This February we present A Considered Place – The Edit curated by Professor Dorothy Williams. This exhibition features four leading contemporary British artists who work across a variety of media to express a considered sense of place and experience, featuring woven tapestries from Jo Barker, Sara Brennan, and Susan Mowatt and the exquisite glass and ceramic work from Andrea Walsh. A Considered Place – The Edit presents edited work from the earlier exhibition that took place at Drum Castle in 2019 and also features new work created specially for this exhibition.
Dorothy Williams, CuratorA Considered Place - The Edit brings together four artists who explore our relationship with landscapes, external and domestic, of our lives: emotional responses to light, colour and shape, the sense of natural balance; the exploration of containment, and the deep-rooted experiences of a domestic, internal world over time.
The Crafts Council listed A Considered Place – The Edit as one of the ‘must see’ exhibitions in Britain this February and The Herald selected it as their Critics Choice stating that the ‘work is refined in its process, in its deceptively simple result‘. Curator Dorothy Williams was joined by tapestry weaver Sara Brennan on Saturday 8th February for a wonderfully insightful tour of the exhibition which was followed by an equally passionate discussion on the history of tapestry and why tapestry matters now by Celia Joicey Director of Dovecot Studios, on Tuesday 11th February.
Celia Joicey discussed the origins of the Bauhaus in the late 19th century, the anxieties surrounding the soullessness of modern manufacturing and fears about art’s loss of social relevance. The Bauhaus aimed to reunite fine art and functional design, creating practical objects with the soul of artworks. Although the Bauhaus abandoned many aspects of traditional fine-arts education, it was deeply concerned with intellectual and theoretical approaches to its subject. Various aspects of artistic and design methods were fused, and the hierarchy of the arts which had stood in place during the Renaissance was levelled out: the practical crafts – architecture and interior design, textiles and woodwork – were placed on a par with fine arts such as sculpture and painting. It is this notion that Celia investigated further with reference to contemporary tapestry.
Dorothy Williams, CuratorSara Brennan’s subtle expression of being within a northern landscape and Jo Barker’s vibrant response to movements of light and shadow are given substance through that most ancient and painstaking of techniques, hand woven tapestry. Susan Mowatt explores the internal structures of tapestry through her experiences with the process of weaving. A sense of internal landscapes are reflected in the quiet strength and precision of Andrea Walsh’s glass and ceramic pieces: meditations on containment.
Jo Barker
Jo Barker[My] current work is part of an ongoing series of tapestries exploring themes initially inspired by qualities and patterns of light. Transient and ephemeral starting points translated slowly into woven form. I am interested in the contradiction of the contrast in materials between the flowing nature of ink and paint and the illusion of fluidity translated into soft, rich yarns...
The finished images are consciously abstract and ambiguous. I want to create a sense of something as opposed to an identifiable object or picture.
Sara Brennan
Sara BrennanI work from a series of drawings and paintings, often repeatedly exploring the translation of a surface or a mark into tapestry. I also work as a direct response to the reaction and relationship between yarns, with a disciplined and restrained approach to colour, tone and form... The choice of the yarn is as important as the decision of what is woven. Overall this is a very time consuming and slow medium.
Susan Mowatt
Susan MowattThe world is made up of lines. A length of yarn has two ends: a start and a finish, or vice versa. Weaving for me is thinking: a place where the past, present and future come together in one action."
Andrea Walsh
Andrea WalshI make considered objects that are intimate in scale and place an emphasis on the interrelation between components, and the concept of presentation. My work investigates ideas of containment, materiality, preciousness and value - through the box and vessel form - intriguing the viewer and encouraging a tactile engagement.
A Considered Place – the Edit continues until 29 February. A catalogue has been published to accompany this exhibition. To purchase your copy of A Considered Place, please click here.
