From May 18 to June 15, Narberth’s Oriel Q Gallery is breaking new ground, as we teeter on the brink of another world conflict, in an exhibition of paintings, prints and sculpture by Alison Lochhead, called ‘Birds will Continue to Fly’.

Recently known for her foundry sculptures, blackened and transformed by the intense heat to which the materials were subjected, Alison now finds her passionate rebuttal of war and the tragic displacement of people and communities, alongside the effect on our world ecology, easier to express in colour and paint.

With an initial background in ceramics and weaving, Alison has travelled widely, teaching and also working in refugee camps, returning to her Tregaron home to face the difficult task of expressing her despair at man’s inability to realise the futility of war.

Black birds sometimes appear in her work, their free flight symbolising the irrepressible human spirit where hope, despite everything, continues to prevail.

Meanwhile, as artist of the month, Alison Bevis provides light relief from the anxieties of the world in her window display introducing a lighter, almost playful mood. Her work is a whimsical take on the everyday, giving familiar things, whether from the kitchen or simply found objects, a slightly surreal new look.

Using collage, printmaking techniques and photographs, amongst other media, she creates her own special world where familiar objects are fashioned into new and sometimes surprising forms. The work is full of humour and whimsy, harking back perhaps to an earlier life watching children’s television in the sixties and seventies, which offered an enjoyable world of gentle, playful imaginary creatures.

Oriel Q Gallery is open at 11, Market Street, Narberth from Wednesdays to Saturdays, 10am-4pm.