Burn ‘em all down

By Bob Ballard SGFA

Stumbling from the overcrowded Leonardo da Vinci exhibition into Trafalgar Square the other day, I reflected that we the viewers had been like pigeons pecking around a pavement pizza. There were just too many of us. Could this be solved by the National Gallery restoring its 19^th century policy of admitting only those who could prove 100% literacy, I wondered. No, it would be hard on the pigeons, who, it has been scientifically proved, can tell a Monet from a Picasso and who commute daily from a grade 2 listed aircraft hangar at Hendon to exercise their cultural rights in the heart of London. Apropos Monet, I recall a huge exhibition of his works years ago at the Tate where it was impossible to see a thing because of the crowds. Meanwhile, at the admirable National Gallery of Wales, as a thoughtful attendant there explained to me, I could have at least four of the great Impressionist’s works to myself.

Perhaps it is time for the blockbusters and the galleries that house them to go. There are strong historical precedents: “Burn ‘em all down!” screamed the Futurists. Even the sacred Louvre wasn’t above censure; Vuillard reports that when Degas père took his sons there the future artist dutifully looked at the pictures while his brother occupied himself far more profitably sliding about on the wax floor. Bonnard in turn stated that the best pictures were the views from the window while Braque would sit outside and only enter if his wife, sent on purpose to investigate beforehand, could convince him that there was anything half decent within.

With this in mind I suggest all art galleries henceforth become power stations in order to help the country’s economy though an exception could be Tate Britain which should revert to the status of the penitentiary that once stood upon its site. As before, fettered convicts could then shuffle down to Millbank and board a Hirst-spotted boat to Australia, or van Damian’s Land as it would be called. Regarding the National Gallery, it could become the National Cruet Stand again as cruel critics referring to its architecture called it at the time of its construction (look at its condiment-shaped dome if you don’t know why). Better still, it could assume the identity of the edifice that originally stood upon this spot – in the Middle Ages Edward 1^st had the mews for his falcons there. Now that would solve the pigeon problem.

Bob Ballard, Nov. 2011.

DRAWN TO THE FOREST

What can you make with 4.4km of bright blue nylon cord? Students at the Architectural Association’s Hooke Park forest campus in Dorset are using it to generate a structure whose form is dictated by sunlight.

Just a few metres of the blue cord at the MakeLAB project

Using a complicated computer control system and CNC pointer, the students pass cord around and between slender birch trees in a woodland clearing to create a web-like mesh of intersecting strands. Part of the AA’s MakeLAB project, this week-long school has as its title ‘Emergent Construction’ and looks at new ways of developing design and production methods.

Invited to visit the Hooke Park site to preview the newly built Big Shed by AA photographer Valerie Bennett, it was impossible not to be in complete awe of the talents that had created the range of structures in this setting within a 350-acre working forest.

The Big Shed interior - photograph by Valerie Bennett

Using resources from the site, the Big Shed structure was designed as a hangar-like workshop for student constructions and its interior seemed to defy gravity, with no clear visual reference to any true vertical lines, and the only horizontal structure seemingly the concrete floor. Dizzyingly elegant, drop-dead lovely and utterly captivating.

This visit led me to consider the true nature of drawing – surely the most basic tool of the architect?  As a council member of the Society of Graphic Fine Art, I have often been part of a team pondering the true definition of drawing, and the only conclusion that has ever gained consensus is that there is no one defining sentence that can be set down as a rule. Instinct, gut feeling and personal reaction seemed to be our only guides. How, then, to define the blue cords? They looked like a 3-dimensional drawing, but the intelligence behind the placement was truly artificial; the ‘hand of man’ had been guided in every aspect by machine. Yet it looked like a drawing! So a quick check of the SGFA rules of eligibility inform that ‘digital imagery generated by computer’ is not allowed – also how would we transport a whole forest into an exhibition? So clearly my only resource is to go back to the forest and sit and draw the whole thing!

The Big Shed exterior, photograph by Valerie Bennett

Viewed from above, the building looks like a dropped hankerchief. The Big Shed is shortly due to be officially opened, and I admit to a degree of jealousy of the students who will soon have it as their workplace. But then I remember I have central heating in my studio, and only a few spiders, so perhaps not so envious after all.

