24 September – 17 October 2017
We’re delighted to announce that we’ve been asked to extend this exhibition for a further week so it will now close on Tuesday 17 October. The exhibition will be open from 10.00 – 5.00 each day.
This has been a very popular exhibition with fantastic feedback from visitors and we’re very pleased that this extension will allow more people to visit. We’d like to thank Ian Hunter and Celia Larner at the Merz Barn for their support and hard work.
A major new exhibition with work inspired by Kurt Schwitters or the Merz Barn Cylinders Estate in Langdale.
View gallery of images from the Private View held at Merz Barn 24 September 2017 below.
“When researching Schwitter’s work I found that I could draw some links between the processes he used and my own, even though our styles are very different'” said Janet Graves. “I also incorporate found objects in my work which is site specific. I use twigs stalks and grasses for mark making and also for making charcoal. I used my time at the Merz Barn to sketch, photograph and gather objects. These will be presented in my final piecewhich reflects my respect for Schwitter’s techniques and the beautiful environment of the Merz Barn.”
Cally Lawson has created a large collage, inspired by Kurt Schwitters’ collages and his use of found objects. ‘Beyond the Lines’ incorporates a reclaimed frame and an old stag skull and antlers. Emulating the colour palette, use of found objects and abstract style of Schwitter’s famous collages, this artwork evolved from the intricate natural lines in the skull’s structure.
In her art work titled, ‘Hood E’, Ann Marie Foster references the papery territory of Schwitters and his use of the discarded debris of the every day.
“I took faded paper patterns used in dressmaking and collaged them to create another layer of meaning,” explained Ann Marie. “These opaque, ghostly papers refer to previous identities of the wearer. The garments carefully constructed from the paper patterns have been shed along with the previous selves that inhabited them. In my use of collage materials I’ve contrasted the mechanical nature of the lines imprinted on the paper patterns compared with the fluid, intuitive contours of the figures.”
Andy Wild’s ‘Melting Angel’ is a piece from object found to object formed. It is metal from a fallen drain pipe made into a sculpture that appears to be melting away. It has moved from a drain pipes destruction to a construction of a sculpture to an image of melting into destruction again.
Mike Healey’s complex three-dimensional diorama is an expression of Schwitters’ celebrated claim that perspective is a ‘swindle’.
“I have inverted normal perspective, so that images close to the viewer are small whereas objects further away are large, thereby ‘destroying’ classical Renaissance perspective,” said Mike. “Within this framework there are smaller, equally dramatic narratives going on in which visual expectations and perspective are constantly usurped.”
Steven Trevillion’s “Found Subject” series reworks the idea of the found image/text that was so central to Schwitters’ collage practice. By literally tearing apart and reconfiguring a personal photo Steven also draws on Schwitters’ idea that destruction can feed creation.
The exhibition includes paintings, prints, collages, sculptures, ceramics and diorama. Exhibiting artists include: Gordon Baddeley, Roger Bell, Averyl Bradbrook, Barbra Cropper, John Davenport, Ann Marie Foster, Janet Graves, Mike Healey, Marion Kuit, Cally Lawson, Karen Lester, Anne MacKinnon, Jilll Pemberton, Elizabeth Shorrock, Keith Shorrock, Steve Trevillion, Sonja Vietoris, Geraldine Walkington, Andy Wild and Frances Winder.
Images from the Private View, 24 September 2017
The Merz Barn, Cylinders Estate, Langdale, Ambleside LA22 9JB is open from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm each day.