A solo exhibition of abstract painting and drawings by Oxfordshire based artist Alison Lilley Berrett will be showing at The O3 Gallery in October…
Working mainly with oil paints, pastels and charcoal, Nuneham Courteney based Berrett also uses photographs and drawings as preparatory tools for working on site. Her inspiration comes essentially from nature and is the result of a passion for colours, shapes, and patterns, found in the natural world.
Her practice has been characterised by studies of landscapes; “I am captivated by the drama and magnificence of places like Dartmoor and the coast. The sea in its many moods has had a profound effect upon my work” and Berrett has been known to place herself in the most extreme weather conditions in order to capture the power of the wind and rain.
Berrett was born in 1967 in Weston-super-Mare and spent her childhood there. She graduated from Exeter College of Art and Design in 1991 with a degree in Fine Art. In 1994 she qualified as an Art teacher and taught at Cheney School in Oxford for three years. After taking a break to have children Berrett managed to re-establish her artistic practice in November 2003 and shortly afterwards her work was selected from a number of applicants for The Oxford Show held at Modern Art Oxford in February 2004. As a result of this she was awarded the Trevor Osborne Prize of a solo show at The 03 Gallery, Oxford Castle. At present she works in a studio at the Ark-T Centre, which is a community project, based at John Bunyan Baptist Church in Cowley.