I am indebted to Valerie Bennett for facilitating this visit, but much of the site is publicly accessible through a range of paths and bridleways, so these buildings and constructions are available to all to see. More information can be found on the website of the Architectural Association http://www.aaschool.ac.uk and more details of the MakeLAB project are at http://makelab.aaschool.ac.uk/

Christine Hopkins SGFA

MONDRIAN / NICHOLSON IN PARALLEL

MONDRIAN II NICHOLSON IN PARALLEL

by Pat Harvey SGFA
The Courtauld Gallery, London, 16 February -20 May 2012
Small but, as they say, perfectly formed, the current exhibition at London’s
Courtauld Gallery explores the relationship between one of art’s odd couples:
arch-International Modernist and perpetrator of the puritanical doctrines of De
Stijl, Piet Mondrian, and Ben Nicholson, a member of the Brtish ‘thirties’
avant-garde and founder of Constructivism: a softer, more organic version of
abstraction with its roots in the Arts and Crafts movement.
Cunningly constructed, as is the Courtauld’s wont, around their holding of one
iconic work, Nicholson’s 1937(painting), the exhibition, through loans of other
paintings by both Mondrian and Nicholson, photographs and letters, builds a
touching picture of a friendship between two artists who, while supporting and
deriving nourishment from one another, remained fiercely independent.
London in the thirties was the focus for ongoing cat- and dog-fights between
the protagonists of various forms of modernism, notably Surrealism and
Abstraction. The great art critic Herbert Read managed to bestride both camps;
while Kenneth Clark, then director of the National Gallery, accused the latter
of “being forced to spin a web from its own guts” (1)
Ben Nicholson, a part of the little group of Hampstead artists and intellectuals
that included sculptors Henry Moore and Naum Gabo and painter/
photographer Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, was already exploring abstraction with his
famous ‘white reliefs’, carved out of mahogany table-tops with the aid of tools
belonging to his lover, sculptor Barbara Hepworth, many of which may be seen
in this exhibition, but also through some rather hesitant paintings (one of which
may also be seen).
In April 1934 Nicholson visited Mondrian in his Paris studio at 29, Rue du
Depart. It was an epiphany. “The paintings were entirely new to me and I did
not understand them on my first visit..They were merely, for me, part of the
very lovely feeling generated in the room…very like one of those hermits’
caves where lions used to go to have thorns taken out of their paws” (2)
The friendship flourished, with the artists exchanging photographs, and each
trying to secure exhibitions of the other’s work. Nicholson took Mondrian’s
work on consignment to try to sell for his friend, and in 1935 his estranged
wife Winifred, herself a distinguished painter, became the first British person
to own one. His efforts bore further fruit in 1936 when ‘Abstract and
Concrete’, the first exhibition devoted to abstract art in England, and the first
time Mondrian’s work had been shown in this country, placed the two artists
alongside one another.

Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) Composition C (no.III), with Red, Yellow and Blue, 1935 Oil on canvas, 56.2 x 55.1 cm Private collection, on loan to Tate © 2012 Mondrian/ Holtzman Trust c/o HCR International Washington DC

It is hard to generalise in any easily understandable way about Mondrian’s famous gridlines, arranged in various combinations and punctuated, sometimes sparsely, sometimes less so by patches of primary colours, except in so far as they are the outworking of a deliberate, painstaking and almost messianic
philosophy. ‘Neo-Plasticism’, as he called it, was born out of his belief in Hegelian dialectics: the view that freedom – a kind of fragile balance – can only arise from ‘dynamic equilibrium’ – the eternally irreconcilable tension between opposites – be they verticals, horizontals, primary colours or black and white.
See, for example, Composition with Yellow and Blue, (1932), or Composition C (No.III) with Red,Yellow and Blue (1935).
This secular mysticism is often traced traced to Mondrian’s early involvement with Theosophy (he corresponded with Rudolph Steiner). Astonishingly, the two men wrote almost identical statements on this topic. According to Mondrian, art is “an end in itself, like religion…the means through which we can know the universal and contemplate it in plastic form” (3). For Nicholson, an adherent of Christian Science, “ ‘Painting’ and ‘religious experience’ are the same thing. It’s a question of the perpetual motion of a right idea” (4). In other words, a species of pantheism.
“I could not be bothered to read Mondrian’s theories”, claimed Nicholson. “What I got from him I got from direct experience of his painting”.(5).

