Meet the Makers: The Modern Muralists
Modern Muralists
by Lucinda Oakes, Melissa White and Tess Newall
8th May - 30th NOVEMBER 2026
Curated by Emily Hill, Head of Exhibitions at Charleston, our summer exhibition explores the work of three contemporary mural artists who work in vastly different ways.
Exhibiting together for the first time, each artist has spent time in residency on the Thyme estate and they present new work which addresses
the architecture, landscape, plants and wildlife unique to Thyme.
Lucinda Oakes
Lucinda Oakes is a British decorative artist known for her hand‑painted murals, wallpapers, screens, and panels inspired by classical decorative traditions.
Building on a family legacy of English country house painting, her work blends traditional craftsmanship with imaginative architectural and garden imagery.
After studying Fine Art (BA and MA) and travelling extensively, she began painting on silk and producing hand‑painted scarves for Liberty before embarking on a career creating bespoke decorative commissions for interiors.
Working from her studio in Hastings, East Sussex, Oakes collaborates with leading interior designers and private clients in the UK and internationally, producing works that complement and transform interior spaces.
Melissa White
Melissa White is a decorative artist known for reinterpreting the historic craft of Elizabethan wall painting for contemporary interiors.
Her fascination with the bold, hand-painted schemes that once adorned Tudor homes has shaped a distinctive visual language — one that blends scholarship, storytelling, and a painterly love of patina.
After researching and recreating original wall paintings for museums such as Shakespeare’s Birthplace, Melissa was awarded a QEST Scholarship in 2007 to develop her practice. Since then, she has created bespoke murals and painted interiors for clients including Buckingham Palace, Fortnum & Mason, and Diageo, as well as widely recognised wallpaper and fabric collections with Zoffany, Lewis & Wood, Kit Kemp, and Andrew Martin.
Working from her studio in Hastings, she continues to explore the creative possibilities of large-scale hand-painted decoration — from one-off fresco-secco panels to digitally produced scenic wallpapers based on her originals. Her work is rooted in vernacular folk traditions yet alive to contemporary colour and narrative.
Tess Newall
Tess Newall is a decorative artist based in Lewes in East Sussex.
Working from her rural studio at the foot of the South Downs, Tess's work draws inspiration from the natural world around her. After studying archaeology and anthropology at Oxford University, Tess trained as a scenic painter in film and theatre before establishing her decorative interiors studio in 2018. She intends for every project to evoke an atmosphere and tell a story, with each mural being a thoughtful response to the building and its surrounding landscape.
Tess leads a team of artists to bring residential and commercial mural commissions to life around the world. She has worked with acclaimed interior designers including Salvesen Graham, Kit Kemp and Sean Symington. Tess' work has a timeless aesthetic that feels as at home in contemporary interiors as in historic homes.
