Humph Hack, Malvern Theatres' curator, reflects on the joy of colour as the summer exhibition gets underway.

Colour is the stuff of art.

Colour is a joy and this summer’s exhibition at the Malvern Theatres is all about The Joy of Colour.

I have chosen three artists whose response to, and use of, colour demonstrate how very different end results can be achieved by talented artists.

Although Liane Stevenson draws inspiration from both the urban and rural landscape, the works in this exhibition are largely cityscapes.

She specialises in collage, finding the range of pattern available helps her express and celebrate the visual rhythms of her subject matter.

Liane has been involved in many solo and mixed exhibitions over the last twenty years but this is her first show in Malvern.

Her use of colour is subtle.

The delicate tones of her compositions nevertheless produce images which are visually opulent and highly evocative.

She is one of those artists happy to undertake commissions.

To discuss such an assignment and to see more of her work, especially her most recent - working mainly from the figure, take a look at her page on artgallery.co.uk

Stuart Dalby’s work could not be more different even though his subject matter is also drawn from the world about us.

In his case all the works chosen are from the natural world.

It is the “riot” of colour which first attracts the attention.

Subtle they are not. Powerful and vibrant they surely are.

Working for many years as a museum professional, he rose to the post of project manager for Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

Many of the paintings on show develop from photographs that he has taken over the years, providing either a starting point or a complete composition to be re-interpreted into paint, but he also spends a lot of time with a sketch book.

Stuart has exhibited in several exhibitions locally and has shown his work successfully in both the Malvern Theatres and The Art gallery Tetbury – the home of artgallery.co.uk.

He is also happy to consider commissions through the same on-line gallery.

Jim Fry is an ex-student of the well-known Bournville College of Art.

He too has a passion for vibrant colour, to depict energy and movement in his paintings, but Jim’s works are powerful examples of abstraction.

He pushes the boundaries of the use of paint, discovering new ways of expressing creativity.

His work is influenced by lifetime experiences and travel, particularly to Italy and by his experience of volcanoes. Other inspiration comes from celestial objects, such as stars, galaxies, planets, moons and nebulae including the phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of the earth.

Jim also regularly works on a commission basis.

This is Jim’s first exhibition in Malvern.

The exhibition can be viewed every day until Sunday, August 9.