering with Kent County Council
BLURRED BOUNDARIES 
1st – 11th November
Annual Members Exhibition 2017
“Blurred Boundaries explores decisive moments when the traditional boundaries of fiction/nonfiction, truth and falsehood Blur”
‘Blurred Boundaries: Questions of Meaning in Contemporary Culture’ by Bill Nichols.
An exhibition by Maidstone based Arts co-operative Making Art Work, “Blurred Boundaries” will consider and investigate how the blurring of boundaries can be viewed from a multi-dimensional position and how these considerations can be expressed through contemporary and critical visual art practice.
Fleur Alston, Judith Balchin, Margaret Barrett, Sue Batt, Suzannah Saffron, Sharon Van Diepen, Elizabeth Dudley, Jenny Fairweather, Ali Farmer, Christina France, Shirley-Anne Galbraith, Mark Hayfield, Debbie Humm, Sarah Jones, Asli Shehi, Catherine Sibley, Linda Simon, Angela stocker, Susan Vass, Angela Wooi.
Private View and Artists in conversation Thursday 2nd November 5 30 – 7 30pm Hosted by SVAF
‘Drawing is a language’ Nicole Mollett
Gallery Residency 2nd – 28th October 2017
During October 2017 artist Nicole Mollett will be in residence in the Kaleidoscope Gallery, using the space as her studio during the week.
‘Drawn To The Light Magic Lantern Workshop’
During October 2017 artist Nicole Mollett will be in residence in the Kaleidoscope Gallery, using the space as her studio during the week.
Situated above a library, the Gallery is well suited for an artist who regularly uses books and encyclopaedias as a starting point for her ideas.The artist will explore the idea of drawing as a language, using visual images to tell stories and make connections.
Inside the Kaleidoscope library there will be two sculptures on display. A Frail Happiness and Darkness Visible are a pair of show box dioramas made just before the 2017 election. The viewer is invited to peer into miniature worlds containing hand-painted scenes, suggesting the parallel existences of heaven and hell.
The Sevenoaks Kaleidoscope Museum collection contains a series of magic lantern slides painted in the 17th century by local artist William Knight.These glass slides were projected onto the walls of a darkened room to conjure up fantasies of beasts and exotic lands. Mollett also paints her own magic lantern slides, and works collaboratively with artist Frog Morris to repurpose these Victorian theatrical devices to perform contemporary tales.
There will be a special slide making half term workshop.Participants can explore a number of techniques to produce their own images, and then see them projected alongside the original slides.
Public Events for the October Residency
SVAF Artist’s Talk on Thursday 19th October, 6-8pm
Nicole Mollett will talk about her experience of being an artist, focusing on recent commissions and projects. The artist will talk about the works she has developed whilst in resident in the Sevenoaks Kaleidoscope Gallery.
Talk open to non members.
Wednesday 25th October Half Term Event
‘Drawn To The Light’ Magic Lantern workshops
A joint Kaleidoscope Museum and Gallery event using both spaces
Come and make your own Magic Lantern slide with artists Nicole Mollet & Frog Morris.See and be inspired by the Kaleidoscope Museums 18th Century slides of beasts and monsters painted by Sevenoaks artist William Knight.
Magic Lantern performances at 1, 2, 3 & 4 pm followed by slide painting.
Family workshop, age range; 5yrs and above (30 minutes, plus allow for drying time)
Workshop is free but £2 per child toward materials. An adult must accompany children.
Numbers are limited so book your workshop place either online at ‘Drawn to the Light’ A Magic Lantern Workshop or sign up in the Gallery
Please be aware that if you choose to work with the paint you might want to consider wearing your ‘messy’ clothes.
Magic Lantern shows (10 minutes) followed by making your own Magic Lantern Slide.
Sessions at 1pm, 2pm, 3pm & 4pm. Use acetate, pens and printed transparencies to create your own magic collage, which can be projected through the magic lanterns. Try using water based paints to create your own monster slides.
The paint needs approximately 1hr to dry completely. Participants can take home your slide and cook in a normal oven to fix the image permanently.
There will be a mini performance at regular intervals to project the childrens slides.
