Guest Maker: Ray Balkwill

Retail Gallery April 2024

Devon born, Ray lives and works close by the Exe Estuary and it’s a place that he has a deep and personal connection with. For more than three decades the estuary has provided a visual stimulus for his art in a variety of media. From paintings produced en plein air in watercolour, pastels and oils, to studio paintings in acrylics, collage and mixed media.  

 However, Ray is continually experimenting and seeking new ways of looking at a familiar subject. Perhaps none more so than with his recent assemblages where he produces artworks made from ‘waste’ material found on the foreshore of the Exe Estuary.  

 Much of the content of these assemblages are the weathered fragments of old discarded boats, where the attritions of time, weather and tide have created new minor geographies on their surfaces. Ray seeks to suggest what they might become; be it sky, land, estuary or sea. His palette is the naturally occurring patinas of the various material itself. Ray chooses not to disturb these, but instead use the material’s own reaction to the elements to their best effect; thereby carrying the history of the place. He states: “I love the idea that they can be repurposed, and that these simple, discarded fragments have all known previous lives, yet still speak and invite rebirth.”