Cheryl Bell Artist / Printmaker
Limited edition Artist's book, featuring illustrations of endangered birds who live at or visit the amazing Dungeness Nature Reserve.
I am a mixed media artist and printmaker whose work is primarily narrative. I take ideas and express them in whatever form of art is appropriate; painting, printmaking, drawing and sculpture. My practice often revolves around an exploration of the challenges facing our wildlife; how they are adapting and surviving. The techniques I use are as important as the idea. I print on organic materials and I work with paper, ink and stitchery to create 3D narratives. I illustrate my short stories in limited edition artist’s books.
I particularly love birds, both as portrait subjects and in allegorical situations, although as a conceptual artist I am often drawn to contemporary issues with socio-political dimensions.
I have been painting and drawing all my life, having won my first painting competition at the age of five. British born, I lived in New York for many years and studied painting and sculpture at the Art Students League. I was a costume designer for off-Broadway theatre, dance and opera, and studied at The Studio and Forum of Stage Design in Greenwich Village.
In 2015 I co-founded South Coast Printmakers, a group of artist/printmakers in Kent and East Sussex. Whilst we haven't exhibited collectively since the pandemic, we continue to take part in solo and group shows. I am also a member of SoCo (South Coast Artists), Blue Monkey Network, the Hastings Arts Forum and Axis Web. I am also the founder of a group called West Hill Artists and have opened my studio, together with several other artists in the art-centric Hastings neighbourhood as part of Coastal Currents.
Exhibitions:
2023
SoCo Artists group exhibition 'Three' Hastings Arts Forum February 2023
2022
SoCo Artists group exhibition Hastings Arts Forum April 2022
SoCo Artists group exhibition 'Relay' Electro Studios July 2022
Hastings Arts Forum members exhibition August 2022
2021
SoCo Artists group exhibition Hastings Art Forum July 2021
The Crown Hastings, Solo Show Spring 2021
Benenden Art Fair, Spring 2021
2020
Greenfinch Gallery and Shop Ticehurst August 2020
2019
Pure Arts Exhibition, Bannatynes Gallery December 2019
Stade Hall 'RX19,' November 2019 SoCo Artists group exhibition
Coastal Currents, Open Studios September 2019
Hastings Arts Forum 'Chaos is a Friend of Mine' August 2019 group exhibition
East Sussex Print Exchange, Hastings Arts Forum, July 2019.
2018
Tenterden Artists, Group Exhibition, Tenterden, November 2018
Coastal Currents, Open Studios September 2018
'Light as a Feather,' group exhibition, Stade Hall August 2018. A large, multi-disciplinary exhibition featuring photography, poetry, paintings, prints and sculptures
East Sussex Print Exchange, Hastings Arts Forum, July 2018. A limited edition artist's book featuring fifteen linocuts, including a hand-bound, blind embossed cover
Tenderden Artists, Group Exhibition Rye Community Centre April 2018
2017
South Coast Printmakers, Summer exhibition Hastings Arts Forum 2017
South Coast Printmakers, Spring residency pop-up shop/gallery 'Edition' March-May 2017, Hastings.
2016
'Secret of the Sea' Group Show, Hastings May 2016
2015
<crossing borders> Group Show, St Leonards December 2015
Hastings Arts Forum Member Exhibition January 2015
2014
Naked Eye Group Exhibition December 2014
The Beacon Hastings Summer Exhibition 2014
Education:
Colchester Institute (formerly Colchester School of Art) Diploma in Art
Art Students League, New York, New York. Certificate programme in Painting and drawing
Studio and Forum of Stage Design, New York, New York. Diploma in theatre design specialising in costume
Sussex Coast College. Printmaking