Drawn Together

Seven Artists by the River Severn

For this exhibition, Drawn Together, I selected works with a connection to drawing breath, as this is how we came together as a group. Some of the works directly involve breath while others have a meditative quality in the slowness of their making. Many of these works have come about through walking, or in quiet spaces of time when I spontaneously make something without knowing why. Spread over time, their making creates a calm and contemplative space which in turn affects my breath and my state of mind. 

It is in these spaces that I find I can be still. I can travel in my imagination from grains of sand to the sea (Tide) or imagine walking a landscape that I know well (Moving Breath). Other works are more directly about breath (e.g. An hour of breath): drawing my breath, inhaling, exhaling, up, down. I have also brought with me a Puddle World drawing that is like a single puff of exhaled air.

Moving Breath was created in response to walking together but apart with an international group of artists in March 2020, creatively responding to a series of prompts from Groundworks –  Landlinks. The drawing was an extension to one of my works from this walk, imagining the spot on the walk where I paused to make a tillroll skyline drawing. It was made at a time when travel there was not permitted due to COVID-19, so instead of making it in situ, I travelled there in my imagination. I could imagine the stile I would have climbed over to get into this field, the path, hedgerow, trees and sheep, the sound of the spring and stream, of birds and a gentle breeze. I breathed deeply, letting my pens respond as my mind carried me to this place on the walk.

Tide is a drawing and video that records trace memories of the movement of sea water and sand at the water’s edge, an elemental dance of sand and pen on paper. Its making involves travelling in my imagination to memories of place, of elements, and environment. The abstract marks on the paper map and choreograph my conversation with the elements, standing by the water’s edge, my feet in the sand, feeling the tide move in and out, the sand and sea shift. The sand is as much the drawing material as the pen and directs its flow; an elemental dance.

Breath is integral to my way of working. It is why I often use repeated marks and choose a particular medium or material to work with. I enjoy the making, the repetition, the simplicity of a repeated mark or action, developed slowly over time (e.g. Imagined Lines). During this time I feel calm and have time to be quiet, to think and reflect, listen to symposiums and stories, often related to the subject-matter that I am drawing (e.g. Tide). Often I begin to find answers to what I am making and why. These additional layers of meaning and the process of making become quietly embedded within the work and its outcome.

The grid of thirty cloud-like abstracts were inspired by five drawings that came about through playing with materials and drawing in the rain. Through the process of making more, I am finding echoes of ground and sky, of earth, air and water. These liquid worlds have connections to my Puddle Worlds drawings in the sense of being ‘cloud puddles’ or maybe ‘cloud islands’. When I arrived at The George gallery, they were called Untitled, a series of abstracts, waiting for a name to settle. Once installed on the wall, I changed their name to Cloud Puddles.

The view of the river from the gallery window added a temporal and tidal backdrop of breath drawing in and out, of the power of moon and earth together, of water coming in and receding to leave a shifting ground of puddles and watermarks. 

Since arriving back home following this exhibition, I listened to Bouncing Bogs: At the source of a river (Waterlands podcast. 5/11/24, series 3, episode 1). At 7:08 mins in Dr. Mark Everard said:

“…the source of the river is obviously the clouds but also the management of wide landscapes that nourish where water bubbles through to the surface”

This feels like it could easily describe Cloud Puddles: the source of the puddle is the clouds. This photograph that I took recently by the source of the River Thames visually captures this as the clouds are reflected in the puddles of water with bubbles coming up from underground springs.

I have also continued developing a new work, Fe-Lines ink drawings, made using my cats’ shed whiskers. As the whiskers are largely water-resistant, the lines are barely visible. Visually reminiscent of a horizon line, I find myself seeing sea meeting sky, the tideline, and water spilling over the work as the whiskers and ink navigate the edges of the paper to the surface beneath. Some small test-pieces are included in the miniature gallery.

Thinking in Miniature is a travelling gallery, a box of small works and finds. I brought it with me to this exhibition as a way of sharing my process of making and coming up with ideas with both the other artists in the exhibition and with visitors to the gallery. Some of these artworks are part of a larger series of works and others are work-in-progress /test pieces for ideas. There are natural and found materials. They each have a story and in some way reflect or are connected to my creative process. 

In approaching a new place or project, such as Newnham on Severn, I often need to ground myself first, to just be there, to have a conversation with what is around me. In preparing for this exhibition and our week together drawing, walking, meditating and sharing our practice, I have used drawing as a way of slowing down, of taking time to breathe. With the clocks going back, I can feel the pull of hibernation, of time to rest, regroup and recharge, allowing time and space for new ideas and work to emerge. Drawn Together takes place in this in-between space of the seasonal clock, an apt time to pause and draw breath.

Below are a selection of images from the Drawn Together exhibition at The George gallery in Newnham on Severn, Tuesday 29 October – Saturday 2 November 2024. 

Drawn Together artists at this exhibition:

Carolyn Black, Ruth Broadbent, Louise Bradley, Gillian Cooper, Annie Rapstoff, Penny Simons, Sarah Taylor.

With the opportunity to use The George for a week, we decided to use it as a space to exhibit our work but also to share our practice with each other and the wider public. Some of us had only met online so it was also a chance to spend time together in-person. With the backdrop of the River Severn and Forest of Dean, it was the perfect venue to draw together for a few days, exhausting but wonderful.