Artist Brenda Hayden succeeds in her intention of creating pieces that invite one to explore one’s own vision and understanding of what makes up the coast.

She uses a wide range of media, including found materials, shells and the like, the result of her own beachcombing. From these she builds pictures that capture the untamed beauty of the coastlines of Eastern England. However, what she creates is far from static, her pieces describe the ebb and flow of often treacherous tides, the way colours change as light intensifies or fades, or when mist and cloud move in, and how maritime plants both survive and blend in with their environment.

The show is composed of 14 pieces, all of which are large, most a metre or so in length, and deliberately and successfully unframed. Her decision not to frame her work is owed in part to her appreciation of the Turner seascapes liberated from their ornate frames in an exhibition staged by Tate Britain. It also derives from Hayden’s time studying Nihonga, the Japanese school that works with unframed canvases. Nihonga also uses of a mix of media and this has also influenced Hayden. She has created her own mix which enables her to build up depth and complexity with layers and textures that she can then score, overlay or into which she can embed other materials. It also enables her to create areas of fine translucence, by using a minimal application.

This approach works to great effect as in The Causeway (above). Here the mile-long causeway between Lindisfarne and the mainland, is marked by a line of receding posts, which were erected long ago to mark out the only safe route through the quicksands and competing tides. Grasses in the foreground of the picture are created from strands of thread, which reduces them to a skeletal framework. This places access to the causeway beyond immediate reach, whilst cold and competing currents of greys, steely blues charcoal and creams complete the compelling scene.

Brenda is at the show as part of Artweeks, when she will be creating woven pieces on her ancient Welsh loom. The exhibition is in the Gallery and continues until Saturday.