Charcoal, pencil, chalk and wax, on Arches HP.  56 x 56 cm

Image part of the work for the forthcoming exhibition at The Allsop Gallery Bridport Arts Centre, Dorset, UK, opening on 24 February.

The drawings will be shown parallel to a short story by French writer Alain Robbe-Grillet.

The focus of the exhibition will be work arising from the Fellowship which I completed at the Ballinglen Arts Centre, Co. Mayo, Republic of Ireland, 2010 however I intend to show this work alongside copies of the actual book, highlighting the way in which it runs parallel to my work and processes rather than provoking it. On a loop in the background will be a soundtrack of the text being read against a backdrop of the sounds of sea and gravel.

Soundscape IV

Charcoal, graphite chalk and wax 2011.  56 x 56 cm

This drawing, part of the De Profundis series of work,  won the Drawing Prize At the 159th Royal West of England Academy Exhibition in Bristol.  The open exhibition consists of 508 works selected from a submission of over 2000 and runs until the 31 December 2011.

De Profundis

First Nocturne, Third Nocturne, Fifth Nocturne, Ninth Nocturne

This work is related to music both the sound, particularly strings and piano and the physical movement of a bow or hammer and the way in which plucked, bowed or struck strings vibrate. They suggest the regenerative nature of music, both listening to it and playing it, as well as its power as a trigger for memory. Rather than using it as a primary source, music as diverse as John Cage or Steve Reich through to Plainchant functions alongside and parallel to my work and practice.  As in specific texts which resonate with my work I am interested in the way in which  Music is repetitive and I am exploiting parallels between the  repetition in my  drawings in order to make connections between processes across different art forms.

The lines originate from daily drawings of the subtle change in colour delineating the point at which sea and sky meet, horizon lines which gradually developed their own autonomy as they became more and more vertical. I have called this group of works De Profundis: the Nocturnes leading from light into darkness or from darkness into light, connections which are not intended to be despairing but rather hopeful in the way that deeply sonorous powerful music can lift the spirit.

RN 29

Graphite charcoal and white chalk on paper 38 x 38 cm, 15 x 15 ins

2011

RN 27

Graphite charcoal and white chalk on paper 38 x 38 cm, 15 x 15 ins

2011

More from this Sequence of Drawings in Drawings 2 in the left hand side bar

During my Fellowship at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in September/October, 2010, my house faced the sea and every day I drew the rapidly changing vista from my window; the light, the weather, and the mountains appearing and disappearing like ghosts.

Currently on show at Rabley Drawing Centre, Marlborough until 28 May

Oil charcoal and graphite on canvas, 80 x 100 cms, 31 x 40 ins.  2011

Currently on show in A Field Guide to Getting Lost at The Pelavin Gallery, New York until 3 September 2011

Ariadne’s Dream

Oil on canvas 2010

75 x 102 cms.

Rain on the Wind

oil graphite and charcoal on canvas, 80 x 80 cms. 2009/10

Currently available through the Pelavin Gallery New York

Fiona Robinson + George Meyrick + Pennie Elfick

The Brewhouse Gallery, Coal Orchard, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 1JL

Saturday 2 May – Saturday 13 June 2009. Opening times Monday to Saturday 10 am – 5 pm.

A gallery talk with the artists and the launch of a publication documenting their collaboration will take place on Sat 6th June, 2-4pm, for free tickets please enquire at the Brewhouse Box Office.

Images and texts from the exhibition can be seen at http://illusionsofspace.wordpress.com

From Ballinskelligs Beach to Bolus Head from A Love Affair with the Irish Landscape

Pencil on paper, 200 x 340 cms. 2009

Seven Thousand Steps. Pencil on paper, 2009.

Illusions of space sees the coming together of three highly individual artists who, having identified unexpected connections between their work, have used this opportunity to stray into each other’s territory.