Conversations - 2011
CONVERSATIONS at The Spring Arts Centre, Havant.
Wednesday 2 March 2011 - Thursday 21 April 2011
Monday to Saturday 10am – 5pm, Tuesday 6.30 – 8.30pm
Preview: Monday 7 March 7.30 – 9.30 pm
Children’s Workshop Natter : Saturday 16 April 10am – 12 noon
Conversations are exchanges of information and ideas between people, or in fact an internal dialogue of voice or voices with ones own mind. These dialogues might be informal and playful, tangible propositions or even discordant exchanges. This shared process of understanding and questioning encourages artist collaboration. Museum exhibits themselves become sources of inspiration. Discernible relationships between seemingly disparate objects, suggest monologues or metaphoric comparisons. Language, text and sound, produce works that converse in the same way that two or more people might have a conversation.
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18 Participating Artists:
Pippa Blake - Words Floating
Maureen Brigden - Conversation Piece
Frances Desforges - Dialogues in Red
Tim Gwyther - Stolen Meanings
Liz Hanan - Flying High
Sarah Hartland - Collar 2011
Jo Higgs - Provenance
Helena Hines - Closed Books
Jackie Knee - Sit!
Juliet Larken - Mapping the voyage I, and III
Margaret Marks - Babel, Babble and Harvey Sachs
Robert Olliver-Jones - Shhhh!
Neil Pavey - I talk
David Pratt - Between the lines
Jayne Sandys-Renton - Up Close
Catharine Somerville - Gossip
Sarah Warwick - Picking up fag ends
Sara Young - Whispers
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Pippa Blake - Words Floating
Light box: inkjet: acetate: tracing paper: pencil
Multi-media layered images recording fleeting moments of witnessed conversation. Influenced by reading ‘Oceans Conversations’ written by the poet Judith Cluss.
Maureen Brigden - Conversation Piece
Ceramic, pit fired; Size: 51cms x 28cms; £750
Hand signing was one of the earliest forms of face-to-face communication, first recorded by monks in the 15th century as an aid for teaching the deaf. It has been developed for use in education, as ciphers, mnemonics, and in silent religious orders. It can be comprehended visually or tactually, and is a more inclusive method of communication.
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Frances Desforges - Dialogues in Red
oil on canvas; 1m.sq.
This painting is part of a body of work for her MA on the
language of the grid.
Liz Hanan - Flying High
Acrylic paint on Acrylic sheet, Nautical rope; £500
Historically the Pennant provides an essential form of communication amongst the maritime community. By reconstructing a previous piece of my work I have formed these vibrant and colourful communication symbols, creating a lively conversation between ship and shore.
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Jo Higgs - Provenance
Acrylic on board; 22 x 91 cm
My work is the result of chaos, of adding and removing layers of paint , and working and reworking until an image presents itself to me. I don’t work with a plan; I rely on my subconscious to ‘find’ the image in the chaos. For this reason I don’t believe in ‘explaining’ my images; they will have to reveal themselves to the viewer as they revealed themselves to me.
Tim Gwyther - Stolen Meanings
Pastel on paper; £400
A dialogue between past and present: a process of examining the existence of ancient objects in the contemporary world. It is an exchange between a lost culture and myself.
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Sarah Hartland - Collar 2011
Mixed media, pencil, gesso, silk-screen printed wallpaper
Collections of pictures decorate homes like wallpaper: disparate images whose only connection is the taste, choice and experiences of those living in the space. Arbitrary Internet research creates groups of similar images, which intuitively, we want to make associations between. These framed pieces converse with the wallpaper as indiscriminate decoration.
Helena Hines - Closed Books
Mixed media: books & liquid plaster; Price POA
Physical exploration of what a closed book might be, invites us to think about ways in which we close off and exclude subjects about which we are unwilling to converse. Can I get back into it? Why and how was it closed?
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Jackie Knee - Sit!
Garden bench with mounted plaque; Not for Sale
This work celebrates the common bench and its contribution to the simple pleasures of chatting. Let us have more benches… park benches, town benches, benches with a view, and benches without a view. Take a moment… sit, talk!
Juliet Larken - Mapping the voyage I and III
Mixed media: including photographic images and found objects.
The work created here is a form of Conversation between my ancestors especially on the life of my Grandmother who died recently at the age of 101.
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Margaret Marks - Babel, Babble and Harvey Sachs
Film approx 12 min duration; 3 DVD monitors, 3 Plinths,
Conversation is the most basic and widespread linguistic means of conducting human affairs. Its study proved particularly complex, due to its perversive everyday nature. However, Conversation Analysis developed by the sociologist Harvey Sacks (1935 – 1975), has identified rules, structures, and rhythms. This work is an exploration of some of these.
Robert Olliver-Jones - Shhh!
£2000
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Neil Pavey - I talk
Screen print on paper
This piece concerns the most common conversation: that we have with ourselves. The piece is attempting to capture some of those conversations we have with ourselves, sometimes without even knowing it, whilst shopping or waiting or just being. Usually they are never recorded and if they are they are only ever written down if no-one else is around.
David Pratt - Between the lines
Paper pencil 2.8 x 0.6 m
In a childhood game opposing armies were drawn on wallpaper, forming a dialogue. There were frequent references to ”The War” (WW2 in this case) although it ended years before my arrival. This must have been so for Millennia. War spawns epic myths, as veterans relate their stories.
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Jayne Sandys-Renton - Up Close
Group - Mixed media on board; £300 for large, £250 for medium, £200 for small
£1125 for whole group of six
Currently my work responds to intimate photographs I have taken of my family. The expressive paintings and drawings zoom in on the face, concealing and revealing. When I took the photographs I asked each person to have a private conversation with the lens; I want the viewer to have their own conversation with the painting.
Catharine Somerville - Gossip
Charcoal; £700.00
Is gossip a conversation? Gossip is about the human urge to connect through unconstrained communication. Gossip can be both good and bad and expresses a human quality of life. It was traditionally used and remains how humans intercommunicate in a social network. This painting of Carousel horses is a metaphor for this type of communication.
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Sarah Warwick -Picking up fag ends
Cigarette butts and pins. Mixed media.
Cigarette and cigar butts collected as they were stubbed out with detail of last remembered conversation of the smokers.
Sara Young - Whispers
Trees play a hugely important part in our existence. We talk to them, make promises underneath them, etch messages in their trunks. In turn they whisper amongst themselves, whether on a cold winter’s day, in the rattle of bare branches, or a hot summer day and the rustle of leaves.