Ben Nicholson (1894-1982) 1937 (painting) Oil on canvas, 79.5 x 91 cm The Courtauld Gallery, London, Samuel Courtauld Trust (Alistair Hunter Bequest, 1984) © Angela Verren Taunt. All rights reserved, DACS 2012

And the exhibition shows how, from his own early experiments with abstraction, his painting grows in firmness, boldness, and conviction without relinquishing his personal style. Turning, from 1936, increasingly to painting, with small patches of bright colour, unlike Mondrian, who restricted these to the edges, he
placed them near the centre of the painting, from which the rest of the composition appeared to grow organically, as one writer put it, “like a rose”.
See the Courtauld’s 1937(painting).

By 1938 the international situation had deteriorated to the point where Mondrian felt unable to remain in Paris, and he asked his friend’s advice. Ben responded with a hearty invitation to rent a room in the same building as his
own studio at 60 Parkhill Road, Belsize Park, and was astonished when the Dutchman, by the prodigal use of whitewash and an assortment of red, blue and yellow squares, turned it into an replica of his studio in Paris, itself a version of one of his paintings!

Mondrian settled happily into London, working on a trestle table lent hm by Nicholson and naming one of his paintings Trafalgar Square. “I’ve noticed that the change has had a good influence on my work”, he said, ”the artistic situation doesn’t differ greatly from Paris. But
one is even more ‘free’ “. (6) The lighter side of life in the capital was not lost
on him, either, as he saw Disney’s Pinocchio on its release in March, 1940,
and signed himself ‘Sleepy’ on postcards to his family in reference to Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs. An accomplished dancer, he sought out the best
night-clubs, and developed a taste for the Evening Standard.
In 1939, sensing the onset of war, Ben Nicholson and his family left for
Cornwall, and tried to persuade Mondrian to accompany them. The inveterate
city-dweller declined politely, but, with the surrender of France, decided that
he must leave for New York, doing so just as the Blitz was beginning. He
wrote to Barbara Hepworth and Nicholson, “I feel always grateful to you for
your help in coming to London” (7).

NOTES
(1) Kenneth Clark, ‘The Future of Painting’, The Listener, 2 October 1935.
(2) Letter from Ben Nicholson to John Summerson, 3 January 1944.
(3) ‘The New Plastic in Painting’, first published in De Stijl, 1917-19.
(4) Ben Nicholson, Circle International Survey of Constructive Art, Faber &
Faber, 1937.
(5) ‘The Life and Opinions of an English “Modern” ‘, interview in Sunday
Times, 28 April 1963.
(6) Letter from Piet Mondrian to Jean Gorin, 26 January 1939.
(7) Letter from Piet Mondrian to Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth, 23
April 1943.

This article is reproduced from the April edition of Third Way magazine.

OUR EARLIEST REVIEW?

In 1921, what may be the earliest-ever review of a SGFA exhibition was published in American Art News. 

Society of Graphic Art’s Exhibition

The Society of Graphic Art*, under the presidency of Frank Brangwyn, is holding its first exhibition at the Suffolk St. Galleries, which from its quality and general promise has aroused great hopes for its future. There is no possibility of camouflaging, in black-and-white, inferiority of draughtsmanship of the kind that in paints often masquerades as competence. One must be able to draw with mastery if one is successfully to challenge criticism in pen-and-ink, charcoal, wood-cut and litho-graph, and this is what the majority of the members triumphantly testify their ability to do. Among so many distinguished names as appear in the catalog, it is difficult to select those most worthy of attention; suffice it to say that Brangwyn amply justifies by his exhibit his right to the presidency, sending two contributions which demonstrate his absolute mastery in the massing of figures and in simple, straightforward delineation. The section devoted to cartoons and caricatures shows that the modern designer is well able to hold his own with the draughtsmen of the past who have made their names in this department of graphic art. “Punch,” which made the name of so many artists of various types, is as well served as ever it was. Names like those of H. M. Brock, Gunning King, E. T. Reed and F. H. Townsend demonstrate the fact that there is on the whole little decline in the mastery of the artist in black-and-white since the days when Du Maurier and Leech raised it to its XIX century, pinnacle of excellence.

Extract from American Art News January 1921

American Art News, Vol. 19, no. 15Reviewed work(s):Source: American Art News, Vol. 19, No. 15 (Jan. 22, 1921), pp. 1-8Published by:Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25589744 .

Courtesy of JSTOR

* note: The Society’s name was changed in 1988 to The Society of Graphic Fine Art

Mondrian || Nichloson: In Parallel – a personal view

Mondrian|| Nicholson: InParallel opens at the Courtauld Gallery on 16th February, outlining the remarkable story of the relationship between Ben Nicholson, one of the greatest British artists of the 20th century, and Piet Mondrian, the celebrated Dutch painter.

Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) Composition C (no.III), with Red, Yellow and Blue, 1935 Oil on canvas, 56.2 x 55.1 cm Private collection, on loan to Tate © 2012 Mondrian/ Holtzman Trust c/o HCR International Washington DC

Nicholson visited Mondrian in his Paris studio in the spring of 1934, and it was to leave a lasting impression on the younger man. He wrote later: “His studio… was an astonishing room … he’d stuck up on the walls different sized squares painted with primary red, blue and yellow….I remember after this visit sitting at a cafe table…for a very long time with an astonishing feeling of quiet and repose…The feeling in his studio must have been very like the feeling in one of those hermits’ caves where lions used to go to have thorns taken out of their paws”.

With Nicholson’s encouragement and assistance, Mondrian showed several works in London in 1935, and Winifred Nicholson became the first buyer of Mondrian’s work in the UK. As the threat of European war developed, in 1938 Nicholson persuaded Mondrian to move to the relative safety of London, where he quickly became part of an international community of artists living and working in Hampstead, transforming his studio with whitewash and coloured squares. For two years Mondrian and Nicholson worked in neighbouring studios, exhibiting together until the outbreak of war forced a separation. Nicholson could not persuade Mondrian to join him in Cornwall, instead he moved to New York where he settled. Despite working on different continents, two of these later works are hung together in this exhibition – a fitting finale to this small show.

Ben Nicholson (1894-1982) 1937 (painting) Oil on canvas, 79.5 x 91 cm The Courtauld Gallery, London, Samuel Courtauld Trust (Alistair Hunter Bequest, 1984) © Angela Verren Taunt. All rights reserved, DACS 2012

Occupying two rooms in the Courtauld gallery, this is a rare opportunity to see paintings and panels by both artists side by side, including some works reunited for the first time since their original showing. The works are expertly hung and lit – the latter a vital component in appreciating Nicholson’s  subtle white-painted relief panels. Although at first glance the viewer might consider the works of both artists be rather similar in construction and composition, I found that I was drawn repeatedly to the Nicholson panels – in terms of composition they have more subtlety, whereas the Mondrians left me feeling a little short-changed. There’s only so much variety you can achieve with a handful of primaries and some black lines. And although Nicholson experimented with primary colours, they are offset with passages of neutral tones. Two illustrations have been included in this article, but the works have to be seen in the original to fully appreciate them. The nuanced shades of white, for example, cannot be seen in reproduction.

The two artists had different approaches to presentation, although the requirements of modern curating make this harder to appreciate. Nicholson constucted his own frames with the intention of containing his work, whereas Mondrian intended his panels to be mounted directly against a white wall, so that his work could flow out into the surrounding space. Sadly they now have to be shown encased in perspex, and some are showing the effects of age with cracking paint beause of the multiple layers of oil on canvas. Nicholson’s work is not immune to time either – his major work 1937  (above) is accompanied by a note explaining that the yellow paint used in a central square has faded over time.

The Courtauld is showing just two works by these artists painted prior to their initial meeting. One Nicholson forms the start of the exhibition, but an early Mondrian has to be sought out in a different room. This relative lack of background material is a small criticism of an otherwise fascinating exhibition – a display case contains letters written by the two artists to each other, and in a flattering assumption that Courtauld visitors are an educated lot, there is no full translation of the French documents, nor a full transcript to help decipher the handwriting. These tiny niggles didn’t spoil my enjoyment of this rare opportunity to see these works brought together from international collections and we should always applaud those institutions who are wiling to allow us to see their gems.

For more details of this exhibition, which runs until 20th May 2012, go to

http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/exhibitions/2012/mondrian-nicholson/index.shtml

Christine Hopkins SGFA

Ronald Searle

It is with great sadness that we learned of the death of Ronald Searle last week.

Considered by some to be Britain’s greatest graphic artist, he is today perhaps best-known for his cartoons, but his work spanned both the frivolous and the tragic. Imprisoned by the Japanese in Malaya, he used his immense talent to record the daily life of the prison camp surroundings. In later life he wrote “I desperately wanted to put down what was happening, because I thought if by any chance there was a record, even if I died, someone might find it and know what went on.”

Some ten years after beginning the St Trinian’s series in 1948 with “Hurrah for St Trinian’s”, he was listed as a member in the SGFA* catalogue of the 1958 Annual Exhibition, together with Dame Laura Knight and Ronald Maddox (who is still an Honorary Member and exhibits regularly with the Society).

