Chris Bennett, Mark Dunford & Sarah Spackman – In Conversation (Recording) – Free!

Date recorded: Saturday, April 9, 2022

Join us for a conversation with three legendary British painters as they discuss their divergent approaches, compare notes about the Slade, the Camberwell School of Art and the Euston Road legacy, the Coldstream and Uglow influence, and talk about what they are doing now as artists in relation to these shared foundations.

British painter Chris Bennett ROI (Member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters) studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in the early ‘80s under Euan Uglow, Geoffrey Camp and Philip Sutton.  He has exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy and at the Royal Institute of Oil Painters at the Mall Galleries, London and is a member of both organizations. Bennett’s paintings are exhibited and sold in prestigious galleries around the UK.

Mark Dunford studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, from 1982-1987, where he was taught by Euan Uglow, and Patrick George, continuing a preoccupation for painting appearances through William Coldstream’s advocacy. His awards include the Robert Ross Scholarship from the Slade and the Richard Ford Award from the Royal Academy of Arts and the Young Artists’ Award from the Royal Institute of Painters in watercolour.

Mark Dunford is an elected member of The London Group, and he exhibits regularly, in the UK and internationally. He lives and works in Cornwall and has taught painting and drawing since 1988 and is currently a Programme Team Leader for Art & Design.

Mark Dunford is a painter who works directly from his subject, using extreme drawing methods and charged emotional colour.Mark constantly refers to a wide range of art, including the work of Cézanne, Piero della Francesca, Mantegna, Constable, Chardin and Seurat and many others. tregonygallery.co.uk

Sarah Spackman is a contemporary figurative artist particularly well known for her still life oil paintings. She works from a studio in Oxford that was once a punt building workshop.Strength of drawing and the delicate and subtle use of colour are two of the main qualities recognised in her work. Her practise focuses on the principle that good drawing is the basis of good painting and that colour should be used to enhance the organisation and definition of observed space and form. Sarah works in a considered way, with close observation. Her paintings are quiet in their presence but nonetheless powerful and engaging to the viewer. These are paintings that take a close look at things around us, take the object out of the ordinary and make the viewer look again.

Sarah trained at Byam Shaw School of Art, London and graduated from Camberwell School of art in 1981. She was elected as a member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 2019, and a member of the Small Paintings Group in 2021. Sarah’s work is in many private collections world wide as well as the collection of the Allied Irish Bank. Her work has also been selected for the Jerwood Drawing Competition , the NEAC, the ROI, the RBA and the Discerning Eye Exhibitions. Sarah exhibits regularly with several galleries throughout the UK. sarahspackman.com