Sue Moffitt

'Un-Herd'

Paintings in this exhibition are drawn from Sue Moffitt’s latest work and include those of native and in particular Exmoor ponies, and new cow paintings demonstrating a move towards greater abstraction and a looser style, to which the cows adapt beautifully!

The exhibition title speaks to the unheard and little appreciated roles of her subjects : the cows who so amiably and unknowingly go about their business of producing milk, and the native ponies whose original role as graziers of mountains and moorlands is now being re-established and newly appreciated, helping to restore and maintain habitats for the benefit of endangered flora and fauna.

The Exmoor and other pony paintings came about thanks to a childhood friendship. Earlier this year Sue visited an old friend who amongst many other interests works with the Moorland Mousie Trust  - an organisation dedicated to saving unwanted ponies leaving their  Exmoor homeland. The ponies she relocates to Northumberland are initially gainfully employed as  ‘conservation tools’, maintaining natural grassland and over-grazed moorland, before finding homes as much loved family ponies.

As with the cows, ponies played a significant role in Sue’s childhood, starting with Bobby, an Exmoor who arrived one Christmas courtesy of doting grandparents!  So it is perhaps not surprising that she is able to effectively capture their inherent characteristics – the somewhat shaggy coat, unruly manes and tails, distinctive face profile and the kind yet knowing eyes.