 

*At that date the Society was still known by the name ‘The Society of Graphic Art’, not adopting the current name until 1988.

DRAW 11 – PRIZE AND AWARD WINNERS

At the 90th Annual Open Exhibition this year thirteen exhibitors received awards sponsored by prominent drawing materials manufacturers and selected by Ali Pettit, owner of the Northcote Gallery, London. The prizes were presented by Fred Cuming RA.

Olive ~Webb SGFA Hunting Magic

Olive Webb SGFA won the Cass Art Award for a work on the Optional
Theme for 2011, graffiti, with her mixed media piece, ‘Hunting Magic’. She says, ‘The need to construct is an important part of how I approach my work. The images are built slowly layer by layer starting with an idea, often narrative. With this approach there is always an element of surprise. Presently I am interested in prehistoric imagery, so called ‘primitive art’, and the SGFA graffiti theme this year worked wonderfully well with cave paintings.’

Kit Surrey SGFA Granite Faces XIII

Kit Surrey SGFA won the Stabilo Award for Drawing with his ‘Granite Faces XIII, Land’s End, West Penwith, Cornwall’, (graphite and compressed charcoal on paper). As a child in the late 1950′s Kit’s family would rent a small farm cottage in Snowdonia. ‘When out on wonderful walks in the mountains I would catch glimpses of brightly clad figures high up on seemingly impossible rock faces….Something about the great sweeping faces of granite cliffs, poised between the sea and the sky excited me tremendously both as a climber and an artist. My drawings are an attempt to express this excitement and the sheer drama of the places that I am drawn to. I deliberately use graphite and compressed charcoal to emphasise the strong chiarascuro and even the theatricality of these impressive places, and joined the SGFA as I consider myself primarily as a “draughtsman” rather than a painter’.

Karen Munck SGFA’s ‘Urban Landscape, Vienna’ (mixed media) won the Award for a Highly Commended Work on the Theme for 2011, graffiti, sponsored by Derwent at the Cumberland Pencil Company.

Karen Munck SGFA Urban Landscape Vienna

She says, ‘After spending several years at Art School I embarked on a career as a Graphic Designer. In recent years I have returned to my first loves painting and printmaking. My inspiration comes mainly from the seashore, where I live, and travel. I love making collages from my scraps collected from fly posters and graffiti.My picture ‘Urban Landscape’ is a mixture of this and drawing based on things observed in Vienna’.

Veteran of the Florence and Venice Biennale Maz Jackson SGFA won the
Award for a Highly Commended Print sponsored by Stabilo for her woodcut
‘Silence -Before Dawn’.

Annie Ridd ASGFA - Trapped 1

Associate Members were also well in evidence. Annie Ridd ASGFA won The
President’s Choice Award, sponsored by the Society of Graphic Fine Art, for her stunning ‘Trapped 1’, a quirky meditation on the Book of Common Prayer, beautifully executed in pencil. ‘My drawings feature overlooked everyday
objects, unwashed clothes and jewellery. Dead animals and insects often presented in ambiguous compositions intended to stimulate the viewer’s memories and emotions based on their personal experiences. Many of the constituents hold personal connections to my past, and many become synonymous with my fears and hopes for the future. Coded messages
deciphered differently by each viewer’.

Jane Walker ASGFA Melting Snow

Jane Walker ASGFA’s ‘Melting Snow II’ (ink), won the Arquadia Award for a Work in Monochrome, sponsored by Arquadia Limited. Jane says, ‘I am
trying to find a new drawing language, one that evolves from my way of working. The winning piece was made by constantly changing the marks I was
making, following values in Chinese art, but I was also trying to hold on to Western space and depth. I favour ink because I work quickly. I joined the SGFA because they were so enthusiastic about my work!’.

Michael Wilson ASGFA Native American Woman

In January 2011 Michael Wilson ASGFA retired after 37 years as a banknote engraver/designer. In that time he was responsible for over 200 banknotes and passports and over 20 stamp designs, winning 6 international awards in the process. His piece “Native American Woman’ (pen and ink) won the Award for a Highly Commended Work sponsored by Derwent at the Cumberland Pencil Company. According to Michael, ‘The technique I used on the two portraits I submitted to the Menier Exhibition drew on my experience of etching. The angles of the drawn lines are 45 and 35 degrees, and executed exactly as if I had drawn them through a wax ground onto a steel die. I would like to thank the Society for a wonderful exhibition’.

