b. New Forest, England (1963), currently working in Bristol.

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I am a landscape artist working primarily in oils. Moved  by weather and the changing light it creates in the landscape, I recreate these internal moods in my work. I am drawn to the empty moorlands,  wild coastlines and mountain landscapes of the UK, taking inspiration from the work of Joan Eardley and Kurt Jackson.

 

Having trained in printmaking at The Bristol School of Art alongside a career in teaching in schools and prisons, I now prefer to work in oil. 

 

I experience the landscape by running, cycling and walking in it. Painting preliminary sketches en plein air, these are then worked into oil paintings, whereby layers of glazes are perfected and destroyed until the desired finish emerges. Oil paint is applied using found objects such as seaweed and grasses alongside traditional brushes and palette knives.

 

"During lockdown, Bev Campbell noticed how the birds sang differently; they were louder, their phrases more assertive. Her son made recordings of the dawn chorus, which inspired a new body of work for Campbell. Her minimal paintings are based upon a unique alphabet of sound she has created. Listening to this recording, she visualised different notes as different marks, creating a visual alphabet. These note-marks are then recomposed on Japanese paper or linen. Her pieces balance sensuality and simplicity: there is a tension in her canvases, their minimal design allowing the viewer space and light. Birdsong symbolises a primeval connection to the landscape. It was a sound which signalled to neolithic man that a landscape was safe to inhabit. Birdsong still carries this connotation of optimism, a feeling of being held by the landscape: you hear the birds, and you are not alone." (interviewed by art writer Kate Reeves -Edwards)

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Recent exhibitions and residencies:

2023 Earthen the Guild Park Street Bristol.( read about it here)

2023 Newlyn School of Art Professional landscape mentoring show Tremenheere sculpture gardens .

2022 The Royal Birmingham Society of Artists

2022  The Art shop and Chapel Gallery  -summer exhibition. July - Sept 

2022. The Felin Fach Griffin Brecon .March 20-May 

2022. Newlyn school of Art Tremenheere Gallery 17-20 March.

2022. The Found Gallery Brecon February 22-March 19th

2021   The Artshop and Chapel Gallery July 31st -Sept 1st 

2020  Bath Society of Artists 115th annual Open Exhibition

2019   Clifton Arts 110th Summer Exhibition

2019   Residency, Cove Park

2018   Preselection for RWA Autumn Exhibition

2018   Bath Art Fair

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