Bassetlaw Museum solo show
Exhibition open now
The Carlton-in-Lindrick Knight, Unknown artist, 12th century. Bassetlaw Museum
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Knight at night - Ink graphite Watercolour and pencil on cradled beechwood, 20cm round. £850
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Glasses with wine, watercolour and graphite on cradled beechwood panel 30cm
round within the Wyse Collection case. Photography - Bassetlaw Museum
I long for parts of Britain that have more to be discovered, with interesting stories to tell, that people would find interesting. This is what attracted me to Bassetlaw Museum. The museum, housed in its beautifully proportioned building, distills local stories - historic and current, very well, including topical stories around energy and farming and stories from the past, such as that of the pilgrims or autochrome photography. I enjoyed working with themes as diverse as film noir, mining and royal charters. I wanted to respond to the collection through drawing and painting and am delighted to exhibit the work there. I included children in the work, which is unusual for me, this was because of the stories I heard about growing up on a local farm and also of course, the toy and school collection.
I am also always drawn to beautiful architecture and love working with such a wonderfully proportioned house. I was also lucky enough to access local stories, through the museum community, which made my work so much more interesting.
There is a current of intellectual and cultural underpinning to my work. Most of my time when I am not drawing is spent researching, attending seminars and lectures across London. This continuous, contemporaneous input underpins my work with collections and communities, like scaffolding. I am fascinated by the interplay between time, geography and the transportation of new ideas, as they travel across the country.
When I research a community or museum collection, I immerse myself as deeply as I can. Then I spend most of my time drawing and painting, with as little interruption as possible, other than the voices of the people I am interested in, speaking to me, through recordings or through memory, with the odd photograph as a visual note.
The project initially was challenging because I knew that we had size constraints. I decided I needed to create very small works so I went off to Christie's to see what they were doing that month, I looked at illuminated manuscripts, made a fresh green Christmas wreath and drank coffee. I found that this idea of tiny drawings for Bassetlaw didn’t quite work, I had to scale up the works. The other idea I played with was using the autochrome aesthetic but these photographs are so beautiful, replicating in oil paint didn’t do them justice.
When I am making the work I am constantly weighing up how to balance composition, line and tone to create meaning. I also worked mainly on cradled beechwood as it’s robust and beautiful.
One of my aims, as I work, is to transport the people I am drawing and painting to other parts of Britain by talking about the project to other audiences. However the main aim is to amplify stories and add value to the collection I am working with.
I would like to thank the staff and community of Bassetlaw Museum.
I am also always drawn to beautiful architecture and love working with such a wonderfully proportioned house. I was also lucky enough to access local stories, through the museum community, which made my work so much more interesting.
There is a current of intellectual and cultural underpinning to my work. Most of my time when I am not drawing is spent researching, attending seminars and lectures across London. This continuous, contemporaneous input underpins my work with collections and communities, like scaffolding. I am fascinated by the interplay between time, geography and the transportation of new ideas, as they travel across the country.
When I research a community or museum collection, I immerse myself as deeply as I can. Then I spend most of my time drawing and painting, with as little interruption as possible, other than the voices of the people I am interested in, speaking to me, through recordings or through memory, with the odd photograph as a visual note.
The project initially was challenging because I knew that we had size constraints. I decided I needed to create very small works so I went off to Christie's to see what they were doing that month, I looked at illuminated manuscripts, made a fresh green Christmas wreath and drank coffee. I found that this idea of tiny drawings for Bassetlaw didn’t quite work, I had to scale up the works. The other idea I played with was using the autochrome aesthetic but these photographs are so beautiful, replicating in oil paint didn’t do them justice.
When I am making the work I am constantly weighing up how to balance composition, line and tone to create meaning. I also worked mainly on cradled beechwood as it’s robust and beautiful.
One of my aims, as I work, is to transport the people I am drawing and painting to other parts of Britain by talking about the project to other audiences. However the main aim is to amplify stories and add value to the collection I am working with.
I would like to thank the staff and community of Bassetlaw Museum.