COLOUR. FORM. EXPRESSION. – Wendy Fransella and Ella Johnston.

Paintings and prints from Wendy Fransella and Ella Johnston.

About the artists:

Wendy Fransella

Wendy grew up in Colchester and studied drama at Manchester University before going to London where she studied printmaking in evening classes; formed a band; worked as a waitress and had three children.

Coming back to her roots in 1999, Wendy enrolled at Colchester School of Art as a mature student completing Foundation and a BA in Fine Art. Having been told to drop art at school, it took Wendy half a lifetime before she could focus on her passion for art.

Wendy’s previous exhibitions include the Hay Gallery, the Minories and Brick Lane showing a range of abstract prints. And is now adding Level Best Gallery to her list of exhibitions.

In 2007, Wendy liaised with the Colchester Regeneration Office at the Hythe as Lead Artist on a 172-foot heritage mural at King Edward Quay. The mural project, which depicted the people of the Hythe past and present, included several community art workshops organised by Wendy.

More recently in 2002, Wendy orchestrated a series of Arts Council-funded art workshops for vulnerable women, working with local charities CARA and Essex’s only LGBTQ+ charity, the Outhouse.

Wendy’s work is gestural, abstract and expressive, working in acrylics, charcoal and ink on canvas and paper ‘to make seen the unseen’ by exploring mark making and colour.

You can find her work and get in touch with her here:

Instagram: @wendyfransella Email: wfransella@yahoo.co.uk

Ella Johnston

Growing up on the working-class borders of Hackney and Islington, Ella studied art at Chelsea College of Art & Design before pursuing a degree in Art History and Literature at the University of Essex.

During her time in the city, Ella worked out of studios in North and Southeast London and regularly worked out of the London Print Studio. Ella’s work includes large-scale nature drawings shown at the five-star Hempel Hotel, ‘Banco Internacionale de Sloganeers’ at the KLF’s The Foundry bar and art space; and ‘floral tributes’ for victims of war, which appeared at roadsides as guerrilla art around the Square Mile.

Returning to Wivenhoe in 2011, Ella co-founded the small independent and indie book publisher and art project Dunlin Press, where as creative director, she also designs the books’ cover artwork. In recent years her paintings and drawings have been shown around Essex, while her illustrative work has been published in several books and magazines. Ella has also held workshops around the county and beyond.

Ella’s current work uses mixed media, including inks and acrylics, to explore the possibilities of asemic text, mark-making and abstraction, in bright and gestural paintings often inspired by women’s history and experience, including her own.

You can find her work and get in touch with her here:

Website: ellasplace.co.uk Instagram: @ellajohnstonart