The ?Little and Big? show at the Bermuda Society of Arts? City Hall Gallery was a challenge to its members to produce work smaller than 7?x7? or larger than 30?x30?. By and large those who entered work in the larger category came off better than those who opted for the smaller size. The latter tended to compact their style into the restricted space with the result that the works became tight, cramped and fussy. The lighting in the gallery, recently installed and as a rule a great improvement on the old, was dimmed, to what purpose didn?t become clear to me.

Carmel Byrne?s work, ?Seville I-IV?, was an exception, executed in a spare, linear style in ink on paper were an exception. Unfortunately Ms Byrne presently lacks the confidence and experience to make her work as effective as it should certainly become. I recommend the Carnegie Hall recipe for success: ?practice, practice, practice.? When a sure stroke of the brush or pen becomes second nature success will follow.

Amanda Temple?s archival digital prints lent themselves well to the smaller scale and the abstract second ?Blue Morning? particularly held my attention.

These and other tiny works were abruptly succeeded by a very large watercolour by Lydia Franks, ?Fellowship of the Glacier?. In this very successful work gulls wheel and circle in rhythmical patterns over a small patch of water. Over this looms the wall of a glacier, cold and forbidding.

There is no visual escape and the contrast of this overwhelming chill with the freewheeling gulls is most effective. It even stands up well to the very large installation piece that follows it.

This is a mixed media installation by Kok Wan Lee that dominates the end of the gallery. Highly theatrical, it consists of a backdrop in white with shaded angles and twisted twigs mounted on it. In front of this are two long pieces of driftwood, also painted white except where one branch has been blackened by fire.

On either side, emphasising the theatricality, are two ?wings? of similar construction to the backdrop. On the floor in front were strewn hundreds of chopsticks and small rolls of paper surrounding three bowls of oriental design containing what was presumably intended to represent food. The absence of ants or roaches was comforting. Those looking for a set designer for any play requiring an abstract set ? Shakespeare for example shouldn?t fail to look at this work before it vanishes forever.

Mr. Lee is also showing in the small category, six tiny versions of works he showed at the Arts Centre at the Dockyard several weeks ago. They suffered in their diminution.

Stella Shakerchi has two large works in the show, one facing the entrance.

Both are in the mysterious, dark themed style currently popular on the Island. ?Web?, the one facing the entrance is self-explanatory, the web being festooned with amoeba like creatures. It is pure fantasy and works as such quite well. ?Tree Lake?, on the other hand, combines its fantasy tree with a realistic background rather uncomfortably. This may well have been the artist?s intent, but it failed to affect me.

Also in the dark, mysterious genre are the works of Andrea Carter. Despite its misleading title, ?A Colourful Day? this work leans towards the surreal, though without the exacting technique that surreal painting demands.

?Curtained Balloons? was more effectively mysterious, a canvas divided into thirds by a diaphanous curtain with balloons floating behind it. The unveiled third showed part of a moonlit bouquet, contrasting with and emphasising the mystery. Her ?Penguin Colony? I have either seen before, or one very like it.

The pattern and sweep of the dense crowd of penguins both amuses and fascinates. The best of her works, for me, was ?A Latvian Witch?s Prayer.? Completely in the dark and mysterious genre it brought to mind the wonderful art nouveau illustrations of Grimm?s Fairy Tales in books I inherited as a child from a previous generation.

Bruce Stuart?s work has all the earmarks of obsession. ?On the 4th Day of Creation? is ordinarily associated with the creation of the sun and the moon.

Here, however is a collage with a very human form, perhaps intended as God, rendered in gaudy Christmas metallic papers, intricately cut and assembled in the style of a mediaeval stained glass window. His other work, ?On any given day?, was a vast spread of uncoordinated collages on a series of conjoined panels, of which I could discern no intent or message at all.

Perhaps the most interesting painting in the entire show was Vernon Clarke?s ?Supper at Emeus [sic after Caravaggio?. To dramatise Caravaggio is rather to gild the lily, but dramatise him is just what the artist has done. The intent here is to make the famous story of Christ at Emmaus universal and inclusive where Caravaggio used contemporary models and clothing with a little symbolism thrown in to identify his characters. Mr. Clarke goes in for added haloes, rays of painted light painted into the picture, an ?Aladdin?s Lamp? as a light source, and a rearranged composition of people to aggrandise rather than make humble his Christ figure. His characters are of African origin rather than Middle Eastern or, as with Caravaggio, Italian. The result is both dramatic and splendid and certainly achieves the intent of the artist. The style of the work is as much Rembrandt as it is Caravaggio, but what artist worth his salt has no debt to great works of the past?

Caroline Troncossi has, up to now, left me with nothing to say. Her exactingly and interestingly executed monochrome washes have made me wish I could afford her to paint the walls of my house, but have otherwise left me baffled. In this show her ?Blue Horizon? is just such an exactingly rendered monochrome wash, but here it is used as ground for a wave abstraction primarily in white. The result is simultaneously both dramatic and restful and sticks in the mind long after one has left the gallery.

The single piece of sculpture, a small and attractive nude torso by Michelle Lindo, is somewhat marred by technical difficulties. An unmatched mould left an awkward line up each side of the base. Repairs to the figure itself are easily discernible.

The figure is anatomically challenged. For all that, however, the piece has a balanced composition and considerable charm. Where Ms. Lindo really shines, however, is with her ink studies in the adjacent Edinburgh Gallery. There are nine studies of trees, all torn and damaged by storms.

Her technique varies from a fine line to a soft wash and each work has its own almost tragic sensitivity. One is left suffering with the trees in their agony.

The same cannot be said for the other works in this small Gallery. They are by William West, who

can only be described as an artist-in-waiting searching for a technique. I wish him well in his search. Technique is most easily found at art school.

The Bermuda Society of Arts continues to provide us with a sequence of interesting shows, informed by challenging ideas and largely talented members.

There it is in the City Hall, a short walk from almost anywhere in town. It is a walk well worth taking to add verve to a lunch hour.