In my studio practise preparation involves much deliberation and a lot of pushing ideas around in my head. Then fragments of initial ideas are moved around on a flat surface. Drawings come into this process but rarely feature as finished work. Ideas come from a wide variety of sources. I sometimes work out developed ideas as small studies on paper and then extend them into larger pieces.
My paintings are a personal response and involve memory and imagination. Compositions are often sparse and asymmetrical and the idea of simplicity, combined with an absence of elaboration or decoration appeals. I am interested in the pause or the empty space and that which is not included.
Structure and composition act as an important scaffold from which a painting might evolve. I work intuitively when developing an idea and I am constantly re-evaluating by removing paint and revealing underlying surfaces, by letting chance play a role and by changing the emphasis of a painting, if I think it improves the overall balance. I often enjoy working in series.
In my current figure work, I am attempting to portray a single moment in a heightened experience where the figure is suspended and caught in total absorption or 'Samadhi' the flow state, a state of oneness, being in the moment.
I am exploring the tensions between clarity and ambiguity, observation and abstraction. I feel I am straddling a fine line, balanced between literal and suggestive interpretation.
Beryl Miles
beryl.miles25@gmail.com
http://berylmiles.wordpress.com
instagram beryl.miles25
www.artspace-loughborough.co.uk
Beryl Miles was born and grew up in East Sussex. She left school when she was 16 and moved to London. She worked in various low level jobs and found her passion in the museums and art galleries of London.
She returned to education and studied in Brighton and London.
After completing a Foundation Year at Brighton college of Art she gained a fine art degree at Wimbledon College of Art and a PGCE at UCL.
She has worked in arts education throughout her career. Her last post was as director of a Specialist Arts College.
Throughout her teaching career she continued her own practice and now focuses exclusively on her own work .
Her paintings are intending to be suggestive rather than literal and involve memory and imagination. They can be reflections on fragile qualities of light and atmosphere and more recently have been about a state of absorption, of being in the moment.
She belongs to the Leicester Society of Artists as well as ArtSpace Loughborough, both groups are professional artists who support one another in their practise.
Group membership:
Leicester Society of Artists.
ArtSpace Loughborough.
Group exhibitions:
2025 The Wales Contemporary International Open, Garrison Chapel Gallery, London and Waterfront Gallery Milford Haven.
2024 Sock Gallery Open. (winner)
2024/25 Leicester Museum and art Gallery Open
2024 (August) Stamford Arts Centre, Edges and Transitions
2024 ArtSpace "Flow" Sock Gallery.
2024 Leicester Museum and Art Gallery,, Open Exhibition
2023 Sock Gallery , Loughborough Open (commended)
2023 Holt Gallery, Drawn to Nature, Norfolk.
2023 SWA Mall Gallery.
2023. Déda, Derby ,Rhythm and Movement. ( I wrote the proposal bid and curated the exhibition.)
2022. SWA Mall Gallery (work sold)
2022 Sock Gallery Open Exhibition 2022 (Commended.)
2022 Leicester Museum and Art Gallery Open Exhibition
2022 ArtSpace for Ukraine
2021 New Work ArtSpace (online)
2021 The Sock Gallery, Loughborough. (Commended)
2021 Leicester Museum and Art Gallery
2021/22 ‘The Natural World,’ The Gallery, Holt
2021 ‘Blue,’ ArtSpace (on-line)
2021 ‘If Only I Could,’ ArtSpace (on-line)
2020 ‘In the Dark,’ ArtSpace (on-line)
2020 ‘In the Dark,’ Deda, Derby [Closed Covid]
2019 ‘Delight in Disorder,’ Nuneaton Museum and Art Gallery
2019 ‘Elements,’ The Gallery, Holt
2019 Society of Women Artists, The Mall Gallery, London
2019 Leicester Museum and Art Gallery, Open Exhibition
2019 ‘Inside Outside,’ Sock Gallery, Loughborough
2019 Sock Gallery, Open Exhibition,
2019 ‘Connections,’ The Old Rectory, Loughborough
2018 ‘Seeing the Light,’ Deda, Derby
2018 ‘Odyssey,’ Stamford Arts Centre
2016 ‘Reflection,’ Loughborough Museum and Art Gallery
2015 The Atkins Gallery, Hinkley
