Runs from: 9th June 2021 to 14th June 2021 (10.30am-4pm daily)

June sees a new art exhibition in Whitstable from Thanet-based artist and community activist, Amanda Jane Godley. The highly personal theme of this solo exhibition is defined by Amanda as a journey to find the essence of her soul.

Commenting on her forthcoming exhibition, Amanda Godley said:

“My work is a documentary of a journey to find the essence of my soul – it is a way of making sense of my inner world in relation to the world around me. I like to play with colour, contrasting and clashing, creating an energy that draws the eye around and around the images. I get involved in the minute detail of the patterns that are ever repeating and circular in shape and with each new mandala that captures this detail it brings something different. Sometimes through the shape of the mandala, I think about and make sense of fragmentation and endeavour to reframe it in a more digestible way.”

Other forms that appear in the exhibition describe other ways of thinking – like the “pecking parrots” series where critical thought is interpreted through the abstracted imagery of parrots, or the “Squares” series where boundaries are explored.

Amanda adds:

“I also try to make sense of life and death, family and bereavement, struggling to come to terms with love and loss of 3 family members and the challenges that drug, and alcohol addiction and poor mental health can bring upon those around us. Through the work in this exhibition, I endeavour to look for and bring hope.”

“More recently I have undertaken several self-portraits through which I have been searching for my inner self and found a very intense and serious side to myself. Observers suggested that I should smile in the images, but this has been an extremely challenging thing for me to do while concentrating on the image making and the outcome of the portraits has a somewhat haunting effect.”

Amanda mainly uses gouache and watercolour on watercolour paper. More recently she has been experimenting with larger work as well as acrylic gouache where the vibrancy and solidity of the matt paint effect suits her way of working.

Amanda Godley studied Fine Art: Sculpture in 1979-83 and Art Psychotherapy in 1997-9. Recent exhibitions include ‘Journey of Nutcase10’ in collaboration with the Turner Contemporary Wasteland Exhibition at the Pie Factory in Margate in 2018 and ‘Connections…” at the Temperance Café & Gallery in Ramsgate in 2019.

Fishslab Gallery is based at 11 Oxford Street, Whitstable, CT5 1DB

Website: https://fishslabgallery.co.uk/

Media enquiries to: Darren Johnson 07799 731 682
darrenjohnson@crowfliescommunications.com