Ffiona Lewis : Harris Machair
A body of oil paintings and works on paper, this exhibition is the culmination of 4 years of repeated wanderings to the Outer Hebrides while renovating a small farm in coastal Suffolk.
Lewis is keenly engrossed in the slow uncertain rebuilding of detailed ecosystems at her farm – major new tree and hedge planting, revitalising old ponds and digging new, and knitting glorious wildernesses all around.
While travelling again and again to Barra, the Uists, Harris and Lewis in her summer months, she sees resonances in observing their native collectives: the intricacies of machair, rockpools, bird life, and their weaving workshops and mills. Each has its harmony of detail.
Lewis spent her formative years in South Devon. She qualified as an architect at Polytechnic of Central London; studied drawing and painting at Central St Martins School of Art; worked at ‘Paintframe’ and props at The Royal National Theatre, London.
Lewis has been represented by The Redfern Gallery, London, since 1994. She lives and works between Suffolk and London.
This is Lewis’ first solo show at the Open Eye Gallery.
