A COLLECTION of oils by local artist Diana Tetlow will enliven the walls of the New Heritage House Gallery later this month and at the official opening her work will speak for itself ? literally.

Entitled , the exhibit will be officially opened by Lockjaw Fox ? the life-sized St. David's Islander Muppet operated by comedian and raconteur Gavin Wilson which was moulded and built by the artist ? at a private viewing for invited guests on June 25.

"The only time I've ever heard Mr. Fox make any reference to culture was to say the staff at his nursing home were so ugly they could be modern art masterpieces," said Mr. Wilson. "So I don't know what he's going to come out with at the opening."

The collection of work marks a deviation for the well-respected artist. Most conspicuously, oils have replaced her traditional pastels. Contrary to what one might assume, however, the title was not inspired by Mrs. Tetlow's love of an obscure Asian hue. "This exhibition is exclusively oil paintings," she explained. "When a particular medium has been a mainstay for 25 years, it's fairly unusual to change to another, but at the end of the '90s I was diagnosed and treated for metal poisoning.

"The heavy metals in pastel pigments are easily inhaled and absorbed if you don't take care ? I'd even been known to drop the occasional stick of pastel in my coffee. As I didn't particularly want to go through all that illness again, I began concentrating on oils, which can be just as toxic but it's easier to avoid the hazards.

"Why call an exhibition ? While I was working in New Zealand I ran out of a tube of oil paint and had to replace it with one made by Sennelier (a maker of fine paints). I liked the feel of the paint and eventually replaced all my oils.

"I then began experimenting with colours outside my normal palette, and 'Chinese Orange' is the name Sennelier had given to one that's very beautiful and versatile."

Perhaps better known for her portrait work, Mrs. Tetlow has been commissioned by clients all over the world including the US, Europe, Australia, South America and, of course, Bermuda.

Film director Don (, ) Siegel recognised her talent at an early age, having seen a portrait the artist did of the late actor Sammy Davis, Jr. Her admirers also include the Annenburgs and the von Thyssens, two families renowned for their international art collections who have commissioned her work.

Mrs. Tetlow, however, has never limited herself to one art form. The subject of her last major exhibition ? in 1992 ? for example, was the legendary Maasai tribe of East Africa. This exhibit's collection is varied, inspired by scenes she admired both here and abroad.

"I normally work on commissions for portraits but I've always interspersed these with paintings that explore other interests because I feel such refreshers enhance future portrait work. One of the joys of painting is that we never stop learning and there are always new avenues opening up for us.

"A concentrated period of time needed to be allocated to these paintings, and people who have commissioned me recently have been very understanding about delays in their paintings. I have to thank them and Heritage House for their encouragement and for an opportunity that's given me tremendous enjoyment.

"Most of the paintings in the show are people-oriented, but not necessarily portraits. I've painted two African boys that were bathing in a river at sunrise; the characters that comprise a Mariachi band ? I'd gone to look around an old Spanish mission in California, and its history really came to life when a wedding party arrived with the music from this local band. I enjoy painting water, and have included a couple of seascapes and New Zealand's Lake Wanaka surrounded by snow-covered mountains.

"Somewhat closer to home, there's a painting of a place my two dogs take me on walks, and flowers growing around my house and studio that, probably as a reaction to (Hurricane) Fabian's devastation, seem to have made a particularly spectacular recovery.

"(But) when it comes to exploring thoughts or feelings that interest me, I naturally tend to use figures or faces as a starting point rather than abstraction to convey my meaning."

With art such an important part of her life, Mrs. Tetlow said she was glad to see the Bermudian community embrace it just as passionately. But she said that one should be careful not to try to mould art into something that fitted into one set of parameters.

"I'm pleased people are currently talking about what constitutes art, as it makes people think about this," she said. "But if there were a definitive explanation it would have been found centuries ago when this discussion was first raised.

"Art defies easy categorisation because, fortunately for artists and art-lovers, styles and modes of expression are always evolving. One of the neatest definitions of art that I've read recently comes from a semi-literate chicken farmer called Frank in Peter DeVries' novelwho (said), 'The purpose of art is to exercise the ghost of something.' And it's true."

q opens on June 25 at the New Heritage House Gallery, 26 Church Street, Hamilton.