Chris Forsey RI, SGFA Up the Harbour, Port Isaac

Chris Forsey RI, ASGFA is also a member of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolour. His ‘Up the Harbour, Port Isaac’, in ink and watercolour, is the
winner of the Award for a Highly Commended Work in Monochrome,
sponsored by Stabilo. ‘I endeavour to create work that is strong on graphic
composition, light and atmosphere. I enjoy the strong contrasts of deep shadow
and bright sunlight combined with dynamic composition, often with high
horizons and deep foregrounds as in my artwork of Port Isaac. Expressive mark-making in crayon and ink are combined with loose washes of watercolour , ink and acrylic creating an unpredictable and exciting, textured look to the work.Tools include, flat brush , roller, card, stick, dip pen, fingernail, all of which are unpredictable, sometimes clumsy and always
challenging!The SGFA encourages design, draughtsmanship and technique, all of which I try to include in my work’.

Finally, non-members are also encouraged to submit work.

Sue Andrew Paraguayan Dream No 4

Sue Andrew won The Jackson’s Award for a Work in Colour, sponsored by Jackson’s Art Supplies, for her gouache, ‘Paraguayan Dream No.4’. She trained as a printmaker but works in varied media, recently gouache, water-soluble pencils
and pen and ink.’My long-standing interest in tropical plants and animals was
intensified by a visit to Paraguay, which led me to create a series of drawings
and paintings, ‘Paraguayan Dream’. These aren’t literal representations but,
rather, try to capture the spirit of the country’. ‘The attraction of the SGFA was the opportunity to work and exhibit with others on the cusp of Fine Art and Graphics: much of the art establishment is based in London so one can feel rather isolated working up North’.

Jules Cowan Flamingo

The St Cuthbert’s Mill Award for a Print was given to Jules Cowan for her
drypoint with handcolouring (on plate), ‘Flamingo’. Says Jules, ‘Drypoint is
resistant and wayward; it simultaneously disciplines and corrupts the line. It
seems to me an ideal means for the ostensible subject of adolescence. Art
should resist us a little so that we are required to grow. It is the means by
which we reach the bittersweet ache of adolescence again, the archetypal
moment of leaving/arriving’.

Ceridwen Jane Gray Rite of Passage

Ceridwen Jane Gray’s evocative mixed media painting, ‘Rite of Passage’,
earned the Award for a Highly Commended Work in Colour, sponsored by Jakar International Ltd, UK Distributors of Caran d’Ache Artists’ Materials. ‘I am fascinated with what is beyond the eye – the energies that underlie everything – the ‘footprints’ of the past that inform the present. In ‘Rite Of Passage,’ I wanted to convey the special energy of spiritual experience. I
usually work in mixed media but drawing has been a love of mine for many
years. I love the sheer pleasure of mark – making and usually start a picture in
an abstract way allowing the subject to present itself’.

‘I submitted work to SGFA to test myself in a prestigious society, if I’m honest!! I’m so very glad I did’.

Ece Clarke SGFa No 4

Ece Clarke is a Turkish artist who works on paper in a variety of media. After working in several countries, Ece is now settled in England and based in Vauxhall. Her work investigates the relationship between the tangible and the intangible and our ability to express or recognise one in the other. This is conducted in a broad range of media, including etching. Her work is non-representational – but inspired by the rhythms found in nature. Her prize winning piece consisted of an etching on Somerset paper, curved into three-dimensional objects – creating a cross between two-dimensional and sculpture that gives a different scope to the work.  It creates an inner space within the work that cannot be perceived; and an outer space that is shared with the observer. Her submission, ‘SGFA NO.4′ was awarded The Derwent Award for the Best Work in the Exhibition, which she was delighted to receive.

David C Nix Sunt Lacrimae Rerum

Finally, David C. Nix gained the Award for a Highly Commended Drawing sponsored by Stabilo for his ‘Sunt Lacrimae Rerum’, a thought-provoking work in graphite on paper.

‘As an artist I have always had a strong interest in archaeology, poetry, history and attendant mythologies from various cultures. Even when exploring a diverse range of materials, a significant aim is always to reflect events and experience through visual metaphor. The work exhibited combines traditional momento mori subjects with text taken from Virgil’s Aeneid, translated as ‘the world is a world of tears and the burdens of mortality touch the heart’. The technique used combines a series of washes of graphite powder, applied in various dilutions and densities, symbolising the veiling or unveiling of the sadness of reality.’

Article by Pat Harvey SGFA, Media Liaison