London August 2017.....

Another visit to London just before  final submission of the MA made for a welcomed break. This city has begun to captivate me like I had never imagined. Contrasting qualities of every respect appear to fuel my art practice. The hectic, fast paced, consumer driven, mass converging of people within this capital is so far removed from the time I spend immersing myself into the more rural of environments. These strikingly different places highlight the state of society as it exists, giving context to each other and keeping me grounded to the here and now. 
​The Sky Garden 20 Fenchurch Street gave opportunity to view the city from 38 storeys high (Which takes 27 seconds to travel up to in the lift!) A spectacular vista of the city was experienced on the viewing platform. As the day was overcast the landscape appeared rich in grey and black contrasting architecture a sheer marvel of humanities skill in the creating, engineering and building this powerful and vibrant city.

RA Summer Exhibition 2017

The RA Summer Exhibition was as inspiring as ever. I was particularly drawn to the works above. David Nash's pieces all explored space and materiality and the burning method was used to char the insides of a tree trunk and the surrounding frames of some pieces. This elemental process was displayed in such raw physicality and resonated much of my ongoing processes; the inclusion of charcoal within my ice forms and the singing method used to highlight needle prick texture. There did appear to be a theme within this particular room that captured the 'burning' method and its direct mark making qualities. Burnt Line Drawings by Julia Hutton were particularly interesting. Their simplicity is beautiful and channels my thoughts into how I am beginning to strip down work and concentrate on detail rather than the actual full form of the skeletal leaf.
​The photographic print on aluminium by Paul Benham 'Holding Water' was such a beautiful image that captivated the fleeting moment of physical contact between hand and water.
​The presentation of some of the images were also interesting such as the above presented on boards rather than 'framed' has given much thought about the use of surfaces rather than frames in the presentation of work. My paper based work is realized in a textural and three dimensional form and I am constantly challenged by the issue of 'framing' work. Glass free affixed to alternative flat surfaces such as wood, stone etc. may be an option and something to explore.