about this event
Sue Ransley’s first solo exhibition is a celebration of the life of her Mum, Joyce (Joy) Davis. Joy was born in 1918, to a generation that reduced her to ‘Housewife’ and yet she was so much more than that – as well as Wife, Mother, Sister, Grandma - she was also an inventor, knitwear designer, author, artist and more. Yet she was also dyslexic and left-handed, which at that time had her labelled at her convent school as the ‘spawn of the devil’. Part of this show illustrates those different threads to her life. It is also about bringing her back into sharper focus for Sue, as Joy died 32 years ago in 1994.
The other part of the exhibition is a series of small works, capturing memories, places, and the things Joy loved, with the intention that by the time you leave you will have a sense of her - Joy by name, and Joy by nature, she was warm, engaged, funny, loving and a little bit naughty. Joy had always intended having a ‘One Woman; One Hundred works’ exhibition but then never felt confident enough about her work to follow through – so Sue is aiming (emphasising aiming!) to have 100 works here, as her ‘Ode to Joy’
Sue came to art later in life by way of an Adult Education class here at Cranleigh Arts Centre. Plus, her parents spent the last 10 years of their life in Cranleigh, and Joy loved the Arts Centre, volunteering here at one point. So, this is a full circle moment.