Spring has sprung at Pepperton's gallery

9:37am Saturday 16th February 2008

Like night follows day, the visual delight that was the Pepperton's winter exhibition has been replaced by the spring exhibition. Twelve artists are on show at the Crystal Palace gallery, showcasing a smorgasbord of styles and genres in painting, print, photography, glass sculpture and installation.

Here is a window into the art of some of the artists: Melanie Alfonso is a Norwood-based photographer who captivates some intriguing reflections from the waters of Norwood Lake, and has captured a Crimson Dream (pictured) in the Japan trees at the Winkworth Arboretum, Surrey.

Gallery owner Bula Agbo elaborates on Alfonso's snaps: "Being Japanese trees I was curious to see what they looked like in an English landscape so I look on the Arboretum's website, and there were a series of photos which has the browns and oranges, but nothing like what Melanie got - she is the only one to have got that moment when everything was this incredible crimson.

"Her photo of Norwood lake makes it look like an outer space constellation but it is just the sun's reflection."

Traditional portrait painter Carol Tarn's has submitted Congolese Girl, which was inspired by an article (and an original photograph by Aubrey Wade) about the Eastern Congo and Kindu, a hospital that had been reduced to little more than a mortuary through the combined ravages of civil war disease and malnutrition.

That was over five years ago and, since then, the UK rapid-action aid agency Merlin has supported the hospital and built a legacy of improved healthcare and hope. Tarn's Congolese Girl captures a little girl who has experienced life and reveals a wisdom that goes well beyond her infant years.

Performing artist Jack Chapman allows the viewer a glimpse into his life's journey as "Julie is slowly but surely becoming Jack", a moving experience of a friend who is undergoing a sex change.

Katherine Jones, a multiple award-winning contemporary printmaker marries the bold and the sublime to create a magical "other world" experience, the stuff that fairy tales are made of. In fact, her piece the Silver Hand was inspired by a Brothers Grimm fairytale.

Pepperton's spring exhibition; Pepperton's gallery, 25 Selhurst Road, SE25 5PP; until March 29, Tues-Sat noon-10pm, call 020 8683 4462 or visit peppertonuk.co.uk for details.

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