Made In Colchester are a collective of artists, makers and designers who are based within the Colchester area in the East of Essex.
They are a diverse group with a common thread of Colchester, quality and innovation, spreading the work and message of the collective through exhibitions, workshops, talks, and fairs, whilst aiming to promote the wealth of creative talent and skills that can be found within the Colchester art scene.
Church Street Gallery has strong ties to Colchester, not only through several of the artists we represent, such as Pru Green, James Dodds and Jane Watson, but also through our gallery owner Daisy Courtauld, who studied there, gaining her Fine Art degree in 2008 and going on to work for Firstsite, the East of England's leading contemporary visual arts organisation, located in the heart of Colchester. Throughout her career Daisy has very much been a part of the growing art scene in Colchester and through this exhibition she aims to share its creative richness and emerging talent from one of the area's most exciting collectives.
Jane Watson - Jane's collages are made with hand printed tissue papers. She uses many different techniques, including linocut, gel-plate, embossed wallpaper, bubblewrap and many other mediums. Sometimes the backgrounds for Jane's paintings are painted with acrylic but always with lots of texture.
Justin Knopp - Taking inspiration from the experimental typographers of the Dada movement, Justin seeks to keep letterpress printing alive and kicking in the 21st Century through experimentation and new techniques with old materials and an ancient craft.
Lauren Kelly - Lauren's background as a graphic designer has inspired the sense of order and organisation in her linocut compositions and the illustrative, commercial style to her designs. She loves to explore repetition, analysing small differences in collections of similar objects, such as her Wivenhoe Seed Co series.
Lucy Hook-Child - Growing up in rural Essex where many local traditions were rooted in folklore, Lucy is very much inspired by nature and folklore. She uses a variety of media including monotype and linocut printing, colour pencil, watercolour and cyanotype processes.
Nicola Osbourne - Nicola's work is largely based around the natural world with reoccurring themes such as spheres, pattern and transparency. Her paintings often re-imagine and develop her take on nature, the result being an explosion of abstraction and colour.
Nicola Roberts - Nicola started linocut printmaking in 2020 from her little blue cottage on the Essex-Suffolk border, where she lives with husband and their 2 dogs.
Sara Barker - Colour and shape are running themes through Sara's work, looking to natural forms and manmade environments for inspiration for her jewellery designs. She uses enamel as the way to include colour in her work, firing layers onto recycled silver.
Sue Bedford - Sue's captivating Estuary Collection is a tribute to the graceful dance of estuaries meeting the sea. You will be immersed in the mesmerising interplay of inks and water on watercolour paper, mirroring the rhythmic ebb and flow of the tidal rivers that grace Essex and Suffolk.
