SALON Exhibition at Clifton Park Museum - All The Artists, In Their Words
Project Overview
Salon is a vibrant celebration of artistic diversity, featuring a kaleidoscope of works from our talented members. With no specific theme, the exhibition embraces the varied and unique expressions of each artist, creating a dynamic showcase of creativity. From paintings to sculptures, photography to mixed media, the Salon is a testament to the richness and individuality within our artistic community.
The Artists, In Their Words
Alan Jackson AKA CuSi Sound
Age 7 I started learning clarinet, age 15 I bought a guitar and started playing in rock bands then life happened and music took a back seat.
Fast forward to 2015 and I have more time to set up a home studio and start recording albums (eg New Worlds). In 2018 I started my CuSi Sound project to build my own diy synthesiser modules and use them to make electronic music.
I started my youtube channel to share my journey and got into making music videos. I can now start exploring the wider world of electronic music and its relationship with the visual arts.
Claire Reid
As a mixed media artist, I love the freedom of experimenting with all sorts of materials and mediums to create textures and dimension. These sculptures of the heart are my personal attempts to express and communicate my ideas and emotions in a healthy way. I see creativity as a tool to channel our thoughts and feelings into something tangible to interpret and reflect upon, and further our understanding. I hope to continue to develop my techniques and skills and expand on this collection in the future.
Chris Slater
Chris studied Fine Art at Rotherham College in and Granville College, Sheffield.
Chris is a largely self-taught artist through constant daily practice preferring to paint directly from life and does not rely of photographic images. He values the interaction with the public while working at his easel, he is primarily a plein air painter and works in oils.
He has recently been accepted as a Royal Society of Marine Artists R.S.M.A. member, a highly prestigious group which is a dream come true.
Christopher Bilton
I enjoy creating artwork in most mediums: Photography, oils, watercolour, acrylic, pencil, pen and ink, pastels, charcoal and computer generated graphics. I take great pleasure painting in the great outdoors and carve in stone and wood. I always try to depict a positive message with humour and bright colours.
Gill Cosford
I have been working with this amazing modelling material for nearly 40 years and find that I am only scratching the surface of how versatile it is. I am very inspired by the natural world, colourful patterns and textures and I try to bring a quirky sense of fun to my art, to brighten people's day! I run Fimo workshops in schools, with community groups and anyone who would like to further their Polymer Clay skills. My future aims are to create larger pieces, and to explore new techniques.
Greta Vilidaite
Greta began painting after experiencing burnout in her previous career as a Neuroscientist and developing a life-changing chronic health condition. Oil painting became her means to rediscover mental well-being, and to reconnect with nature and the great outdoors. Now a full-time artist and art tutor, she has received several awards and an Arts Council grant for her landscape and animal paintings. With her art, Greta strives to evoke a sense of wanderlust, freedom, and adventure, inviting viewers to appreciate the simple act of living and being part of nature. Well on her way in recovery, Greta has a busy schedule of exhibitions, workshops and magazine article deadlines, but having learnt from the past, she balances this out with family time, walks in Yorkshire and Derbyshire and creating art for the fun of it. She is committed to a slower pace of life full of continuous learning.
Jennifer M Booth
As a award winning multidisciplinary artist living with cancer, I aim to challenge reductive narratives about gender and the labour of disability. I am also a Creative Industries mentor enabling next the generation of Creatives. I am focused on the quality of conceptual progress based art commissions and pedagogy, framed within the mythology of rabbits.
Kevan Cadman
Having been in Primary education for over thirty years, I took early retirement and immediately threw myself into my artwork. Without any definite plan, I quickly settled into working as a printmaker (predominantly lino print) with occasional forays into sculpture, mostly using corrugated cardboard. I am hoping to continue both strands, looking at different printing methods and sculpting in different materials.
Ken Horne
Fearing pretentious hyperbole Ken would prefer to say his work involves "cobbling stuff together" and leave it at that.
