Christopher Reed
I studied fine art at Epsom School of art and Design in the early 1980's. A strong ethos based around figurative work flourished in the fine art department at that time. My thanks go to Peter Peterson, Doug Eagon, John Hacker, Giles Auty and Howard Nichols. Good drawing and observational skills, along with understanding composition and colour theory, translated into the individual ideas and styles of the student artists. For me, it meant creating art directly observed from the world around me - landscapes and interiors - or life figures and still lives, purposely assembled in the studio.
By the end of the 1980's I had returned to college taking post graduate studies in fine art at Cyprus College of Art. Here I embraced landscape painting and drawing, capturing the seasons as they changed during my period of study. Overseen by the wonderful Stass Paraskos who had returned to Cyprus to run the College on a full time basis, we were also able to engage with visiting artists including Mali Morris and Dennis Creffield. This new injection of experience resulted in an exhibition of my Cyprus paintings in Horsham and then a couple of years later new works for an exhibition at the Gallery Dagma, East Dulwich.
During 1993 I was offered the opportunity of a residency at the Florence Trust, St Saviours, Highbury. Up to nine artists were were given individual space which had been created in the converted church. The purpose of the trust was to allow artists to meet and exchange ideas. Lunches were always shared and weekly life drawing sessions meant more artists could visit. The concept of Patrick Hamilton, the inspirational Florence Trust was established for the creating and sharing of art. See florencetrust.org.
With my wife Becky, (who I met in Cyprus) and our two young sons, we left London in 1997 for a new life in the countryside of East Sussex. Small exhibitions occurred 2005 and 2008 which kept the painting flowing. By 2012 I had a studio in the garden and increasingly a little more time to use it. This lead to a successful exhibition in 2018 at the Free Church Chapel, Herstmonceux, to whom I am grateful for the help and cooperation.