Open Spaces 2025

Open Spaces 2025 is an artist-led campaign organised by the Visual Artists Association, putting into action the belief that art should be seen anywhere.

I'm delighted that Open Spaces has coincided with my collaboration with The Retreats at Burwash Manor. Huge thanks go to Anastasia for so generously sharing her beautiful venue.

Venue: The Retreats, Burwash Manor, New Road, Barton, Cambridge CB23 7EY

Dates: 11^th October - 3^rd November

Times: Tuesday to Friday 10am to 6pm, Saturday 9am to 6pm. (Sunday & Monday: CLOSED) As an independently owned small business day-to-day opening hours can vary. Please feel free to email reception@the-retreats.com to check opening hours before your visit, and/or treat yourself to an appointment via the-retreats.com.

Artwork selected for The Retreats provide examples of ongoing themes in my practice, including capturing a momentary experience or idea.

I am also creating new artwork inspired by the Retreats; (Working title) I mind; you matter. Having made drawings on-site I'm contemplating the atmosphere of sights, smells, sounds, and whole-body wellbeing. More significantly, I find myself reflecting on people coming together with a purpose, and leaving feeling better than when they arrived. This is a precious place. The artworks developing are human-scale, meditative and uplifting.

© Emily Jolley 'Blazing'

Emily Jolley artwork at The Retreats

(As you enter the Retreats)

Baked apples after the strawberry moon (Two square paintings, emulsion paint, graphite, spray paint and acrylic on board, 60cm x 60cm, £450 each)

Painted in 6 hours during the inaugural Cambridgeshire plein air artist event at beautiful Histon Manor, June 2025. I fell in love with an old apple tree as well as wanting to capture something of the blazing light and heat, punctuated (mercifully) by gentle gusts of wind and occasional whisps of cloud.

Growing reflections series (Small, square framed abstract paintings, emulsion paint, gouache, mixed media on paper, 27cm, x 27cm, £100 each)

These small works on paper informed larger works while holding their own within my ‘growing reflections’ series which was a response to the emergence from lockdown during the months of spring 2021. Inspired by the feeling of life opening up, sap rising, the look and feel of walks along the river Ouse and the prospect of contact with loved ones.

(Reception and waiting area)

Blazing (Emulsion paint on board, framed, 42cm x 42cm, £200)

A small but mighty abstract painting celebrating expressive mark making and a hot colour palette. A personal favourite of mine, released from my own collection for this exhibition.

Shards and Ashes series (Square framed abstract paintings, emulsion paint on board, 67cm x 67cm, £450 each)

This series developed while reflecting on personal journeys, the need to at once confront and let go, and in response to this quote: 'These new experiences glittered like shards of glass against the ashes of what had been before' (Sarah Jolley, Unbecoming.)

Outgoing summer (Gouache and emulsion paint on Waterford paper in a green frame, 55.5cm x 83.5cm, £500)

Painted in summer 2021, and one of the final works of the ‘growing reflections’ series this painting celebrates colour, life, light, meetings and mirrorings; the joy of embracing the moment alongside a nod to darker days that will come.

(Treatment area)

Echo (Emulsion paint and mixed media on canvas, 100cm x 100cm, £950)

Sometimes paintings take a long time to complete. Sometimes artists can’t help but continue to pick at them if they return to the studio. This is one of those! First exhibited in 2021 it has undergone several developments since then while remaining true to the initial impulse behind it – to evoke cycles and invite the finding of something in common.

Growing Reflections: Water’s Edge 1, 2 and 5 (Emulsion paint on board, framed, 43cm x 53cm, £300 each)

Evoking the meeting and interplay of water, light, sky and land.

Essential (trees) (Square painting, emulsion paint on raw calico, 100cm x 100cm, £950)

I love trees. They’re a constant source of inspiration, though aren’t usually overtly represented in my paintings which tend towards pure abstraction. This painting is from a couple of decades ago when my studio was in London. Sketch after sketch was preparation for this final execution on raw calico which shows up every mark, balancing control and chaos. Usually kept in my personal collection it felt right to include here – the minimal forms a counterpoint to the leafy branches in ‘baked apples’ that open the show.

(Toilet)

Hidden Depths (Emulsion paint on calico stretched over emulsion paint and mixed media on canvas, 70cm x 70cm, £600)

This work evolved by combining 2 paintings – one on loose calico which I loved the rawness and translucency of and which for a long time I didn’t want to restrict to a stretcher. The other painting was older and in a style I’d moved on from. I painted over it with the thought of placing the calico over the top – which was harder than I thought as I really liked the new painting which would now be covered up! But to me that makes the final piece the more satisfying, knowing that it brings together paintings which could stand-alone but add depth to one another.

‘I think, if one is a painter, all your experience does come out when you’re painting’  Lee Krasner

‘I am not interested in creating an exact replica of nature, but rather capturing its essence’  Barbara Hepworth

To enquire about artworks, exhibitions or commissions please contact Emily.