Kevin Tingle
These paintings were inspired by standing at Carbrook tram stop and sketching passengers in the strange days of the pandemic I paint recognisable places but then let my imagination go into a day dream and imagine a dystopian dream or visit a Steampunk world
Leon Alao
Clay tablets uncovered in Egypt from a tomb of a King named Scorpion who was the ruler between years c.3200-3000BCE represent the earliest known form of hand-writing by mankind. The artwork that I make has the unique ability to blur the boundaries between historical and modern ideologies, consequently bringing an alternative comprehendable perspective to the younger generation. I combine different concepts of art to create ancient ornamental tablets with an encapsulated holographic, bold, vibrant design which either tells a story or conveys a message. Bring a neurodiverse artist of both carribean and african descent also gives me the unique ability to create artwork that is understood by people of all spectrums whether neurodiverse or not and from all corners of the earth. My style of striking, simplistic and cultural designs help me to communicate with an audience that would otherwise remain un-engaged.
Lisa Robertson
One of Lisa’s earliest memories is being 7 years old and painting a portrait of her Grandad just after being told he had passed away. The link between her emotions and creating art as a tool for expression and healing was made then.
Lisa followed art through school and onto college where she was guided towards a degree in illustration. Unfortunately, life got in the way after graduating and she put down her pencils for 11 years. Then, 8 years ago, Lisa embarked on a journey of spirituality and self discovery. The path was tough and, during the dark times, she found herself reaching for the pencils once more. What she couldn’t put into words became visuals in her head followed by graphite on paper. Lisa’s passion for art was reignited and quickly became like therapy for her.
Lisa continues to draw her way through her journey.
Lombutroup
Paints
Dances
Sculpts
Composes
Builds
Films
Currently Squeezing into very small spaces.
Lou Barnell
Since 2018, I've been making performance music and sound works concerned with embodied listening. I use wearable instruments and sculptures to contain, shape and release my body and voice and communicate experiences of alienation, sensory overload and synaesthesia as a neurodivergent woman. Over this time I developed 'Live Dreaming' which merges parallel states of dreaming and performance to create a 'soft' alchemical world of wayfinding and sense-making. My voice is my totem, it can be sculpted, broken and reformed. It is the core of all of my music. My aim is to become more than myself, to possess ways of communicating and receiving sound that are true to how I experience my surroundings.
Malcolm J Hogan
I began my career as a singer/songwriter with performances and releases in the UK and Europe. Since 2018, I have worked on the Granny Norbag project, with 4 children’s books, 3 album releases and a tour of theatres, libraries and schools. This short piece is called ‘Escape’ and was filmed/edited by the CCOC2025 Young Producers at Wentworth Woodhouse with sound provided by my long term collaborator, William Price of Tunedin Music Studios in Rotherham. In 2024 my main aims are to create a stage musical, work on a new book and move closer to my long term goal of seeing my work on television.
Margaret Hall
I am a self- taught artist and I'm mad about painting! I love painting landscapes in acrylic, capturing the beauty of nature and the effects of light upon it. I also experiment with painting smaller works in gouache. In addition, I'm interested in using abstraction in mixed media landscapes.
Lately, I have begun to study portraiture and figure drawing, following a great course online. And I'm always very keen to paint en plein air, making watercolour sketches of the local countryside and quick urban sketches in pen and ink.
I just love working with other artists - I'm chairman of Barnsley Art Society and I am a member of Rotherham Roar and Penistone Arts Collective.
Matt Bluck
There was a time in recent years when due to mental health struggles, with heavy anxiety I only had the courage to walk the streets for exercise by looking from one treetop to another. Their rugged, tender beauty can beguile & silence any fear.
A society without art is a landscape without trees.
The past is gone, and now, the future is smiling over the wall.
Nicola Stockdale- Hoyland
Art through textiles has been a part of my life since childhood. Recently, I decided to challenge myself to learn new styles of art including experimentation with acrylic paint and 'Intuitive Abstract Art'. Starting with nothing in mind, I allow myself the freedom to make marks and then to react to those marks, forming shapes that come from my subconscious. I like to work quickly without allowing the paint to dry, often finishing a painting with a couple of hours. Often, the viewer has their own interpretation of the finished painting, which adds intrigue to the original meaning. My influences come from Sci-Fi films and Rock music.
