Meet our Artists

Lonn Landis

Ceramic Artist 

Inspired by and made from our local landscape and seas.  Lonn creates beautiful hand-thrown functional ceramics which feature natural materials foraged from Wirral and Wales.  These materials celebrate the environments from which they come and quite literally embody the very essence of place.  Foraged clay is mixed with commercial clay to make each and every piece.  The glazes that Lonn has developed and crafted himself, utilise mussel shells foraged from Wirral beaches, and various rocks and minerals collected from the Welsh mountains as  some of their raw materials.  These natural materials quite literally connect each of his pieces to our wonderful corner of the world!

The process of gathering and preparing these materials is incredibly labour intensive and time consuming.  Crushing, grinding, milling and drying each material takes weeks using Lonn’s upcycled homemade equipment (including a repurposed treadmill!).  It is the antithesis to our fast-fashion disposable society where we barely consider what we consume.  For Lonn, each material is precious, hard fought for, and cherished on a whole new level.  

The glazes themselves are the culmination of extensive experimentation driven by Lonn’s background in the sciences – his degree is in chemical engineering.  The results are the wonderfully rich, colourful, tactile and sometimes drippy glazes that adorn his work.  

Christine Oliphant

Abstract Artist

Christine Oliphant is best known for her colourful abstract paintings.  Her work is a mixture of expressive marks and joyful colour combinations. Inspiration is found in the observed glimpse of a place, the effect of light on a surface, the balance of different shapes, and the emotional excitement  of colour, all of which she finds in her garden.

Recently she has visited gardens with a more tropical feel in warmer climates and this has provided another source of influence in her work, with sharper shapes and bolder colours. She is particularly drawn to intense, bright colours and the chaos and exuberance of a garden slightly out of control. She tries to capture this in her painting by working in a spontaneous and intuitive way The use of colour and its emotional effect on the viewer is something she finds fascinating and which she is constantly exploring in her paintings in an attempt to replicate her own emotional response to the natural world.

Based locally in Tarporley Christine has been involved in many solo and collaborative projects and exhibitions.  She is a keen advocate for the positive health benefits of creativity and runs art sessions at Mid-Cheshire Mind on a voluntary basis as well as workshops for local groups.

Dirty Hans

Contemporary Artist

Self taught contemporary artist Dirty Hans originates from Liverpool and is a popular figure within the contemporary art world . 

In his own words, he began painting to calm his hyperactive tendencies as a child and  took painting and producing his art seriously when he discovered the works of Roy Lichtenstein and Toulouse-Lautrec, both hugely influential figures for him and his personal development as an artist . 

Exciting travel experiences, comic books, the 1950’s culture and movies are also the impactful, visual stimulants that served to culminate in Dirty Hans’s  high energy, humerous and often topical genres of work, always with his distinctive personal twist on, what are now, hugely collectible pieces of modern art .

Clair Young

Ceramic Artist 

Clair is a ceramic artist living in North Wales.

Clair grew up in North Wales surrounded by animals and countryside which inspired her love of nature.

Clair always enjoyed art since childhood initially working in watercolours taking on commissions and exhibiting in art galleries and exhibitions including the North Wales Open Exhibition and The Lowry.

She studied Graphic Design at Wrexham University and recently returned there for a taster course in hand building in clay and was instantly hooked. From there, she continued working with clay and developing her beautiful style.

Clair draws her inspiration from the Welsh countryside and translate her observations of animals into her ceramic sculptures.

Amber Garfield 

BardicSpirit

Born and raised in Chester, Amber is an eco-artist whose work draws inspiration from the earth and beyond. With a passion for transforming overlooked elements of daily life, she breathes new life into forgotten objects and hidden details, offering fresh perspectives on the natural world. Whether it's painting on a piece of wood from discarded furniture or a matcha tin reborn as a tiny garden, her creations celebrate life, death, and everything in between.

Amber's connection to nature runs deep, guiding her to reuse, find, and restore materials, infusing her art with an ethos of sustainability and renewal. Each piece becomes a dialogue between the forgotten and the found, urging the viewer to notice what is often unseen in everyday life.

Growing up with Autism and ADHD, Amber’s journey has been shaped by a unique perspective that fuels her creativity. Art has always been her constant—a safe space where rules dissolve and imagination takes flight. From doodling on rented walls to sketching on science tables, her artistic expression flourished despite the challenges of traditional education. Leaving high school with a few GCSEs but a fierce determination, she embraced self-teaching. Influenced by icons like Bob Ross and countless late nights perfecting colours, Amber honed her craft outside the confines of formal instruction.

After years of experimenting, creating, and navigating life's twists—including a global lockdown—Amber’s dream took shape in the form of BardicSpirit, a vibrant expression of her artistic soul and eco-conscious values. Today, Amber’s art continues to invite viewers to pause, reflect, and reconnect with the beauty in our world.

Melissa Lewis 

Contemporary Artist 

Melissa, a Cheshire based artist, creates dynamic and expressive paintings that evoke the complexities, uniqueness and emotional response to our environs. Inspired by our surroundings, both natural and human-made, she employs acrylic and mixed media to explore colour, light, form, texture and visual and physical relationships.

Driven by her desire to create and learn more about the influences of art and design on the environment, Melissa studied Landscape Architecture at Leeds Beckett University where she gained a BA (Hons) Degree and Post Graduate Diploma in the early 1990s. Informed by her many years designing and creating outdoor spaces as a Chartered Landscape Architect, Melissa brings a unique perspective to her art. Her professional background has honed her eye for design and the interplay between the natural and human-made world. In 2016, whilst bringing up her growing family, she decided to focus on her artistic career. 

