"The island is beautiful and has a lot to offer in terms of lifestyle and quality of life. I very much enjoy watching my family being happy here and I believe that Guernsey deserves some credit for that. I previously lived and conducted business in many parts of the world, but I never before experienced the feeling to live in such a special place. In particular, I am most impressed by the level of integrity on the island. It makes you feel like you want to raise your standards and contribute as well.

That is why I came up with the idea of Art for Guernsey. The plan is to use my relationships in the art world to invite once a year an internationally renowned artist to visit and get inspired by Guernsey, and to produce related artworks that will be displayed during a two weeks long exhibition at the Market Place and will ultimately constitute an artistic legacy for Guernsey.

This initiative is very much about creating an opportunity for the islanders to discover high quality art for free. It is also about supporting the local community by reinvesting locally all the resources generated by the exhibitions, to support art and education development in Guernsey. Finally, it is about using the presence of the visiting artists to actively engage into the social life of the island, bring art where it is most needed, inspire people and try to make them happy."

https://artforguernsey.com/

Howard Bilton is Chairman and founder of The Sovereign Group – one of the world’s largest privately owned consultancies specialising in the provision of offshore trusts and companies and associated international tax advice. Howard holds a joint honours BA degree in classics and law from the University of Keele and is qualified as a Barrister and called to the Bars of England/Wales and Gibraltar. He currently lives and works in Hong Kong. He is a regular contributor of articles to The Telegraph and Financial Times. He is a visiting non-resident professor at Texas A and M University where he assists with their LLM and Masters degrees in International Tax and Offshore Centres. In 2003 he formed The Sovereign Art Foundation Limited, now registered in Hong Kong, Singapore, Guernsey, South Africa and the UK. He is the principal of Hillvalley Limited, which since 2005 has been making wine in Portugal, this is sold throughout the world under the Howard’s Folly brand name.

"It’s fair to say I’m obsessed about the sea and its changing moods are an overriding influence on my art… Tranquility, drama, ferocity, all I try to reflect in my studies.

In the people and places I paint, I try to bring out their personalities and emotions to create something deeper and more colourful than just a straight landscape or portrait. Sometimes adding my own poetry to bring more dimension the piece.

I’ve been a scribbler ever since I could pick up a pencil so I was always destined to be an artist somehow. After schooling in Guernsey I went off to Falmouth College of Arts to study an Arts foundation, then a BA honours in illustration. After some time in Cornwall I moved back to Guernsey combining work as a graphic designer, illustrator and artist."

www.jamescolmer.com/

Jean-Christophe Godet is a French born, Guernsey-based photographer. He is Artistic Director of the Guernsey Photography Festival and runs several other projects on island and internationally, as well as being appointed for many commercial commissions.

"I discovered photography at an early age, as a teenager. Like many, I fell in love with the process of the darkroom; probably a banal statement, but seeing a photograph appearing at the bottom of a tray was magical at the time.

Gradually I developed my skills, and then over 15 years ago I went travelling intensively across the world for 18 months (the Middle East, Asia, Australasia and South America) to work on personal projects. Upon returning, I entered and won a national photography competition, winning Travel Photographer of the Year. The prize was a professional commission for a publisher, which was in Sardinia. I loved the work, and the professional commissions kept coming."

https://guernseyphotographyfestival.com

John qualified as a solicitor in England in 1983. He has lived and worked in South East Asia since 1988 and in 1992 his former employer was one of the first foreign law firms to open a branch office in Beijing. John has worked as a solicitor and notary public in both Hong Kong and Gibraltar where he established his own legal practices. He also serves as an adjunct professor of the Texas A & M University. After serving as group legal director for over 20 years John is now retired but he remains on the Sovereign Group board as non-executive director and as a keen collector of art has been a passionate supporter of the Sovereign Art Foundation since its inception.

Jonathan is a highly experienced art expert and valuer. Born and educated in Jersey.

Jonathan joined the Victoria and Albert Museum as a curator in 1983 after graduating in History of Art. He became a senior curator at the V&A and for eight years was head of its Apsley House branch. In 1997, Jonathan returned to Jersey and founded Atelier Ltd which deals primarily in oil paintings from the 17th to early 20th century, as well as watercolours, drawings and etchings. It provides professional valuations for insurance and probate. In 2005 Jonathan was elected a member of the British Antique Dealers Association (BADA) and he has published and lectured widely on a variety of subjects. Jonathan is also a consultant for Martel Maides Auctions and their representative in Jersey.

www.atelierlimited.com

Born in Guernsey, Louise Lawton is renowned for her stark monochrome paintings of figures and crowd formations seen from high-up perspectives. The paintings are made on boards with a beautifully prepared gesso ground and then drawn onto using compressed charcoal.

Photographic in appearance, there is an abundance of white space and the detailed figures are denied any identity with their environment. This is in stark contrast to some of her more recent work, which depicts intricate cityscapes of New York and London. In these, space is scarce and individuals are unidentifiable. When seen along side each other, these two works provide a poignant depiction of the individual within a metropolis.

Louise graduated from Wimbledon School of Art with a BA Honours in painting in 2001. Having worked for a number of London and New York art galleries since her graduation, she continues to exhibit internationally.

Pre-Covid, exhibitions in conjunction with Quantum Contemporary Art were on the agenda in New York, San Francisco, London, Singapore and Hong Kong. We are very much hoping that these will be able to go ahead in the Autumn/winter of 2020. In the meantime, Louise is still available for commissions and direct sales as normal.

http://www.louiselawton.com/

"I am an artist who studied at Falmouth College of Arts and The Surrey Institute of Art and Design for my BA (Hons) Fine Art. I have spent the last twenty years in the art world. With experience of producing numerous commissions for private and public clients across the world I am now based in the South West of the UK.

Working with expert local shapers the Southwest I recently diversified into the world of surfboards, bellyboards and handplanes which are both surfable and artwork in their own right.

I am inspired by the beautiful coastline and Exmoor and the renowned surfing beaches of Saunton Sand, Croyde and Woolacombe.

I aim to produce paintings and Surf Art that are beautifully made and beautifully painted."

https://www.cuttlebones.co.uk/

"I was born on the island of Guernsey in 1986 and split my time living in Guernsey and London. I am a trained fine art conservator, a skill that I find enhances and complements my work as an artist. Before focusing on full-time artistic practices, I worked in private equity for ten years based in London, Hong Kong and South Africa." I look for snippets of charm in all my compositions, capturing the beauty and fragility of the passing moment in time when a model is siting for an artist. I tend to steer away from tying my paintings to a specific period in time, avoiding fashion trends or backgrounds that might create strong associations and distract from the individual. I enjoy a quiet, soft and calm palette, while my brushstrokes balance playful texture and restraint.

My work consists solely of painting from direct observation, completed in natural conditions over a period of three to six sittings, each of c. two and a half hours. The paintings vary in size depending on the composition and context. I stretch my own oil primed linen supports and use artist-quality oil paints.

https://www.sallyedegolightly.com/

Stephen is the managing director of Sovereign Trust (Channel Islands) Limited and has been with the Sovereign Group since 2004. Prior to moving to Guernsey in 2010, Stephen was a director and senior legal counsel in the Group’s Gibraltar office. He qualified as a lawyer in England in 1998 and specialised in advising on estate planning, trusts and private client matters. “My parents would probably describe me as being artistically challenged at school! My grandfather was an amateur painter and took up marquetry in his retirement and receiving some of his pieces began my love of collecting art. The talent in the youth of Guernsey is truly remarkable and I feel extremely privileged that the Sovereign Art Foundation is able to give them a platform to exhibit that talent.”