Artworks by Rebecca Coleman

Rebecca Coleman SGFA has exhibited work at some of the country's most iconic artistic locations — including the prestigious Royal Academy of Arts and the Royal West of England Academy — and with distinguished organisations including the Society of Wood Engravers and the Royal Society of British Artists. She has exhibited at galleries in London, around the UK and overseas.

In 2014 she was elected to the Society of Graphic Fine Art, and in the same year she held her first solo exhibition at the Vestry House Museum in Walthamstow, London.

Having worked across a range of different media, Rebecca's focus in recent years has been on both exquisitely detailed monochrome printmaking and bright, colourful paintings in oil and acrylic.

She has achieved particular recognition and success with her ongoing series of wood engravings and lino cuts exploring the world of the London Underground — which have featured in numerous exhibitions from the RA Summer Exhibition to the International Wood Engraving Invitational in Seattle. Many of these works reveal this subterranean world from the eyes of a fellow yet seldom-seen traveller, Rattus Norvegicus.

The Tube has also featured in some of her most successful paintings to date, including a series of works featuring the iconic warning to 'Mind the Gap'. Shorn of much of their context, Rebecca uses these works to blur the distinction between realism and abstraction - prompting new interpretations of the familiar and everyday.

In addition to urban scenes, Rebecca has also devoted much of her artistic focus to the natural world. This subject matter has found renewed attention following Rebecca's relocation to her new home and studio in south Wales.

"I have always been fascinated by the natural world: a result, no doubt, of spending my childhood in a magical playground of rolling fields and dense woods full of beautiful trees.

We lived in an old farmhouse, and my earliest memories are of leaving the house early in the morning and not getting back till late. Walking home through ink black woods, onto a silver ribbon of road, made me very aware of all the subtleties of shade. It also heightened my perception of events that intensify chiaroscuro effects, like a full moon on a cloudless night or the transient illumination of rail lines when a train passes by. I think this is why I love monochrome prints and drawings, and attempting to capture this change from light to dark is what guides my work."

Rebecca studied entomology at Imperial College, London which fostered her passion for drawing the natural world. She took a course in illustration after finishing her degree, and this introduced her to various forms of printmaking. In 2011 she attended a wood engraving course in Brighton, taught by Chris Daunt, which ignited her interest in this medium.
"I am always very eager to explore and experiment with new media and materials, and I feel that I am on an ever-expanding — and exciting — learning curve when it comes to art."