A Florence Art Centre Project
Set in rural West Cumbria Florence Art Centre is built on the site of an old Iron ore mine, which becomes apparent as the puddles turn red come heavy rain, stained with the same pigment that is used by their paint makers to produce a range of pastels, water colours and inks.
Florence is home to a unique gallery space which hosts various events throughout the year. The current exhibition “Scar”, is a collaborative commission involving 11 local artists, myself included.
Approaches to the commission vary greatly in both media and subject matter. The intention being to create something greater that holds together as a whole.
RAW
To me, “Scar… cutting through the land”, is a very evocative title and is interpreted as such. This is not a lamenting of times past, something already done, we are brought into the present moment to experience an event, an unfolding. It is as though we bear witness, observing as a scar is being formed… the scar is raw, the wound is open. Whether bringing death and destruction or birth and new life cutting through the land brings forth a state of flux and transition. We can emphasise on some level, feel what a place is feeling, if only to the extent of being downcast on a rainy day… we “weather” the landscape, our mood being reflected back to us though the environment. Change often brings out emotion, one could say that this is an emotional terrain.
”Raw”, seemed an apt title for the commission.
My intention is to present the emotions of scarred landscapes in human terms, using figure drawing to express this emotion. The gesture of the figure becomes the gesture of the landscape, the human form becomes a sounding board, helping to express that which is present. Compositions will "Pair" person with place, shared landscapes, shared feelings. A vast subject both in scale of time and space. The highly charged lightning strike happens instantaneously evoking feelings of release, shock, fear, excitement. This lays in distinct contrast to glacial and tectonic shift, acting on a larger timeframe and provoking emotional pressure, weight, inevitability, melancholy. Such "events", happen on all scales from the tiny seed that is left scarred upon separation from it's pod to the larger "universal" scale with super novas and subsequent black holes. Cumbria specifically has certainly been reshaped by volcanic, tectonic and glacial shift... floods, landslides, all leaving their scars. This is before considering the man-made scars of industry and development... even a simple plough could be said to leave a trailing scar as it opens up the earth.
Sky experiments for the Glacial and Sea compositions. Watercolour, wet in wet for soft edges, click to enlarge.
APPROACH
Wave experiments with French Ultramarine, Sepia and White Gouache, gestures of the sea.
The accompanying pictures presented on this page are water colour experiments, exploring different ways of working, palette combinations, getting a feel for the subject. Subtle washes for the skies, quite intense and dramatic contrast for the waves an intense French Ultramarine blue, heavy sepia. Lifting white areas with sweeping gestures, adding spray with white gouache. In contrast to the suvtle translucency of the glacial composition. adding colour in thin veils, restricting the colour range as not to kill the translucent effect. Though the scoring in the pictures below is far from subtle, as the bruising in the ice block, or golden lighning shape streak on the ice.
