Shorelines Review

Ayrshire Arts Network
Reports, Reviews and Comments
Shorelines. Alison Bell's installation at the Maclaurin Art Gallery, November 2012. Photograph ©SAC Shorelines (detail). Alison Bell's installation at the Maclaurin Art Gallery, November 2012. Photograph ©Alison Bell Alison F Bell. Digital Image of Rock Pool on shoreline, Arran 2006. (Illustration from the Shoreline catalogue.) ©Alison F Bell For further information on Alison Bell, please follow this LINK. This link will open in a new window which must be closed after viewing Top For further information on related projects mentioned in this review, please follow this LINK Top	Shorelines Exhibition at the Maclaurin Art Gallery - Cathy Treadaway and Alison F Bell Seascapes have been a recurring theme in the visual arts, particularly in the Celtic Fringe of the British Isles. The energy and peculiar light of the maritime environment has been represented by many artists over the years, notably in the works of Turner and Mactaggart; atmospheric works that reflect the power and energy of the marine environment. Similarly, many of Shakespeare's plays use the device of the castaway character on an unfamiliar shoreline, notably in The Tempest, where Caliban confides that "the isle is full of noises." What is less common, is a painstaking examination of the interface between the atmosphere, the land and the sea in a work of visual art. This is what Cathy Treadaway and Alison F Bell, each in their own way, have attempted in this exhibition. It is inevitable that the approach of these artists is informed by their previous studies and their specialisms; both have a background in textile design but they have approached this project from different origins and while their individual results mark a considerable achievement, their joint work fails to bridge the gap between the two contributors. With individual installations in separate rooms and a collaborative 'exploration and investigation' in the third room, the exhibition reflects the individual concerns of the two artists but lacks an overall coherence. Like Caliban, this reviewer was confused by the 'strange noise' Looking back over the past 35 years, one can discern a continuing interest in the interface between land and sea in the programming at the Maclaurin Art Gallery. The joint project with the South West Galleries Association, Western Approaches, explored the response of many artists to the peculiar qualities of light found in the islands and mainland of western Scotland, and its impact on colour. Later, the touring exhibition 'Archipelago' by Alfred Graf and Thomas Joshua Cooper, explored the coastline and islands of the West of Scotland, leading to the acquisition by the Maclaurin Collection of a work by Graf that presents the detritus of the Arran Shoreline in a block of beeswax. Similarly, the ‘Art to Enchant’ installation by Queen Elizabeth College (Darlington) and pupils of Holmston Primary School created a sandy shore with shipwrecks within the gallery space. So, what might be regarded as the latest exhibition in the series, exploring artist's experience of the littoral environment, is now installed in the Maclaurin Art Gallery, following a showing at the University of Newcastle (New South Wales). This exhibition by artists Alison F Bell and Cathy Treadaway offers two individual interpretations of the shoreline. 'The sea and shoreline,' writes Cathy Treadaway, 'has been a recurring source of inspiration for both artists. This project provides a unique opportunity to reflect on these influences through documentary practice-led research and the generation of collaborative artworks.' 'This exhibition of paintings, prints, photographs and textiles by Alison F. Bell and Cathy Treadaway is an ongoing collaborative research project which investigates creative practice. The exhibits are a response to coastal locations in the British Isles and Australia, the results from two field studies and three artist residencies. The locations at St Just, Cornwall, Lavernock, South Wales, Bora in Scotland, and Newcastle, New South Wales, are linked by a common heritage in the mining of natural resources of coal, tin and precious metals. The artists created both collaborative works and personal pieces of work arising from their shared experiences of these specific places.' Alison F Bell lived on the Island of Arran for several years and her experience of the varied shorelines underpins her current work. She studied at Glasgow School of Art and Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, gaining a qualification in Textile Design and Printmaking. Her recent exhibitions have been in Taigh Chearsabhagh, North Uist and Newcastle, New South Wales. Cathy Treadaway is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, has a Master of Arts in ceramics (University of Wales) and a B.A. (Hons.) in textiles and fashion (Loughborough University). Her research interests have been stimulated by her considerable experience working as a freelance surface pattern designer, developing artwork and colour concepts for the ceramic tableware and textile industry. Her recent work includes: investigations using 2 and 3D digital