FRANCES HATCH RWS 

Frances trained at Aberystwyth University College of Wales, L’Ecole des Beaux Arts, France, Goldsmiths’ College, London and Wimbledon College of Art. She exhibits widely throughout the UK and was awarded the Shenzhen International Watercolour Biennial Prize in 2016, which recognises innovation and experimentation in contemporary water media. She was elected member of The Royal Watercolour Society in 2022 and is represented by Sladers Yard Gallery, Dorset, Kevis House, West Sussex and Bankside Gallery, London.

photo by Tom Hanmer

 ‘As a child I painted in watercolour out on the black lands of the Isle of Ely fen. I grew into a plein-air painter simply because it was when I was outside that the mundane became miraculous: a storm moving through a stand of poplars, for example, was an experience I didn’t want to forget. It made me feel different and I wanted to share that feeling’. 

 

Frances continues to work outdoors where dust, grit, paws, frost, thaw, hail, gale and rain participate. Supports are softened by rain, chewed by mice, nibbled by snails, trampled by cows, or erased by rain.

Water-based media, resident earths and clays integrate easefully because water is the vehicle of transport in the environment. 

 

 ‘Weather is neither good nor bad, it simply is.
Land is not too hard or too red, it simply is’. 

 

Curiosity remains core, yet the stance has shifted from working in a place to working with Place. 

Frances cultivates reciprocity, inviting the commune of the land into conversation: at times quick to respond, at other times reluctant. 

The terrain provides pigment, tools that make marks and tools that remove or distress the surface. Places sometimes provide a surface to paint on. 

the less I take into a Place in terms of ‘art kit’, the more the land offers. 

The works that emerge are containers of a particular experience.

Visual praise poems. 

 CURRICULUM VITAE

TRAINING:

C.C.A.T. (Cambridge) Foundation Course 1973-74
Aberystwyth University College of Wales – Hons degree in French and Visual Art 1974-78
Auditrice Libre, Ecole des Beaux Arts, Nantes 1976
Goldsmiths’ College, A.T.C. 1978-79
Wimbledon College of Art: Postgraduate- MA Printmaking 1986-89

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:

ROYAL WATERCOLOUR SOCIETY/ BANKSIDE GALLERY 2020- on-going. elected 2022.
THE ROYAL INSTITUTE OF PAINTERS IN WATERCOLOURS. The Mall Galleries, 2016 – 2022 & 2025
ROYAL SOCIETY OF BRITISH ARTISTS OPEN. The Mall Galleries, London 2022
ROYAL ACADEMY SUMMER EXHIBITION. 2016 + 2019
KEVIS HOUSE GALLERY, Petworth. Solo and group shows 2014 on-going
THE RUSSELL GALLERY, London. 2020- 
SLADERS YARD, West Bay, Dorset. 2015- on-going
THE COMMON GROUND. Crafts Study Centre, U.C.A. Farnham.  2020
BERMONDSEY PROJECT SPACE, London. 2019+ 2021
DRAWING ON DORSET. Fine Foundation Gallery, Durlston near Swanage, Lighthouse in Poole, Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester, The Sherborne. 2019-2024
THELMA HULBERT GALLERY, Honiton, solo show 2017. Winner.  THG Open 2025. 
THE ATKINSON GALLERY, Milfield Open 2021
LYNN PAINTER-STAINERS PRIZE. Mall Galleries, The Mall, London. 2014 + 2016
THE ING DISCERNING EYE EXHIBITION, The Mall Galleries. 2013 + 2015 + 2016
THE GATEHOUSE GALLERY, St Peter Port, Guernsey. solo show 2016
RWS GALLERIES Whitcomb St.  Group shows:  ‘Now’ 2023 + ‘Small Works’ 2024.

BRANTWOOD, Coniston Water. solo show March-July 2024
RWS GALLERIES Whitcomb St, London. Common Ground. October 2024. 
RUSSELL COTES ART GALLERY & MUSEUM, Bournemouth. Artists in Purbeck: Spirit of Place. October 2024- March 2025
WHITE CHALK GALLERY, Devizes, Wiltshire. August-Sept 2025
DORSET OPEN Oct-Nov 2025- winner of People’s Choice Award
MEETING THE WIND. Kevis House Gallery, Petworth. Oct 2025

AWARDS:

Visiting Artist. Gate House Gallery, Guernsey. March 2016
The Shenzhen International Watercolour Biennial Prize at The Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI) exhibition: 2016
The Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Honiton OPEN 2016- (winner)
Bursary awarded by the Department for International Trade Southwest. 2018
ARTmine, Agora Gallery, Chelsea, New York. USA. 2019.
Abbotsbury Landscape Artist of the Year 2023
Dorset Open 2025. winner of People’s Choice Award

RESIDENCIES:

PAVILLION DANCE, Bournemouth 2011 + 2012
DURLSTON COUNTRY PARK NATIONAL NATURE RESERVE. Swanage 2014
SOIL CULTURE RESIDENCY at The Eden Project: shortlist. August 2014
BRANTWOOD RESIDENCY, Coniston Water, Cumbria. Sept/October 2019

PUBLICATIONS:

Drawn to Antarctica: an artist’s view. 2005 Viriditas Press. ISBN: 978-0-9562647-0-1
Earth- 2014 (with Sladers Yard) 2015
Chesil Moons: 2017 Viriditas Press. ISBN 978-0-9562647-1-8
With Red Earth Under My Nails: 2017 Viriditas Press. ISBN 978-0-9562647-2-5
The Common Ground. 2020. The Crafts Study Centre. ISBN 978-1-9162971-0-4

CONTRIBUTIONS TO PUBLICATIONS:

Missal Birds: origami microbook printed by Steve Hitchens poems by Elisabeth Bletsoe.
Bruaria: microbook printed by Steve Hitchens poems by Elisabeth Bletsoe.
Towards Re-Enchantment: Place and Its Meanings. Artevents, 2010. (at the invitation of Elisabeth Bletsoe, poet)
Artist and Illustrators Magazine, Featured Contributor. January 2014 issue.
40 Artist Educator Project. Commissioned by Access Art 2014
Drawing and Painting: Materials and Techniques for Contemporary Artists. Thames and Hudson, 2015
The Jackdaw Magazine. Easel Notes. May/June Issue. 2016
Drawing on Dorset. Dorset Visual Arts. 2019. ISBN 978-1-5262-0790-6

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