Tollesbury
Whimbrel Art Gallery
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Whimbrel Art Gallery
Gallery
Gallery · 2 East Street
WhimbrelART is an art gallery at 2 East Street, showing work by local and Essex artists – paintings, watercolours, ceramics, jewellery and handmade pieces, with a particular focus on the landscapes and maritime character of the Essex coast.
Run by artist John Woodwark, the gallery opened in 2018 and has become a quiet fixture of the village's creative life. It was one of the founding venues for Tollesbury's first Arts Trail in September 2024 which brought together over 20 artists and makers from across the village. The next arts trail is on 12th September 2026.
Open Saturday mornings from 10am to noon. If coming from a distance, email to confirm opening before visiting.
The gallery's name comes from the whimbrel – a wading bird of the Essex saltmarshes, smaller than a curlew, with a distinctive rippling call heard on the marsh in spring and autumn.
Email: gallery@whimbrelart.co.uk
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John Woodwark
Painting
John Woodwark is the artist and photographer behind WhimbrelART, the small gallery he runs on the edge of the Tollesbury marshes. A whimbrel is one of the wading birds that work this coast – a fitting name for a gallery so rooted in its saltmarsh surroundings.
His work spans three quite different disciplines. His photography, gathered over more than a decade, records Tollesbury itself – its creeks and marshes, its boats and its wide estuary skies. Alongside it he paints, and he still sets and prints by hand, keeping the older craft of letterpress alive. That range reflects an unusually varied path: before turning to art he spent a career in computing and engineering, work built on geometry and precision – something you can still sense in the way he frames a landscape.
WhimbrelART opens on Saturday mornings, and John is usually there to talk through the work with anyone who wanders in.
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Kevin Flower
Painting & Mixed Media
After 34 years as a teacher at the Plume School in Maldon, Kevin Flower has recently retired and is now turning his attention to recharging his own creative portfolio.
His inspiration comes from all around him – from weathered, man-made structures and the marks left by time, to landscapes flooded with light. Working in both acrylic and oil, Kevin builds up richly textured, layered surfaces, using spontaneous brush marks that move between the figurative and the abstract. Many of his recent paintings explore a post-impressionist and fauvist-inspired approach, capturing the energy, light and texture of a particular moment and place.
Drawing and mark-making are at the heart of Kevin's work. Sometimes the drawing becomes almost indistinguishable from the painting itself, creating layers that record not just what he sees, but the passage of time and the process of creating it.
Nicky Graham
Watercolour
Nicky Graham is a contemporary nature artist with over ten years' experience, specialising in capturing the beauty and spirit of one of Britain's most iconic countryside creatures — the hare.
Inspired by a deep love of the natural world and the countryside, Nicky's work brings these fascinating animals to life through richly textured acrylics and delicate watercolours, capturing their character, movement and individuality. Discover these stunning artworks and meet the artist behind them at WhimbrelArt.