Carolyn Booker -Painting in acrylic and mixed media
Statement.
This painting is based on research on coastal erosion and man’s often futile attempts to hold back the tide.
I have taken the idea from the retreat and advance of the sea in my local area The sea both creates and destroys the land. The shoreline at Chichester was once at the base of the downs. Ancient man hunted at Boxgrove, on a river estuary now several miles inland. Just a short distance along the coast the opposite has occurred, several villages and a huge area of deer park have disappeared beneath the waves since medieval times.
King Canute famously tried to hold back the sea at Bosham just south of Chichester. Today, huge piles of rocks have been built on the beach near Bognor in an effort to protect houses. This has in turn changed the shape of the foreshore in just a couple of years.
How will this effect erosion further down the coast? Will it work? Can we really hold back the sea? Only time will tell.
bio
over 10 years Carolyn has exhibited regularly at the Chichester Open, Arundel Gallery Trail, The Affordable Art Fair, Battersea and the Association of Sussex Artists in Horsham. Carolyn has also had work included in exhibitions at the Otter Gallery, Chichester and the Phoenix, Brighton, Havant Art Canter, Chichester Museum and Gallery 238 in Dorking. Carolyn had her first solo show at the Oxmarket in Chichester in 2002 entitled “Interaction Land and Sea”.
Carolyn received a commission for 13 paintings and was asked to hold a solo exhibition at The Zimmer Gallery in Arundel in 2003. In 2004 Carolyn and Barry collaborated on a large installation for the Minerva Theatre in Chichester titled ” Interior Meadow.” This joint work was extended in 2005 and shown at the Guildhall in Chichester and Carolyn and Barry also held a large joint exhibition at West Stoke House nr Chichester. In 2006 Carolyn took part in joint exhibitions at Beadles School and the Otter Gallery, Chichester.
