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Published: 21 April 2022

Our Nick Tart team are very much part of the local community as we live, work and socialise within Newport and the surrounding areas. Having lived in Newport since 1976 I have seen the development and growth of people relocating to the area which ensures the town continues to thrive and therefore building upon the loyal community spirit that exists within it.

Local groups, businesses and individuals make a huge difference through their support for a variety of needs including the Xray Appeal, Food Bank, Cottage Hospital and The Hub. Lockdown highlighted the importance of #shoplocal where businesses creatively developed an alternative approach to their sales and service through home delivery, social media and individual websites.

Our Newport office continues with this ethos keen to provide a straightforward quality service for the community as well has making a contribution as individuals or as a company.

 As lockdown slowed the pace of life this has also provided an opportunity for artists to develop their skills and produce a body of work. As property and artworks are linked through lifestyle choices we have been able to provide a platform and outlet for showcasing and selling local artworks through our office space. Our preview evenings have been well attended and great fun which has enabled artists to increase their profile, expand their networks and to link with additional retailers and online outlets. In addition this has helped to remove the stigma that original artworks are unaffordable and can actually be purchased at affordable prices.  

We are currently exhibiting and selling work for a local ceramicist Sally Fitchard . Every few months I have a local artist in the office. We also have the lino prints of another local artist David Heath. We held a preview night for David which was very successful. The art work connects with the selling/purchasing of properties and for us encourages people to come into the office to build relationships.

About Sally 

Based in Staffordshire, 'The Potteries', a region famous for its ceramics industry Sally Fitchard graduated in studio ceramics nearly thirty years ago but only returned to clay in January 2019.

​In that short time however a body of figurative work has emerged intent on exploring human gestures and expression open to playing with scale the abstractions of form and finish.

Not unlike a writer and their use of emotive language she is a sculptor drawing on the properties of clay to create a visual language that is beautiful, curious, relatable and accessible.

“They say your medium chooses you and if that’s true I now know that clay chose me when I was a teenager and despite continuing onto college I still didn’t realise till so much later how poignant it actually was to me. We communicate with each other in so many ways but we intrinsically value our visual world, reacquainting with clay totally expanded mine. Figurative sculpture enables me to explore some of this and it’s exciting. Every unique combination of form and gesture resurfacing through the clay, and maybe not that ironically for a lone activity, increasingly tethering one to a far-reaching sense of place and belonging.”

Link to my website exhibitions page:

Artist Exhibitions | Sally Fitchard

Link to my website - www.sallyfitchard.com

Ceramic Sculptor | Sally Fitchard

 Link to my Instagram page

Sally Fitchard (@sallyfitchard) • Instagram photos and videos