"My late friend George Strunz was a serious amateur artist. His preferred medium was chalk pastels. When he and his wife Annette moved from their home to an apartment he no longer had a room where he could use his pastels without worrying about their dust getting into everything.

Since he couldn't use them anymore he thought I might be able to make good use of them and gave them all to me, boxes and trays of them. A real treasure of artistic possibilities.

I had only ever done a small number of pastels, using a small set I had, on small pieces of paper. Shortly after George gave me his pastels I decided to honour that gift, and his friendship, by trying to do something ambitious with them. 

It turns out I feel an affinity with the medium. This exhibition is the result of my recent adventures with it. 

So, here's to George Strunz, wherever you are."

- Stephen May, 2024