Paul Newman SGFA
website: https://paulnewmanartist.com/ | https://www.arborealists.com/about
Social: Instagram
Biography
Living and working on the Dorset and Somerset border, Paul is a graphic fine artist intrigued by nature. He works almost exclusively in graphite and is interested in detail, texture and tone, inspired by elements of the ancient landscape and stories of Wessex.
His work is created by research into the nature and history of places that interest him; geology, ecology and sometimes interaction with human activity. Walking is an important part of the working process,understanding the character and distinctive atmosphere of a certain area, as Paul Nash referred to the ‘genius loci.’ Much of Paul’s work comes from places that have been explored and returned to repeatedly, with an ingrained personal significance, with the work mostly a response to being affected by memories or experience over time in those places. He is keen to make links between the places that he finds and the stories that fashioned them. His influences are maps and writers, geologists and legends, songs and poems. Drawings and photographs taken in the field are then worked up into finished pieces in the studio.
Trees form an important part of his interest, fusing and transforming the elements of different places. In particular, Paul is drawn to their shapes and individual textures, their place in regional folklore as well as their gift to allow us to collectively connect and think about our relationship with nature.
With a degree in fine art from Falmouth University, he has worked extensively on producing large-scale regional arts events and curated several exhibitions. He now works as the Creative Director for Dorset Visual Arts which produces the biennial Dorset Art Weeks event and is also the lead arts partner for a major new arts venue for Dorset and Wessex, The Sherborne.
He has shown work at various galleries across the South West, including the Bath Society of Artists, Messums Wiltshire, and the Royal West of England Academy as well as in London with the Society of Graphic Fine Art and in France with The Arborealists.
2024 Exhibitions:
Society of Graphic Fine Art Open 24 | Mall Galleries, London 11 – 16 March
The Quietness of Feeling | Portsmouth Museum 30 July – May ’25
Hogback Hills | Sidney Nolan Trust, Presteigne 18 July – 28 Sept