About the Artist
Nicole Mollett is a multi-disciplinary artist. Her work features drawing, sculpture and magic lantern performances. When drawing, her imagined realities are composed using images from early encyclopaedias together with photographs found online. She is known for her detailed drawings and maps, which reveal hidden narratives, and suggest alternative histories.
Nicole completed her Sculpture MFA at the Slade School of Art. Her work features in several publications including a collection of maps of London called ‘Curiocity’ published by Particular Books in August 2016. She has exhibited and performed in many museums and galleries including Whitechapel Gallery, Space Station 65 Gallery, Jerwood Space and Tunbridge Wells Gallery. She has run public engagement workshops and educational projects with organisation such as the Barbican and Milton’s Cottage Trust.
Her public art commissions include a mobile artwork, the Kent Baton, which travelled the county of Kent 2010 – 2012, during the Olympics. The artist was recently commissioned with writer Sarah Butler, to produce an online digital archive of drawings as part of Creative People and Places project. Entitled ‘More Than 100 Stories’ 2016.
OF THE HOSPICE SCHOOL PONIES
19th – 30th September
A selection of The Herd of the Hospice School Ponies were shown throughout the Sevenoaks Kaleidoscope Building and Gallery
Come up to the Gallery and help us decorate KALEIDOSCOPE our Gallery pony
As part of the campaign 30 ponies were also designed and decorated by local schools.
Exhibited at The Sevenoaks Kaleidoscope Gallery from 19th – 30th September all the ponies joined the full Herd at The exhibition in Royal Victoria Place Tunbridge Wells from 2- 13th October.
‘KALEIDOSCOPE’ with all The School Ponies at Herd Of The Hospice Victoria Place
Forget me Nots and other flowers of the Weald by Hilden Grange Preparitory school
As part of this pony project, schools have been organising fundraising activities to help Hospice in the Weald raise the vital funds they need to continue to support patients with a terminal illness, their families and carers.
‘Trojan Pony’ Complete with wheels and soldiers. The Bricklehurst Manor School
Full information, merchandise www.herdofthehospice.co.uk
‘HARD LINES’ David Minton
4th – 16th September
‘Rubbing, smoothing, fixing.
My eye feels the surface and the meeting of edges.
Space twists.
Line clings to skin. Fragile.’
David Minton August 2017
‘White Cube’ Graphite powder and pigment on paper 67 x 47 cm
SVAF are delighted to welcome SVAF member artist, critic and blogger David Minton in a solo exhibition ‘HARD LINES’
We have glimpsed David’s exquisite work over the years when he has been externally selected for several SVAF Annual OPEN Exhibitions and in ‘This ‘Me’ of Mine’ curated by Jane Boyer.
This ‘Me’ of Mine brought a thought provoking art experience on it’s tour of APT Gallery, Deptford London; Strange Cargo, Georges House Gallery, Folkestone; SevenoaksKaleidoscope Gallery and The Art School Gallery in Colchester/Ipswich Museum, Ipswich.
David features in the book ‘This ‘Me’ of Mine: Self, Time & Context in the Digital Age.’ ISBN-10: 1483670066
David exhibited in ‘GRIT’ at ARTHOUSE1. London in June 2016
David is also an enthusiastic critic and writes blogs on a-n magazine.
A busy meet the artist event was held on Saturday 9th September 10- 1 pm.
His blog about the first year of the Sevenoaks Kaleidoscope Gallery https://www.a-n.co.uk/blogs/sevenoaks-kaleidoscope-gallery-the-first-year
‘Help I’m a Celebrity, Stop Drawing Me’ Andrew Mead
24th August – 2nd September
Some drawings were commissioned and others were available for sale via a silent auction in the Gallery. Andrew raised a total of £7,351-08p for the Hospice.
Sevenoaks Kaleidoscope Gallery installation views August 2017
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/andrew-mead-drawing
Kent Live ‘Why a Sevenoaks widower is drawing 365 celebrities in 365 days.’ Now archived.