Sandra Ward
As a young woman and child, I loved art. I attended Rotherham College of Arts.
Life took me down another road in the clothing manufacture industry, my art was left in the past as family and responsibilities took centre stage.
On retiring in April 2023 I decided I wanted to reconnect with the creative side of me, I am now enjoying the artist's journey.
Sean Webster
Frustrated with not devoting enough time to writing and the realisation of life’s fleeting nature during the pandemic, I returned to university full-time in 2021, aged 49. I followed my writing ambitions by enrolling on an MA in Creative Writing at Sheffield Hallam University.
I specialise in writing fictional short stories, short theatre plays, and screenplays where I aim to articulate human emotion and connection from my characters that will resonate with audiences.
Currently, I am writing my debut novel - a psychological-coming-of-age drama set in the 1980s and 1990s. And I am extending my portfolio of short plays and screenplays into longer pieces of work.
Steven Wood
I completed a BA Honours in Fine Art from Sheffield University, graduating in 2021. I then pursued an MFA, graduating in 2023 with First Class Degrees and receiving the Janet Perry Award. I was recognized as a 'One to Watch' by Sunnybank Mills in 2021 and 2022. I was invited to showcase my work at the Venice International Art Fair in 2020, but it was cancelled due to the pandemic. My work was featured in The Times newspaper in 2021, and I participated in various group exhibitions. Now, I am ready to transition into a full-time artist after completing three public art sculptures for Sheffield University. I am applying for Arts Council funding and seeking other art-related opportunities.
Tair Rafiq
I have been a story maker all my life: an author, poet, and playwright. Entirely self-taught, my creative journey began in Eastwood Village, where I nurtured my craft, free to make mistakes and learn from them. In recent years I have been the beneficiary of a number of Arts Council grants to develop my practice. Currently I am developing my Arts Council supported play for schools 'Paradise Square'. I am also a member of the Outline Arts collective, supported by the Arts Council.
Teresa Sayner
My creative process is fed by a love of nature and travel and I enjoy exploring new places and cultures. I visit botanical gardens and sit in nature wherever I go. With a camera around my neck and a sketchbook in my pocket I set off to capture inspiration and I return to my studio to try and evoke the feeling or mood I experienced.
My goal has always been to create images and patterns that are joyful. I believe art is a way we express ourselves and make our spaces reflect who we are and what we consider beautiful. Inevitably parts of my life get weaved into each piece, making the creative process and end results very personal and meaningful to me.
Trish Stafford
My subject matter is landscape, nature, environment, community, industry, portraiture and animal life.
I really enjoy exploring styles and telling visual stories in painting.
Vesta Petraviciute
Felting came into my world about 15 years ago, while on maternity leave, expecting our first daughter. I’ve seen some beautiful wet felted creations and was mesmerised. I’ve searched for lessons and tutorials, there were not much of it online at that time, bought a book ‘Felting Fashion’ (by Lizzie Houghton), ordered some wool, and was hooked and felt in love with all what is wool, fibres, colours, textures. Felting is a very therapeutical and meditative craft, it is like painting, just with fibers, instead of paint. I use softest merino wool for wearable pieces, add texture with silk, bamboo, viscose, banana, flax fibers. I also use local British raw wool for rug pieces. I would like to spread the word about this antient but very modern, environmentally friendly, sustainable and very addictive craft.
Zanib Rasool
For the last several years I have been writing poetry but lacked the confidence to share it, as poetry is very personal and emotional. At school, I was inspired by the work of Sylvia Plath and later the work of Pakistani poet Parveen Shakir. Working with ROAR, Yorkshire Visual Arts Network, and Flux Rotherham, and interacting with other artists and creative writers helped with my confidence. I have had some poems published. The two poems I have submitted here were written in Pakistan as part of a collection called “Greetings from the Motherland” I have written over a hundred poems about various subjects, and I am hoping to eventually have my poems published in a book.