Layered Land: Time, Fragility, Repair.
Layered Land: Time Fragility Repair opened at M16 Art Space, Blaxland Cues. Griffith. ACT, from 21 March 2024 till 14 April 2024.
The landscape, sea, coast, and open spaces can be powerful and emotive places of exploration, reminiscence and memories. The ‘layered land’ series of drawings, prints and textiles investigates the way a place is remembered. How it is reinterpreted by the mind; details are altered and omitted and become imbued with ones own emotional outlook. Memories are embedded with the application of charcoal or stitch.
Barbara Dawson’s artworks explores a connection to place and a contemplation of the physical weathering in the environment - a reflection on the passage of time and fragility that is revealed through ageing and disintegration; alluding to the parallel landscapes of outer and inner worlds. Barbara’s intention is not to represent the landscape, rather it is to capture and communicate her lived experience of being in it. These are contemplative artworks emerging through slow processes over extended periods of time are offered to the viewer, as an invitation to find a sense of quietness and stillness.
Barbara favours a limited colour palette in her drawings, prints and textiles exploring tonal changes which for her embrace the concept of time and timelessness. The works in charcoal show a layering of different procedures enabling her to make her own model of landscape. The textiles are recycled cloths which are overdyed, worn and ripped and have that perfect intrinsic beauty that comes with age, oxidation, overdying, and layering of fragments of fabric. Aligned to landscape, the simple stitch lines add to depiction of the weathering and a life lived. Through combining and layering these different procedures she is able to capture and communicate her relationship and concern for landscape. And remind us we are not separate from it but are inextricably part of it.
These artworks are currently on exhibition at M16 Art Space Canberra ACT. If interested in purchasing please contact me via contacts page.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barbaraanndawson
'Structured' : Charcoal, pastel ochre and mixed media collage on bamboo paper. 67 x 47 cms. The works in charcoal show a layering of different procedures enabling me to make my own model of landscape. I use rice paper as a collage element to add texture. The details of land in my mind become imbued with my emotional outlook.
'Renewal': Charcoal and pastel ochre with rice paper collage on bamboo paper. 67 x 47 cms. When I first started on this body of work, I presumed I was influenced by the Littoral Zone of Jervis Bay, but as I drove back into Canberra after our enforced lockdown due to the pandemic, I saw the landscape lines of the mountains of Canberra and realised I was also influenced by my childhood memories. So, this is why my statement reads ‘in the mind’s eye details become imbued with one’s emotional outlook.
'Intervention': Charcoal, pastel ochre with rice paper collage on bamboo paper . 67 x 47 cms. My intention is not to represent the landscape, rather it is to capture and communicate my lived experience of being in it.
'Xanthoria' : Stitching on a survey map eco printed with coastal native litter and iron. 58x 13 cms. Created on a vintage survey map of my local area, eco printed with coastal plants using the tannin iron complex, modified by rust. The stitching replicates Xanthoria parietina or Shore Lichen, found where the air is filled with mineral salts, especially near the sea and on rocks and walls. Growth and decay are a reminder of the fragility of our environment and the effects we have on it. A littoral wonderland of colour and texture.
'Saxicolous ' Lichen, Stitch on a recycled cloth and vintage survey map eco printed with leaf litter and iron. 58 x 13 cms. Microscopic images reveal a wonderland of shapes and structures. Created on a vintage coastal survey map, dyed using the tannin iron complex, modified by rust, the stitching and recycled distressed fabric replicates Saxicolous Lichen, which is a combination of algae and fungus living together in a wonderful symbiotic relationship. Rock- growing lichens play an important role in nature's plan by converting rocks into soil. Growth and decay are a reminder of the fragility of our environment and the effects we have on it
'Recovered': Fabric collage and stitch on eco printed with tannins and iron over-dyed recycled cotton. 20 x 20 cms. These series of works can be viewed as a birds eye view of landscape or the hills and valleys in a landscape. It is my model of landscape. Changed by memory and time.
'Configuration': Hand dyed perlé cotton thread stitched on painted and dyed preloved linen and felted silk chiffon. 80 x 25cms. This artwork is inspired by the ever-changing colours of the rock cliffs of Jervis Bay. The erosion of life, delicate weathering, layers of time and the memories imbued in the personal history of something tangible such as cloth and stitch, resounds strongly and is very emotional.
'Disintegration': Fabric collage and stitch on eco printed over-dyed recycled cotton wrapping cloths. 80 X 25 cms. I aim to provide the viewer with an artwork they can lose themselves in and discover their own sense of quietness and stillness.
'Fragmented': Fabric collage and stitch on eco printed over-dyed recycled cotton wrapping cloths. 80 x 25 cms. I use stitch with a sense of peace and tranquility. It is a slow and meditative process, and the stitch lines represent the journey and my crossings over the land. It is through the layering of different procedures that I can make my own model of a particular landscape.
'Soft Land-unstructured': Encaustic wax over charcoal and mixed media. 18 x 18 cms. This series of artworks is a deconstructed charcoal drawing. I have added text impertinent to land and added stitch as a textual element. The work is then covered in several layers of encaustic wax. This leads to a 'soft' impression, hence the title.
'Soft Land-subdued': Encaustic wax over charcoal and mixed media. 18 x 18 cms. The weightless character of the composition recalls the constant rearrangement of the physical world by the random processes of natural and human produced events where connected factors flow together in time and geography.
'Soft Land-blurred': Encaustic wax over charcoal and mixed media. 18 x 18 cms. My practice as an artist is activated by my connection to place, to the environment, and to natural processes evident with the passage of time.
'Degeneration': Fabric collage and stitch on eco printed over-dyed recycled cotton. 20x20 cms. I look for the passage of time and the fragility in landscape. There is always breakdown and evolution from weathering and agei
'Repair': Fabric collage and stitch on eco printed over-dyed recycled cotton. 20x 20 cms. 20x20 cms. The fabric collage is distressed and worn. By combining and layering different procedures - reclaiming and repurposing materials, layering, dyeing, stitching, - I try to capture and communicate my relationship with the landscape.
'Fragility': Fabric collage and stitch on eco printed overdyed recycled cotton. 20x 20 cms. Accidental and inherent marks created through the history and cultural context of an artefact, communicate their own narrative. Fragility and resilience recur; subjects which appear delicate or damaged but endure against the odds.
Impressions': Charcoal, pastel ochre and rice paper collage on bamboo paper. 47x 67 cms. I enjoy changing my imaginary landscapes. I keep to a limited colour palette and use varying techniques give the soft and hard edges to the work. Landscape offers me the opportunity to reconnect by exploring my sense of place.
Persistence': Simple stitch contours on eco printed overdyed recycled cotton wrapping cloth. 80x25 cms.
'Soft Land- Muted': Encaustic wax over charcoal and mixed media. 18x 18 cms.
'Arrangement': Fabric collage and stitch on eco printed over-dyed recycled cotton wrapping cloths. 80x 24 cms.
'Existence': Variegated satin stitch symbols on eco printed over-dyed recycled cotton wrapping cloth 80 x 25 cms. | combine the visuals and stories of place and memory. The outlines and shapes I see in the landscape fascinate me.