THE French connection is strengthening over at Hambly & Hambly with the recent gallery visit of Wendy York, President of The Château Society in Dampierre-sur-Boutonne – the village in France in which the John Richardson French Residency will take place next summer.

Last week, Wendy, who is one of the 10 judges of the John Richardson French Residency Award, enjoyed a whirlwind trip to Enniskillen to visit the Hambly & Hambly Gallery at Dunbar House and to see the finalists’ works in situ.

Speaking to The Impartial Reporter during her first visit to Fermanagh, which she called an “absolute joy”, Wendy commented on the work of the 40 finalists, describing the collection as “very impressive and very diverse”.

She continued: “The styles, the medium, the techniques – for me to see it [in person], it’s so much easier for me to form impressions, because seeing it in 2D on a screen, you don’t get any sense of the scale or the depth.

“How the brushwork has been done, and the colours, of course, are so much more vivid when you see them live,” said Wendy, who, prior to her retirement, lectured in arts and architectural history in colleges and universities, and is therefore familiar with grading students’ artwork and what to look for.

“It’s been great for me to see and I’ve been around the gallery twice, just to first of all confirm what I thought, and then I changed my mind on certain things, in different lights, from different angles.

“It’s been so interesting and absolutely fascinating,” she added, noting that she will meet with the other nine judges “to thrash it all out and share their opinions” to jointly determine the three winning entrants of the French Residency Award.

The final announcement by head judge Nora Hickey M’Scihili will be made in the gallery on December 20.

The historic Château in Dampierre-sur-Boutonne, a commune in the Charente-Maritime department in southwestern France, in which Wendy is President of the The Château Society, is steeped in culture and art.

“It is also an old haunt of Salvador Dali who was in residence there on many occasions, and whose original works still hang in the beautiful interiors of this landmark space of French culture, art and heritage,” said Ciara Hambly, joint owner of Hambly & Hambly with her husband, Nick.

“The Château is a 30-second walk from our French residency and plays host to art exhibitions and cultural events. We look forward to sustained collaboration with the Château in the very exciting days ahead and introducing our Hambly & Hambly artists to this stunning space for future magic,” she said.

Delighted by the strong links forming between Hambly & Hambly and the Château, and the potential of future collaborations, Wendy said: “The connection that we are hoping [to nurture] between the Château and the artist in residence at Hambly & Hambly is that, at the Château, we can exhibit their work, have it all advertised, so that when visitors come to the Château they are given a flyer to go and see the artist in residence’s work.

“Fantastic connections”

“In what is a very tiny farming community village, it’s fantastic to have connections to the international art world. It’s unheard of, really, certainly in the Charente-Maritime,” she told this newspaper.

Hambly & Hambly are opening their physical Christmas exhibition ‘HARK!’ on Sunday, December 5 from 2pm at Dunbar House, Enniskillen.

This exhibition will feature a selection of Hambly & Hambly artists’ new collections, plus a special Gift Room with 200 pieces priced less than £200.

Following the opening of the exhibition, ‘Imagine Christmas’ – a virtual group show curated by a newcomer to the Hambly & Hambly curation team, Rikki van den Berg will launch via all Hambly & Hambly virtual platforms on Monday, December 6.

“We look forward to a sparkling festive wonderland of art, both physical and virtual, and growing our communities of artists and art lovers making art accessible to everyone, whoever and wherever you are,” said Ciara.