Iterations of line
ON DISPLAY UNTIL 28th August
Augustus Stickland is a sculptor who works predominantly in the medium of wood . With a background in furniture making, he creates aesthetics through traditional woodworking practices that may assume a function but in reality are merely a form.
The artist uses locally sourced and storm fallen timbers to create the works, allowing the natural shaking and movement of the green timber to become major features in the artist’s pieces. The beauty created by the material reacting against the artist’s control allows a symbiosis to occur. Wood, once living, continues to move along with the maker.
Isobel Finlay was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire and grew up in the countryside - having lived and worked in London since 2016. The artist says: "My inspiration comes from multiple sources, but mainly the materials I use and the history that they hold. I use a lot of textiles within my work and I find that the relationship to the body that textile have incredibly interesting, as they can be seen as an extension of the body, an expression of skin almost. Fabric also has a varied, ancient history with fabric production being developed within households and on a bodily scale."
"Within my drawings too there is a connection to movement and material exploration. I use a lot of watercolours and soft pastels, both of which, I believe, contain a lot of potential fluid movement within the material, especially watercolours. Both are hard to control, but if the aim is not to control them and allow them to make a few decisions of their own, the exploration of the material can become a very interesting union of ideas. Hand and material collaborating rather than dominating."
‘Vortex’ (2020) by Isobel Finlay
“Vortex (2020) was the result of extensive experimentation with a method of fabricating work I had developed throughout my time at university, where I would soak hand knitted pieces of fabric in plaster before manipulating them into certain shapes with the extra influence of gravity. I wanted this work to address ideas about architecture and the body, to come away from the architectural space of the wall and into the viewer’s personal space, forcing them to alter their movements to make room for the sculpture. This in turn brings awareness of how much our architectural surroundings affect our daily lives, how the spaces we live in dictate, to a certain extent, how we live.”
This work was first shown as part of Finlay’s exhibition for the Vanguard Prize 2020, a graduate award from Camberwell College of Arts, which was held at Chelsea Space, Chelsea College of Arts.
‘Oak Winged Totem’ (2022) by Augustus Stickland
