About.

ARTIST STATEMENT.

The visual aspects of nature in all its forms have always inspired me to capture its power and tension on canvas using dynamic colour. Walking in the countryside and along our magnificent coastline in all weathers and in every season provides me with an abundance of subject matter.

My preferred mediums are acrylic or oil paint on canvas, applying thick paint loosely with large brushes or palette knife, sometimes adding sand or rust to give form. Colour is an emotional and visual tool and the iridescent beauty of the Pre-Raphaelite paintings ignited my interest in colour in paintings.

Biography.

Marge Ball was born in South Shields in 1942, and educated at South Shields Grammar Technical School for girls. She worked as a tracer at Hawthorn Leslie (shipbuilders) Ltd at Hebburn. Returning to work in 1976, she trained as a detail draughtswoman in engineering, and then when computers arrived in 1990, she trained as an AutoCAD Technician working in civil engineering.

She retired in 2002 aged 60 and joined South Tyneside Art Studio and revived her artistic talent, which had remained dormant since leaving school in 1959. She gained a Foundation Degree in Applied Art at South Tyneside College in 2010, then went on to Sunderland University and gained a BA (Hons) in Fine Art in 2011 and an MA in Fine Art in 2013.

Solo Exhibitions.

  • 2013 WWT Washington Wetland Centre

  • 2013 Granary Gallery, Arts Centre Washington

Group Exhibitions.

  • 2013 MA Fine Art Exhibition, Priestman Gallery, University of Sunderland

  • 2012 Departure Foundation New Curators North East, Tower house, St Catherine’s Court, Sunderland

  • 2012 Departure Foundation North East Student Art Prize, Tower House, St Catherine’s Court, Sunderland

  • 2011 BA Hons Fine Art Degree Show, University of Sunderland

  • 2011 BA Shaun Project Space, University of Sunderland

  • 2011 Art Angelz ‘Culture’ Sunderland

  • 2010 Foundation Degree Show, The Gate, Newcastle upon Tyne

  • 2009 South Shields Museum and Art Gallery

  • 2006 and 2007 Art Studio auctions, South Shields Town Hall

  • 2005 ‘Interfusion’ Bede’s World, Jarrow