HEATHER NEVAY

"These paintings portray an intentionally literal interpretation of the games and rituals I remember from childhood. The children are involved in experiments to create one thing from another; rose-coloured clouds from blood and tears, perfume from petals, and liquors "distilled" to cure imagined ills . Utensils and raw ingredients found in their immediate domestic surroundings are used in their play to mimic the instruments of the alchemist. They are workmanlike about the tasks they are doing, regarding them as essential and natural within their imagination. This reflects the adult world they observe from the safe perspective of their childhood landscape".

"The Savage Garden" The Portal Gallery Exhibition October 2009 In this series of paintings Nevay's familiar setting of Eden is changing. Her children, inhabiting the characters of their animal namesakes, indulge in role play games to explore the many fears and dangers of the adult world. "The Savage Garden" is a playground with a constant threat of menace and of sudden, jarring shifts in power. For Mister Lambe it is only when they all lie down together in the Peaceable Kingdom - the final painting in this series - that you feel a sense of calm. For Madame Lyon, Miss Shepherd, Mistress Woolfe and Mister Lambe an innocent balance has, for the time being, re-emerged. All paintings © Heather Nevay 2009 - 2010