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Published: 2025-03-28 10:22:00
A young woman is inside a sculpture of a dining table with a plate on it, and her head is sticking up through the plate.
Brooke Apicella explores ’Bread and Butter’ by Alice Louisa
A giant velour pasty, a portrait made of postage stamps, and a dining table where your face becomes the dinner plate are some of the quirky works of art in a new exhibition in Winchester.
Hosted at The Winchester Gallery, at Winchester School of Art, the exhibition also features items on loan from Southampton City Art Gallery – including by Turner Prize winner Gillian Wearing, Turner Prize nominee Gillian Ayres, and a huge painting by Canadian-born artist Lisa Milroy.
Gillian Ayres was also the first female Head of Paining in the UK, when she joined Winchester School of Art in 1978.
Called Work & Play, the exhibition is the result of the first open call for art applications by the University of Southampton-owned gallery.
It features 26 works by University of Southampton students and staff, and members of the local community – chosen from 75 applications.
A group of adults standing wearing aprons with artwork on them
Trinity Art Group wearing the aprons they designed
Students on the Contemporary Curating and Fine Art courses at Winchester School of Art collaborated on the exhibition.
They worked with Trinity Art Group in Winchester to design aprons – the ‘uniform of work and play’ – which visitors can wear while they view the exhibition.
A huge pasty made of gold velour stuffed with recycled magazine pages, created by local artist Mel Ffitch-Mitchell, from Totton, features in the exhibition.
A portrait of a busker made of used postage stamps, by amateur artist Caroline Haines from Chandler’s Ford, is on show. Caroline, 62, took up art when she retired three years ago.
A woman with long hair and glasses standing in front of framed artwork hanging on a white wall
Caroline Haines with her work, 'Stamp the busker'
She said: “In lockdown I bought two bags of used postage stamps from a charity shop. I found it very therapeutic sorting them saying I will do something with them one day!”
Caroline has since created works of art in stamps including a pictures of Buckler’s Hard in the New Forest and the Sycamore Gap in Northumberland.
A piece called ‘Foot and Ball’, by Dave Gibbons, Specialist Photography Technician at Winchester School of Art, includes video footage of a ball being dribbled taken from the perspective of the footballer’s feet, and a pair of studded shoes.
Dave said: “I played football at a high-level for many years and enjoy the sport as a fan. Foot and Ball is the result of technical explorations which involved using stills photography and moving image whilst playing or watching football.”
A young woman standing in front of a bright coloured painting hanging on the wall
Grace Atkins with her painting 'Pool Table'
‘Pool Table’ is by final year Fine Art student Grace Atkins. Grace, 22, said: “The concept for the painting came from a visit to a very small and busy bar in Edinburgh, where I saw a group of friends laughing and playing a game of pool. I wanted to capture the moment and the intimate atmosphere of the scene.”
Julia Vogl, Lecturer and Fellow in Printmaking at WSA, curated the exhibition. She said: “It’s a fantastic opportunity for our students to be showing their work alongside that of renowned professional artists.”
Work & Play is on at the gallery at Winchester School of Art, Park Avenue, until Saturday 24 May, and admission is free. The gallery is open Tuesday to Friday from 12pm to 6pm and Saturday from 12pm to 4pm. It will be closed for Easter from 17 to 22 April.