Elemental vs Experimental, The ArtSpace, York, until June 22

The co-owners allotted each other a room each at their gallery in Tower Street, York; Ails curated the front room, Greg the back one.

At eight months pregnant, Ails took to hanging the works depicting calming blues and burgeoning seas with a “curatorial energy unseen since her first born, nearly three years ago”, according to husband Greg.

“Midwives everywhere should recommend a room full of seascapes for the final stage”, says Ails.

Meanwhile, Greg’s room was assembled with the assistance of York student Emily Mayor.

“Our job was a lot easier than Ails’s,” he says. “When hanging calming pieces you have to find a flow but these wilder works allow a lot more leeway.”

Introducing the content of Elemental vs Experimental, Greg says: “By definition it’s a dolly mixture of highly skilled artists dealing with either the elements – skies, seas, woodland – or experimenting with subject matter, stretching it, mangling it, reducing it.”

Ails’s room features elemental work by Liz Naylor, Hannah West and sisters Jo and Rosie Bramley.

“Liz brings a haunting otherworldly light to the show. She’s very proactive and professional, and the time is right for York to see more of her work,” says Ails.

“The angles she takes are quirky and have a touch of St Ives to them. How could we refuse?”

Colour in vibrant oils is fundamental to Liz’s work. “Ideas for new paintings are generated by places I’ve visited, sayings, songs, incidents, stories and myths,” she says.

Ails admits The ArtSpace may have “overlooked” Hannah West’s work for the past five years. “But we heard great reports from dozens of people on her work and how magical it is, so we’re now delighted to see it blend so beautifully with the other artists in the front studio,” she says.

Hannah aims to create images “through which the spirit of a time and place can be felt through the dance of weather and light over land or sea”. “Our mind and emotional state is constantly influenced by our connection with what surrounds us, and the way we perceive our environment depends on our state of mind,” she says.

Jo Bramley’s work is evolving and darkening.

“The suggestion of life and death has crept into my work,” she says.

“The bold silhouettes of trees or birds set against vast landscapes have brought movement and a further dimension to the work.”

Alongside her, sister Rosie’s work is bracing in character and marked by a clean, crisp use of the colour blue.

Tim Morrison and Mark Haddon represent the exhibition’s experimental dimension. “Tim’s work has his name written through it,”

says Greg. “He’s a real searcher and it’s a thrill to watch him deconstruct a landscape so that it harnesses a different beauty it wouldn’t otherwise have.”

Tim is drawn to cities and the feel of a place and increasingly his work is moving towards collage and assemblage, using fragments of maps, lettering and drawing.

“The cardboard towers and fragments are works in progress, trying to show what’s in my head concerning memory, and my fascination with Kurt Schwitters’ Hannover address and other places that have affected me,” says Tim, whose goal is to make a piece that includes everything.

Mark Haddon’s stylised work is “almost like a poster from 1950s’ French cinema”, says Greg. “My painting comes from experiences when I lived a Steinbeck and Kerouac-style existence in the South of France,” says Mark. “I’m continually grateful to Greg and Ails for taking risks with exhibiting my work.”

• Elemental vs Experimental runs at The ArtSpace, York, until June 22.