Paintings by Barbara Bromhead-Wragg |
'Rotherwas Sky at Night' Oil painting on stretched canvas.
150cm x 85cm x 4cm.
This painting was produced by Barbara, in response to the issue of light pollution. The view is painted from her, first floor, living room window, which gives her a vista across farmland by day but an all too clear view of Hereford city lights at night.
Barbara says, "Although one would usually associate light pollution with the colour orange, often the night view from my window has a yellow cast. The varying colours are caused by both differing weather conditions and pollutants in the sky, (other than that of street lights reflecting onto the clouds). As a consequence of varying levels of these pollutants, the 'Night Blight' of reflected light can appear as a red, orange, yellow or even green colouration to the clouds of the night sky."
'Paideia Lost' Oil painting on stretched canvas. 85cm x 150cm x 4cm.
"This
painting was created in response to the polytunnels that seemed to be
flooding the Herefordshire countryside in 2006. For this exhibition I
was not only the curator but the administrator also. One of my first duties
for the latter post was that I visit and record (visually and to create
directions for my fellow artists) each of the sites identified, by CPRE
Herefordshire, as at risk of development."
"In performing that task I got to view much of Herefordshire's countryside and was personally horrified to see how much of our countryside was covered in the plastic of polytunnels. Paideia Lost is my response to what I saw on my journey across this county." The title for this work comes from the greek word paideia, meaning culture being passed down through the generations (being also the root for the word encyclopedia). The farming way of life is under threat and although I loathe polytunnels, I am aware of the difficulties facing farmers today.
'Vacuum Packed for Your Convenience...' Oil paint on edged board, enclosed in plastic. 63cm x 94cm (board size)
"Much of our food today appears to spend its time encased in plastic.
Firstly, it is grown under plastic in the form of polytunnels, before
it is packaged or shrink wrapped in plastic.
There is a lot of debate at present, with supermarkets stating that they
'only stock what the customer wants'. I thought I would therefore put
the simple decision before the visitors to the exhibition. The image was
produced very simply with green and a little ochre, to indicate the landscape;
a large patch of white represented polytunnels. The decision for visitors
to make was - did they want to see the white of the polytunnel take over
or the land reclaim the area of polytunnel?"
To see how the interactive painting developed through the week, please click here
CPRE Herefordshire is a registered Charity: No: 213951. The Campaign to Protect Rural England exists to promote the beauty, tranquillity and diversity of rural England by encouraging the sustainable use of land and other natural resources in town and country.
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