Local Artists Still Life Art Exhibition at Museum

26 March – 10 May
Still Life Art
River & Rowing Museum

Two local artists Si Sapsford and Mai Lee will be exhibiting their paintings and ceramics in the Community Gallery at the Museum inspired by Still and Life…

Still – not moving or making a sound nevertheless, all the same
Life – the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter the existence of an individual human being or animal

Still Life Art includes all kinds of man-made or natural objects, cut flowers, fruit, vegetables, fish, game, wine. It can also be a celebration of material pleasures such as food and wine, or often a warning of the ephemerality of these pleasures and of the brevity of human life. This exhibition asks us to reflect on our changing environment, both locally and globally, our fear of others and the unknown. Why do we value our own communities, the familiar, over others? Why do we find beauty in some living creatures and not others?

Si Sapsford is a multi-disciplined artist working both as a sculptor and painter. Graduating from the RCA, she has exhibited widely both in the UK and abroad, including The National
Portrait Gallery, Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and Compton Verney Gallery. As a former winner of the BP Travel Award, she was also included in the National Portrait
Gallery’s 500 artist publication. She was a semi- finalist in Sky Portrait Artist of the Year 2020 and is currently showing work at BOTH Gallery, London. Her paintings dwell on the duality of current environmental and political disasters sitting alongside everyday activities. She said, “Whilst we might be enjoying a coffee or game of cards, somewhere in the world a river might be over spilling its banks, or a war raging and we see people becoming displaced, forced to migrate in the resulting loss of home.”  Drawing on imagery of flooded landscapes and storms, her landscape paintings begin to teeter on abstraction, whilst her portraits seem self-absorbed, unaware of what is happening around them.

Mai Lee Burgess has lived in the Henley area for over 30 years. She studied Zoology at London University but has had no formal art training. Her first encounter with a lump of clay was in May 2021 and she got through to the final live auditions for Great Pottery Throwdown 2025.  Inspired by the river and local wildlife, animal symbolism in Chinese art, and reflecting on
our climate crisis and migration, Mai has produced a collection of hand built ceramic animals and wheel thrown bowls, vases and plates. Some of these local animals are very familiar, others are present but rarely seen. Insects are common but rarely celebrated in western art.  She asks, “Why are we so fond of some living creatures but fearful and repulsed by others? In nature, animals and plants live in a delicate balance, all are vital and deserve respect whether we approve of them or not. Whether we like it or not, it is STILL life.”