A Lifetime of Art: Elizabeth Heydeman Retrospective

Tuesday 2nd September - Sunday 14th September, The Setting gallery and Plot café, Tuesday to Friday 8.30am - 4pm, Saturday 10am - 4pm, Sunday 10am - 3pm

Born in February 1938 in Cambridge, Elizabeth has lived in Reading since 1961, when she married Tom Heydeman. She was honoured with Life Membership of the Reading Guild of Artists in 2017. From the 1990s she was also actively involved with the Berkshire Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers, and at a national level. Elizabeth was an exhibitor with the annual Whiteknights Studio Trail from its onset in 2001, exhibiting most years, often in her own home, sharing the space with other artists and chatting animatedly to visitors. 

In her own words, “I have drawn, painted and made linocuts ever since I can remember. Weaving [became] a discipline which fascinates me, the play of colour and textures, the restrictions of warp and weft.”  In recent years, health constraints have reduced her artwork to occasional sketches, but she continues to take great pleasure in colour and design in the world around her. 

This exhibition to celebrate her decades of artistry in many different media has been organised by her daughters, Tess and Lucy.

This exhibition includes works from Elizabeth’s teenage years in the 1950s, all the way through to recent works. Her range of exploration, and mastery of, so many media over the years is truly remarkable. She has worked and practised extensively to achieve this. We have tried to present a representative range, although there are no pottery pieces included here, and we also have huge numbers of sketch books that we couldn’t easily display.

The exhibition aims are twofold: firstly, to celebrate with Elizabeth her extensive and impressive oeuvre; and secondly, we all hope that this is an opportunity for many of her artworks to find their way to new homes, where they can be loved and enjoyed. Here you will find works in oils, watercolours, pen and wash, and even poster paints from her school days! There are linocuts produced over many decades, textiles produced mainly since the 1990s, and experimental pieces using mixed media, collage, and even bleach. There truly should be something here for everyone!