Festival of Quilts, UK

I’m happy to say that Dominie Nash and I are going to have a show/exhibition of our quilts at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, UK next August.  And, of course, I have to write an artist statement!!  To be sure, it will be succinct!
Before that we have to think up a title…I’m all in favour of the minimalist approach to titles for shows but something catchy or clever seems to be in vogue and also de rigueur!  yes, you guessed it..I think they’re redundant, but what can I say?  I was told my approach to this was “boring”!! (which, by the way, was the only word my children were forbidden to say when young!).

So I’ve been looking at Dominie’s and my work to figure out similarities and differences.  Dominie has been working on a series of still lifes…that she thoughtfully calls “Stills from a Life” – I like her anagrammatic thinking!   Here’s a typical example:

I’ve been focusing on two main themes this last year: industrial landscapes, their unexpected, often unseen, beauty and the sharp contrast between the industrial artifacts and the natural landscape.  The other focus has been more more a abstract (at times playful) examination of the patterns and forms seen in  old timbered buildings. 

On the left,
What Pretty Smoke! 

 

On the right:
Separate and Together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have both taken somewhat unexpected approaches to the kinds of subjects usually seen in art quilts, but almost from opposite angles. 
Dominie is concerned with the interior life…the intertwining interlocking elements and the puzzle of arranging them into a satisfying relationship:
“It’s surprising to look at  familiar objects in a new context,such as setting up a still life composition. Often the homeliest or most ordinary things have the most  interesting shapes and patterns when abstracted and made to interact with each other.”

I’m more of an outdoor person…and very restless.  I’m both concerned about environmental issues but also intrigued by the beauty of old industrial landscapes;  I deplore the destruction of  natural beauty, but also the pulling down (or blowing up!) of monuments like the old colliery winding wheels, the strange pipes and gantries of archaic power or chemical plants…I love the beauty of the old mills with their rows of elegant windows and great towering chimneys.  I need to walk around looking at all the angles, clambering up and down…I especially like a distant view.  

With the more abstract black and white timbering work, it’s the puzzle of balancing the restless churning flow of the beams that fascinates.   So now I need to distill all of the above into about three words!!  All suggestions gratefully received!!   If you have been, thanks for reading…..Elizabeth

PS Come and see us!  Gallery G28!!!   18th or 19th to the 21st of August, 2010