Don’t eat the Pomegranate? Free Painters and Sculptors 2024

Don’t eat the Pomegranate? Free Painters and Sculptors 2024

Here in the UK we have been celebrating the signs of Spring, the natural world reawakening after winter. Throughout the globe there are seasonal changes which guide us through time. These changes are a great inspiration for artists and many myths, legends and tales explain the eternal cycles of Nature’s death and rebirth.

One such myth is the story of Persephone and Hades. The significance of the pomegranate is that by eating six pomegranate seeds Persephone was destined to spend 6 months with Hades in the Underworld and 6 months in the Upper Earth so her father divided the year into 2 parts: Dark Winter and Radiant Summer.

We pose the question “Don’t eat the Pomegranate?” to invite you to consider how would you feel without these contrasts?

Rosalind’s new drawings response.

By returning to her childhood, a place of myth and trying to understand the worlds real and imagined complexity. Rosalind playfully enfolded her original dolls, and the tiny cleaning household implements from her dolls house, rubbing textures into fine and pliable papers. In these new drawings she responded to the Greek myth of Persephone, pomegranates, why we have spring, Hades is referenced as person and place.

‘Persephone grabs her pomegranate dress to prepare Hades for Spring… cleaning’ Compressed graphite and pencil frottage on paper

‘Persephone prepares Hades for Spring…cleaning’ Compresses graphite and pencil frottage on Japanese paper

Established in 1952, the Free Painters and Sculptors (FPS) is an artist-led organisation that promotes and exhibits an international and diverse membership of Artists. Through our connections with Sevenoaks Visual Arts Forum we are excited to exhibit in the purpose built space, Sevenoaks Kaleidoscope Art Gallery. A deep thoughtfulness and playfulness converge in the exhibited works as the members connect and express their response to the theme of Spring and Nature:

Victoria Atkinson • Rosalind Barker • Nicholas Cheeseman • Joanna Ciechanowska • Louisa Crispin • Veronica van Eijk • Marek Emczek Olszewski • Leila Godden • Alexandra Harley • Michael Hempstead • Richard Heys • Maria Kaleta • Solange Keschmann • Malgorzata Lapsa- Malawska • Owen Legg • Rod McIntosh • Alex McIntyre • Peter Murry • Bettina Reiber • Bina Shah • Helen Twigge-Molecey • Sally Ward • Adam Zoltowski

With over 70 years of experience, FPS aligns with the ethos of Sevenoaks Visual Arts Forum, helping artists build long term networks that develop artistic sustainability, exposure and sales, whilst also encouraging artists to create work on their own terms, leading to a vibrant, diverse and “free” exhibition.