Curriculum Vitae
Spring Show, Chantry House Gallery, Ripley (April 12- May11)
2008 Harrogate Printmakers, Stairwell Gallery, Harrogate Library
2008 Canterbury Art Fair
2008 First Impressions The Station Gallery, Richmond
2008 East Coast Open, Scarborough Art Gallery (3 works selected)
2008 Feature Show, Flat Cat Gallery, Lauder, Scotland
2007 Winter Warmth, The Park Gallery, Falkirk, Scotland
2007 Christmas Show, Zillah Bell Gallery, Thirsk
2007 (March) Group Show, Zillah Bell Gallery, Thirsk
2007 Masham Arts Festival
2006 Leeds Open
2006 Doncaster Open
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2008
2005 Saltaire Arts Festival
2005 group shows with Harrogate & Nidderdale Art Club and Leeds Fine Art Club
2000- 2004 group shows with Cambridge Drawing Society at:
Pelican Gallery, Compass Gallery, Guildhall in Market Square -- all Cambridge


FORTHCOMING EXHIBITIONS
2008 Ripple Six Art Fair, Huddersfield (May)
2008 “The Next Wave” – South Street Gallery, Scarborough
2008 Summer Exhibition, RHS Harlow Carr, Harrogate (July-August)
2008 Solo Show, Yorkshire Dales Headquarters, Yoredale



SOCIETIES
2008 recently made a member of Visual Arts Scotland
2008 founded Harrogate Printmakers Group
2003 exhibiting member of Leeds Fine Art Club
2000 exhibiting member of Cambridge Drawing and Painting Society



EDUCATION
1980 MA in English Literature and Music at University of Glasgow
1994 PGCE University of Strathclyde
2000-2003 Fine Art Evening Courses, Cambridge
2004-2005 Certificates in Printmaking, Leeds Metropolitan University


BIOGRAPHY
Lesley Birch’s paintings and prints have been exhibited and sold in selected and group exhibitions in galleries throughout the United Kingdom and abroad.

Lesley had some success as a musician in the 1980s playing keyboards and touring the USA and UK with jazz-pop band “Hue and Cry”. She also performed as a singer-songwriter. This talent for music reveals itself now in her swift, loose, gestural marks on the canvas.

Lesley was born in Glasgow, Scotland to an architect father and artist mother in 1958.



ARTIST’S STATEMENT

“My paintings and prints reflect the energy present in Nature. I aim to capture the feeling of the land, coasts, moors, lochs and seas, conveying the essence of a scene spontaneously and simply, leaving detail to the viewer’s imagination. Flowing colour impressions are interspersed with fleeting bursts of texture and pigment that crack across the image, capturing the beauty, strangeness and drama of nature.

I love the feel of the paint. I use acrylic, oil, watercolour and sometimes I collage papers to the surface. I am interested in strong vibrant colours and texture – thin glazes combine with thick opaque natural brush and palette knife marks to convey the essence of a scene, rather than a direct representation. I apply washes, scrape, wipe off, I use rags, sponges and my fingers, going with the flow. Sometimes as a guide I work from my sketchbook, photographs and memory, but mainly I like to approach a painting in the same way I approach writing music – free, loose and following my intuition.”