Melissa has exhibited in many successful collaborative exhibitions and her work is collected by numerous art enthusiasts.

Stephanie Claire

Contemporary Artist 

After graduating from Leeds Arts University, Stephanie Claire joined the emergency services and channelled her experience of the occupation’s harsh realities and darker side of life into her art, which became her therapy for escape into colour and light.

Stephanie is an intuitive painter and deeply reflective in her work where she channels the fluidity of water with the grounding textures of earth. Led by the organic shapes of nature she hopes to invite the viewer on a similar journey of healing to escape the noise, slow down and appreciate life’s intricate and emotive details.

Miles and Jackie Negus-Fancey

Fancey By Nature

Illustrative Artists 

Jackie and Miles Negus-Fancey live just outside Chester and have worked in decorative arts since the eighties.

Jackie originally trained in graphic design and has gone on to train as a digital and surface pattern designer. She has always had a passion for interiors and has freelanced for the last 25 years creating bespoke digital artworks and wallpaper for the private and commercial sectors.

Miles grew up in London. He studied at Chelsea and completed his fine art degree at Byam Shaw School of Art. This led to Miles’s career as a decorative artist. Over the past 35 years Miles has worked on many 

prestigious projects in the UK and across Europe. His skill set is broad which has enabled him to enjoy working on a wide variety of 

projects using gilding, verre eglomise, mural, trompe l’oeil,specialist paint 

finishes and decorative plasters.

Together, Jackie and Miles have worked with many designers to create bespoke artworks and finishes to enhance their schemes.

In 2019 they decided to put their skills together and develop their own collection of artwork and home décor products and in 2021 they launched ‘Fancey By Nature’.

‘We are inspired by the natural beauty and quirkiness that surrounds us. Their illustrations are sophisticated, yet playful, with a touch nostalgic’. 

Greg Forster

Fine Artist specialising in portraiture

Greg Forster graduated from Swansea Metropolitan University in 1992, since then he has worked professionally as a London based freelance illustrator, and latterly in graphic design. Now based in his native North Wales, he uses the knowledge and skills acquired in those professions to shape his artistic vision.

Working in a mix of contemporary mediums, such as acrylic paint, ink, spray paint, marker pen, pencil on paper, board and canvas. Greg has blended his skills in graphics and illustration with his love of music and film to bring about detailed portraits that allow Greg to challenge boundaries and explore his own obsessions. Aside from famous rockers and movie stars, Greg continues to portray his family and friends and offers commissioned portraits in various media in mono or colour.

People and portraiture is central to Greg, although other themes that often recur in his work come from varying perspectives that include his love of his homeland of North Wales. There are many examples of work that include the welsh castles of Edward I, and other significant places of beauty that have a special connection and embody the love between him and his surroundings. 

His work is inspired by the events of his own personal experiences, showing people and places that have had a deep meaning to him throughout the years. Greg has a keen interest in philosophy and sociology, and has always been fascinated by characteristics, key life events, and situations which compose the essence of human existence that include love and loss, hopes and fears, fame, lust and power.

Jennifer Barker

Glass Artist 

Jen has both made and lectured in glass art for over 30 years in the UK.  She runs Cheshire school of Glass where a team of professional glass artists teach all aspects of Glass art to budding and experienced artists at Jen's studio. She is also the creative Director of a glass design company that designs and creates architectural glass for interior spaces. 

Jen studied glass at both Wolverhampton and Staffordshire University to Masters level. She then went on to lecture in Glass Art at Wolverhampton,  Loughborough and Glyndwr Universities for 20+ years prior to setting up her own glass school. 

Jen's work is largely inspired by the patterns and structures found in nature; the marks left behind by transition and erosion on both land and sea play a large part in the pieces she creates. Both gloss and matt glass are used to emulate the way changing light can create atmosphere, depth, shadows and reflections. 

Jen combines glass techniques such as kiln formed glass, painting, print firing marks within the body of the glass using oxides, etching and media blasting. The glass is hand prepared and fired up to 900 degrees Celsius in a large kiln in her country barn conversion workshop and teaching studio. 

Beth Collins 

Needle and Felt Artist

Beth is a needle felting artist from North Wales, with a passion for creating art from natural fibres. 

Born and raised in Wrexham, her deep-rooted connection to the Welsh countryside has been a constant source of inspiration for her craft. Surrounded by the lush landscapes and diverse wildlife of North Wales, she has found enjoyment in the delicate balance between nature and art.

Needle felting allows Beth to breathe life into her artistic visions. Moulding raw, unspun wool into intricate and lifelike representations of wildlife animals and the flora that surrounds them. Her respect for the natural world is evident in each piece, blending her love for her homeland's wildlife with her passion for art. 

Sarah Dargan

Abstract and Digital Artist

Sarah is an abstract and digital artist from Manchester. Winner of The Princes trust, gifted young artists award 1994, She went on to study art at Salford university leaving with a BA Hons degree in design studies.

Colour and texture are her passion and absolutely anything can inspire her and usually in the most unlikely of places.

A 9-5 job and raising her family was Sarah’s primary focus for the last 20 years, however a recent spiritual awakening has led her to embark on a new artistic journey and  she is now relishing in all the new and varied possibilities within digital art. She loves creating unusual, striking and sophisticated combinations.

In Sarah’s own words ..

“Art can have a profound effect on our emotions, also inspiring, resonating and impressing, both artist and viewer. 

I feel ‘at home’ when I’m creating and becoming an artist is where I have truly found my purpose”