Taurus Crafts

01/05/08

You may have noticed at the Taurus Crafts, the Camp Hill centre for arts, crafts and food just outside Lydney on the A48, some rather memorable animal paintings displayed on the walls. Simon Drew creates pictures of all sorts of furry and feathered creatures which have been dragooned into some outrageous posture to complement the convoluted pun with which the work is captioned.
And there are Sheila Moya’s cows. These are cows as you have never seen them before. In your face cows, cows with attitude, cows striking a pose, psychedelic cows.
They challenge you, these insolent, colourful cattle.
There are more of Sheila Moya’s cows on displayed in the Afon Gwy, the busy bar/restaurant by the Wye in Chepstow, just over the old bridge. Chepstow is becoming a lively centre for the arts and for night life. The local Arts and Community Festival starts there on 30th June, with Art on the Railings displayed along the High Street and in St Marys Walk. The festival also features drama, prose and poetry readings, music, potters’ markets, walks and talks, food and drink, and local history, architecture and engineering. The magnificent 11th Century Chepstow Castle hosts some of these events.
I had the opportunity to talk to Sheila at the Afon Gwy about her life and work. She had worked in communications in London for de Beers, the diamond company, and enlivened many dull corporate meetings by secretly producing her drawings. On moving to Chepstow, with the kids grown up, Sheila could pursue her love of art, taking her degree in design and becoming a full time artist and teacher. Her work regularly hangs on the railings at the Chepstow festival.
She works in acrylic, oils and pastels, and specialises in life figures, humans and other animals as well as those spectacular cows. Her figures engage with the viewer, and explore the soul of the subjects, whether they are human or animal. I shall look forward to seeing more of her work at the Chepstow Festival next month. Dave Kent
m.