?Blooming?: an exhibition at the Arts Centre at Dockyard.

As a title for a group art exhibition ?Blooming? seemed likely to result in a multiplicity of paintings of the tourist-trap ilk. It was, therefor, a pleasure to discover that the show by that name at the Arts Centre at Dockyard had almost nothing in it of that nature.

Rather the works were for the most part gutsy and not even sufficiently uniform to be thought of as botanicals. Certainly there were a number of flower subjects, but none were classifiable as sweet or even as excessively pink.

As is often the case the works were not happily arranged and one was rarely able to see the work of an individual artist in even reasonably close proximity.

In this show even the catalogue seemed to run out of time,suggesting that artists were bringing in work down to the very last minute.

The downside of this scattering of works around the gallery is that it is difficult to see and compare the work of a single individual, thus making those works more difficult to sell.

It?s time for an artists? revolution.The ?guest? artist for the show is Stacey Amos, daughter of artists Diana and Eric Amos, who doesn?t live in Bermuda.

Her work varied from the time honoured and traditional unicorn in a garden to blooms almost in the botanical tradition. In between there was much that was strong, even passionate.

?Magic Glade? was the title of the unicorn work which varied from a tradition found regularly in painting since the Middle Ages by changing the usually formal setting into a fancifully twisted tree.

In this fanciful vein, too, was ?By the Light of the Moon: Love Blooms?. With something of the appealing whimsy of Elizabeth Mulderig?s work, the story of the Owl and the Pussycat was its subject.

Close-up blooms included several of hibiscus, some fairly formal, others, like the vibrant orange ?Flourishing? more powerful.

Two, ?The Dance? and ?Blossom?, widely separated in the show, were done in a gentle but strongly coloured watercolour wash that I found very effective.

In a different vein again were Miss Amos? ?Sacred? and ?Bloomed?. The former was almost surreal and certainly suggestive; the latter a formally balanced open seed pod, its seeds already spread.

Both had an emotional intensity beyond her other works. Hard to miss, despite being separated by the length of the gallery, were Kok Wan Lee?s abstract series ?Exhale?.

Based rather on trees than on blooms they were highly coloured to the point of looking almost Day-Glo. Otherwise they were in his usual sweeping, rather mysterious style.

Coming out of a too long retirement was Vivienne Gardner with three oils, two of agapanthus and one richly coloured of pawpaws ?Agapanthus III? was a beautifully conceived swirling impression of blooms in graceful composition.

Had I been hanging the show I would have tried to hang this painting in juxtaposition to the photographs of Roland Tear, whose ?Blooming I? was a very close-up take of the stamens clustering in the centre of a largely out of focus flower.

It occurred to me to wonder if Mr. Tear was familiar with the remarkable work of Robin Judah who is about to launch a book of just such very close close-up photographs of flowers. Louisa Flannery?s work is always interesting, but sometimes overcomplicated. This was the fate of ?Woodpecker Straw Flower?, an almost dizzying work.

It was a relief to find its charming study in another part of the gallery. Her ?Bermuda Roses? is a strongly delineated and coloured impression of arresting composition executed in charcoal and ink wash.

I preferred the less aggressively worked ?Rose Inspiration?, though it would be hard to fault either work. At the end of the gallery is something referred to in the catalogue as ?Small Wall?.

Whether this refers to the size of the work displayed or the size of the wall isn?t clear. Both would be appropriate.

Of the mainly undistinguished work displayed there Karen Phillips Curren?s three watercolours were interestingly framed with no visible means of support behind clear glass. It was at least attention grabbing.

High on the left on this wall were three remarkably fine black and white photographs, neither catalogued and nor attributed. They would be easy to miss, but shouldn?t be.

Joyce Beale?s batiks were also spread about in the gallery. They are nevertheless as subtly coloured and well composed as ever. She has made a concession to the season and includes one of poinsettias.

It could have been on the garish side, bit isn?t. I?m not sure that I would want it up except at Christmas, but for any one with a taste for the bright, this is an exceptional work.

Sculptor Chesley Trott is represented in unusual numbers of works perhaps with an eye on the Christmas market.

There are six ?Female Figures? of exceptional grace, all properly displayed so that the viewer sees them from all sides.

If the female figure on the hoof were always as graceful and flowing as Mr. Trott?s abstractions the world would be a much happier place, both for the observer and for the observed.

Taken as a whole this is a very varied, often good, sometimes exciting show. Bermuda has come a long way in the talent, numbers and variety of its artists since I was young.