North Devon Walk of Life unveiled at Battersea Affordable Art Fair

Local artist Merlyn Chesterman RE will be exhibiting six unique and original Walk of Life ‘slab’ prints for the very first time at the Affordable Art Fair at Battersea Park, from Thursday (October 19) until Sunday, as part of the New Atlantic Wave from the Art Upstairs gallery in Bideford.

They represent her next major works after the sell out of A Sapphire Sea at the Royal Academy of Arts earlier in 2023.

The Walk of Life prints capture the climbing of Dyer’s Lookout, a rock face near Hartland on the North Devon coast by UK traditional climber and local artist Tom Randall, who has established many first ascents all over the world and the American climber Anna Hazelnutt.

Merlyn said: “My son messaged me one day and said ‘Mother, I have invited these climbers to stay with you… I was so lucky to get to know them and their community of adventurous and brave colleagues, and about the climbs on my doorstep - one of which is the Dyer’s Lookout. I saw Anna make the first female ascent and then watched Tom succeed on a later occasion, by which time I was beginning to understand how technical it is, with tiny footholds, and few cracks suitable to hold the safety gear - psychologically difficult, and slow progress’.

“I wanted to capture that ascent and all its intricacies - these collaged woodcuts came out of sitting on the cliffs overlooking the climb, with the sea below, stomach knotted, following every minute of the 60 metre pitch. I hope the scale of the climb is evident in this series of six original and unique prints.”

Tom Randall, also an artist local to North Devon worked alongside Merlyn in her studio on his rest days. He came and looked at the series and painstakingly placed the pegs on the slabs one by one. The climber is camouflaged against the rock and two ropes are held in place below.

The six slab prints form part of the New Atlantic Wave’s first presence at the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea and reflect Merlyn’s an ongoing relationship between the Art Upstairs gallery, Bideford, Devon, and ArtMakers. Merlyn has run masterclasses for ArtMakers and exhibited in all their New Atlantic Wave exhibitions in North Devon.