Claire Brewster | Daniela Mastandrea | Jude Tucker | Juliet and Jamie Gutch | Kathleen Mullaniff | Kazuhito Takadoi | Patricia Swannell | Tracey Bush
A group show of new works which celebrate all that is wonderful about summer.
Claire Brewster uses out of date maps and atlases as her fabric with which to create her intricate, delicate and detailed paper cut works of flowers and birds. These are pinned to the background, creating beautiful shadows, which look like lace. The flowers are Chrysanthemums cut from cut out of vegetation maps of Asia and North America and the birds are cut from Climate and rainfall maps.
Tracey Bush creates beautiful pieces of 'music butterflies' and 'British butterflies' made out of recycled paper, breathing new life and emotional value into an easily discarded material. The works emerge as Lepidoptera; butterflies and moths, ancient symbols of transformation. Each is hand-cut from layers of recycled papers and then sewn together using a bookbinders pamphlet stitch. They are then pinned out in entomological boxes. While butterflies are amongst the first indicators of environmental change, for the moment, they welcome us into the summer.
Juliet and Jamie Gutch have collaborated to create sophisticated mobiles inspired by the poetry of the late astronomer Rebecca Elson. Using contemporary forms, they explore the balance between materials, as hand formed pieces of elm circle round a central stone. Juliet and Jamie's mobiles move fluidly from the ceiling as the antithesis to traditional sculpture. In the series 'Breath marks,' which are signs in a musical score for taking a tiny breath of air or a pause, the mobiles themselves echo the actual shape of the symbol.
Antoni Tapies described sand as a 'poor material,' but used it frequently as part of his paintings. Daniela Mastandrea not only uses sand as in integral material in her work, but is inspired by its 'volatile,' and 'fertile' qualities. Daniela takes this sometimes ephemeral material and makes it permanent in her artwork, which focuses on visual poetry, objects and installations.
Kathleen Mullaniff's aptly named series of paintings 'Summer Bright,' is laden with bursting colour as the full blooms which are her subject matter. Kathleen paints fluidly with a vibrant pallet. Dynamic in composition the viewer is drawn into the centre of these floral worlds. The paintings in this series are united by a sky blue background, which is visible through the variety of thick luscious blossoms.
Patricia Swannell is exhibiting stylish, monotone prints on Somerset paper. In between the deep black shapes are left lines of exposed paper. These creep across the page like the tendrils of a plant, to create beautiful graphic descriptions of tropical flora. Patricia's work explores many different elements of the botanical world, from journeys of seeds to the history of trees, amongst many others.
The title of Kazuhito Takadoi's new work KOISHI translates as 'Pebbles.' This piece is constructed by carefully weaving hand grown grasses through washi paper which is underlaid with gold leaf. The circular forms overlap forming a dynamic interplay between the shapes, and materials which simultaneously give shadow and emanate light. Also in the exhibition is a new spherical sculpture HERI (Rim), created by intricately knotting dark supple twigs with fine light thread.
Jude Tucker's hand carved stone sculpture is made from Ancaster Weatherbed, a form of Lincolnshire lime stone. Jude manipulates and works her carefully chosen materials into elongated, elegant, carefully balanced natural forms. Her inanimate sculptures exude a sense of growth while different colours within the stone emerge through the unfurling form. The outside of it has a strong texture of hewn stone, which contrasts with the impeccably smooth interior surface, which is suitable for both indoor and outdoor locations.