157 BYRES RD.
157 BYRES RD.
PHOEBE RYRKO & VICTORIA SNAZELL
Invisible Threads
18.09.26
24.09.26
FREE ENTRY
Information:
ADDRESS:
The Alchemy Experiment
157 Byres Road, G12 8TS
Glasgow
OPENING NIGHT:
Friday 18th September 19:00-21:00
OPENING HOURS:
Mon - Fri 8.30-17.00
Sat 9.00-17.00
Sun 10.00-17.00
ARTIST LINKS:
Phoebe and Vic met at art school over 30 years ago. Their ongoing friendship and critical dialogue have helped sustain their practices over time. This exhibition celebrates their shared explorations of the quiet, everyday things that often feel ordinary yet are given special attention through the work.
Ryrko approaches her art as part of her spiritual practice. Her still life paintings of flowers are meditative, celebrating the simple presence and beauty of nature, through the soft, fluid qualities of oil paint.
Snazell’s work is grounded in the psychological dramas of the suburbs. Playing with the plastic properties of paint and clay – she digs to discover and uncover shapes, forms, and creatures that embody a certain vulnerability.
The Invisible Threads that connect their work are expressed in the relationship between the mind or spirit and matter. Each artist’s search for meaning, honouring what it is to be human in their own way.
Victoria Snazell (b.1970) is a Brighton-based artist working from her city studio. She studied Fine Art at Bath in the early ’90s, where she received the Gane Travel Scholarship and exhibited at the Royal Society of Sculptors. After raising her children, she returned to her practice, enriching her approach through courses at alternative art schools The ESOP and Turps. Recent exhibitions include: ‘Fair Art Fair Curated II – Womxn’ at Unit 1 Gallery | Workshop, London (2022), selected by Jo Baring and Beth Greenacre; ‘A Generous Space 3’ in Huddersfield as part of #aspshows (2023); ‘50/50’, curated by Stacie McCormick (2024) and ‘In Proximity’ at Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery (2026).
Victoria Snazell is a visual artist with strong ties to the sheds and gardens of the suburbs. Playing with the plastic qualities of paint and clay, she digs to uncover shapes, forms, and creatures, exploring the tension between an object’s roundness and the flatness of a painting. Her sculptural background informs semi-abstract works where forms shift between recognition and ambiguity, investigating presence, absence, vulnerability, ageing, and humour. Built through layered revisions and experimentation with materials, the work embraces awkwardness and imperfection, occupying an in-between space that wobbles with energy and creates an ongoing dialogue between control and surrender.
Phoebe Amelia Jane Ryrko (b. 1970) is an Edinburgh based artist working out of her studio in the Summerhall Arts Complex. She studied in Manchester and Brighton graduating with a BA in 1993. In 2004 With three children in tow, she moved to Krakow in Poland, where she worked as an interior designer, which included painting murals.
During her time in Krakow, she reconnected with her spiritual life. On her Return to the UK, she undertook a Masters in lighting design at Edinburgh Napier University.
During the masters she battled with breast cancer and when Covid 19 came and she decided to commit fully to her painting as part of her spiritual and creative healing journey
Phoebe Ryrko is a painter in oils, whose work explores the healing power of nature and colour. It is a both personal journey towards wholeness and an invitation to enjoy a moment of stillness. She was brought up in a Catholic spiritual community called Lothlorien, which was dedicated to helping people in crisis or breakdown. As a child she took refuge in nature and in flowers and her preoccupation is with the mysterious energetic exchange between objects and humans. The transient and ungraspable fullness that we experience each day in our ordinary lives, that includes both grief and elation. For her, oil paint has a magical and playful materiality that evokes a sense of reverence and excitement.
Purchase enquires - contact us at staff@alchemyexperiment.com