We are an independent gallery which opened its doors in March 2005 with the aim of representing a small group of predominantly West Country based artists. Our mission was to select the most talented artists in each medium and genre both living and deceased. more...

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Dear art lovers,

It is with huge sadness that we must announce the passing of our wonderful pastel artist Keith Stott.

I was lucky enough to represent him almost from the day I opened the doors of the gallery back in 2005 when he bashfully walked through the door and let his wife Christine do all the talking! I loved his humility despite his obvious talent and his quiet appreciation of his craft and his beloved Dartmoor which was his staple subject matter.

Keith’s early life was spent in the wool textile industry in the north of England and he went on to establish mills in India and Pakistan where he lived and worked for 13 years. Consequently his foray in to the art world came quite late in life. His career in textiles did assist him as his training in colour continuity instilled in him an incredible recall of the tones of the landscape of his beloved Dartmoor. He was able to commit to memory the myriad of moorland tones under huge billowing skies that became the bedrock of his work.

As a committed walker and climber dating back to his days of tackling the Western Himalaya’s, even in his 70’s he would think nothing of heading off on a 12 mile yomp across Dartmoor to find the exact view from which a painting would emerge.

Keith was also a gifted teacher and was hugely generous with his knowledge; he was much loved and respected by the many amateur artists that frequented his workshops at Harbour House. Pastel is a notoriously difficult medium to work with and yet having watched him demonstrate many times here in the gallery I was always impressed with how easy he made it look.

Keith was a man of great integrity and old fashioned values, polite and caring to a fault. I and everyone that had the privilege of knowing him will miss him enormously. I valued him as a friend and respected him as an artist, husband and father. I’ll miss you Grumble.