TWO new exhibitions open at The Courtyard in Hereford tomorrow (Friday) – Catalonia, featuring work by Nicky Arscott, and an exhibition featuring photographs by former film editor Paul Davies.

Nicky Arscott grew up in Ledbury, the daughter of a father brought up in South America and a mother who is half Spanish. As a result of this heritage, she spent much of her childhood visiting Catalonia, where she fell in love with the works of Picasso, Tápies and Velázquez. Many of her paintings explore Spain’s dramatic history and culture, while her current body of work focuses on the country’s recent Historical Memory Law, looking at and questioning perceptions of memory, loss, identification and exhumation.

Nicky has exhibited in Texas, Hereford and London, including at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, and was a winner at the Society of Women Artists’ 150th anniversary exhibition.

It was while working on Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs that Paul Davies’s passion for taking photographs took a major hold, as he realised the pivotal role photography has in determining the effectiveness of a filmed scene. The current exhibition shows a small selection of the vast collection he has taken over the years.

Both exhibitions run until Saturday, February 18. For further details, call the box office on 01432 340555.