This Is Tomorrow
9th – 19th August 2017
This Is Tomorrow, presented at the Whitechapel Gallery, London in 1956. It showcased the work of twelve groups of artists, architects, musicians and graphic designers who worked ‘independently for the development and production of their work but conceived the final display as one environment suggesting a model of multi-disciplinary collaboration’.
The Sevenoaks Kaleidoscope Gallery, presents ‘This Is Tomorrow’ 2017. Ten Kent University postgraduate artists revisit this seminal show, their responses offer a fresh interpretation in a wide range of intriguing works.
Lorraine Mailer, Sonia Griffin, Jenny Dalton, Jill Scanlon, John Stewart, Stephen Pink, Peps Barkhan, Jacob Weeks, Phil Woodward, Kit Forrest.
PV Thursday 10th August 17 00 – 20 00.
TEXTILE STUDIO ‘Threads of Colour’
25th July – 5th August 2017
The Textile Studio is a group of artists whose passion is experimenting with a wide variety of textile-related media. Their work includes hand and machine stitching, feltmaking, fabric printing, dyeing and other techniques, reflecting their individual approach to textile art.
The group was originally formed more than 40 years ago and, over that time, has included many textile artists from South London and Kent. There are currently 18 members, many of whom also belong to various other textile groups, with which they exhibit locally, nationally or internationally.
Textile Studio members aim to produce original contemporary work and have always been eager to use different materials and try out new techniques, though some have developed a recognisable style in their chosen media. Design is an important element of members’ work, as is sharing ideas and learning from others in the group or in the wider textile world.
The Textile Studio has exhibited regularly at a wide range of venues in London and the South East. In recent years, the principal exhibition venue has been the Stables Gallery at Hall Place in Bexley and the group will be returning there from 15th September to 15th October 2017, following their exhibition at the Sevenoaks Kaleidoscope Gallery.
Meet the artist event 11 – 12 30 on Thursday 3rd August.
https://www.textilestudioartists.co.uk
CHEERS?
18th – 22nd July 2017
‘The world that my paintings portray is inhabited by animal-faced, anthropomorphic figures who are all different in appearance and are all composite – made up of both animal and human parts. The figures, self-conscious of their appearance, don masks. It is unclear however if the masks conceal or express. Although the figures in the paintings live in their own world, they are aware of the viewers looking in and judging them. They look at the viewer as if to say, ‘What are you looking at? Is this right, or is this wrong?’ It is up to you as a viewer to decide.
The closeness of the figures allows for their imperfections to be seen. I do not conceal the imperfections of the figures, instead I deliberately present them as flawed. This approach is mirrored in my artistic practice, where mistakes are embraced rather than concealed.
The deliberate imperfections of the paintings are essential in allowing the figures and the world they inhabit to feel real’ Sabrina Shah July 2017
Sabrina studied at Brighton University and was selected for The Royal Drawing School Post Graduate Year 2010.
Shortlisted for The John Moores Painting Prize 2010 and The Marmite Painting Prize 2012. She exhibits in Europe and London.
Sabrina will have the first SVAF solo pop up exhibition.
Five days where the Gallery is used as a venue for exhibiting work but also as a period to reflect and review her painting practice.
Sabrina will be discussing her paintings on July 20th 6-8pm at our SVAF meeting and everyone is welcome.
CHEERS? was curated by Rosalind Barker
Sevenoaks Art Club
5th – 15th July 2017
The Annual Exhibition by the artists of Sevenoaks Art Club (Established 1901)
Including ‘The Mind Wall’ a collection of small canvases at £10 each, in aid of the Sevenoaks Art Club selected charity for 2017, Sevenoaks MIND
Sevenoaks Camera Club Annual Exhibition
20th June – 1st July 2017
http://www.sevenoakscameraclub.org.uk
Uncommon Ground – Kent University FDFA
19 May to 26 May 2017
Uncommon Ground is a contemporary art exhibition of diverse work by fine art students studying at the University of Kent.
The artists exhibiting are James Abbott, Michael Ashby, Maryanne Bakker, Debbie Clark, Alanna Coppard, Alison Doherty,
Louise Draper, Daniel Huckfield, Siana Kohler, Nathan Selvendran and Alison Sweidan.
PAINTINGS
3rd – 11 May 2017