print technology to explore sensory perception; creativity and wellbeing. The exhibition, which has been developed from their studies, has three interlinked sections, although each section could stand alone. Treadaway has presented a selection of drawings, photographs and three dimensional prints which reflect her current research interests. Bell has created an 'installation' from her sculptural textiles. The third room, intended to bridge the gap between the two artistic responses to the subject contains the collaborative work, a series of prints on fabric, and the text and photographs that define the project and the locations. While Treadaway gives considerable information on her creative process, Bell concentrates on aural and visual stimuli to enhance her installation. The core of the explanatory room is a series of prints that have evolved, as I understand it, from photographs that been digitally manipulated in Photoshop to obtain a high degree of abstraction and false colour. Each print is presented in the same dimensions and, although shown as groups, appears to have little connection, one with another. The idea of a constant format is an interesting conceit, reminiscent of the ecologist's 'quadrat' technique used when analysing the flora and fauna of a study site. However, in this case, any useful information seems to have been lost in the manipulation which has produced a series of bland prints that lack texture or meaningful substance. There is little energy in these prints and only one appeared to suggest that there might be anything beyond the quadrat boundary. Writing in an academic paper, Treadaway explains, 'A series of artist’s residencies in coastal locations in England, Scotland, Wales and Australia have been used to generate imagery for a collection of large format digitally printed artworks. These have been created by exchanging layers developed using Photoshop® software. Each layer represents an individual memory of the experience of being in a particular location and the final printed images contain numerous iterations. The layers comprise digital drawing, scanned hand rendered watercolour sketches, stitched fabric and photographs. The beauty of the technology is that it makes it so easy to blend images generated from different source material together. The most difficult part of the creative process is knowing when to stop; images can easily become over complex and difficult to read visually. Memory plays an important role in the discriminating and decision making process. Remembering how it felt to be in the location; the smell, sounds and even taste of the air help to conjure a mood that can be translated through colours and lines into expressive pictures on a computer monitor. These images have been translated digitally onto a variety of substrates including paper, textiles and glass.' 'The collaborative process has been particularly fruitful due to the developing empathy between both of us. This has evolved over time and as a result of the shared experiences of being in the specific locations.' While the originators may have gained personal satisfaction from the creative process, this reviewer found this work unsettling - a feeling that both baby and bathwater had been lost in the digital processes which are essentially two dimensional, no matter how many layers are used. The other aspect of the explanatory room was location photographs and explanatory texts supported by sketch book materials. Overall, the colour photographs were bland and failed to give any sense of the locations and the viewer was denied the intimacy claimed by the artists. Turning to the individual work by Treadaway, one finds a collection of intriguing artefacts; they appear to mimic natural objects such as eroded pebbles or the wave-etched fragments of glass that might be found on any shore. However, these are not natural objects but the result of digital manipulation and three-dimensional printing. In essence, the works are created in a similar manner to a page in a web site where a computer file determines the layout and content according to strict rules that will determine the rendering of the information and the overall design of the page. In these works, a computer file has guided a form of ink jet printer as it builds up the object, layer by layer, each less than one millimetre in depth, to offer (in my view) a bland slab of material with occasional centre of interested in the pitted surface. In most cases, a rectangular or cylindrical form prevails and texture is minimal. This weakness is recognised by the artist who has sintered material onto some of the surfaces to enhance our perception of texture and the colour. In these circumstances there is no place for the happy accident or serendipity. The viewer, while marvelling at the technology can feel cheated because the objects are not ‘real’. Again, as Treadaway explains, 'as an artist who is interested in physicality and sensory experience, the potential of embedded and embodied technology within artworks is incredibly exciting. However, it is also frustrating without the expertise, time and mental energy to be able to work competently with electronics and manipulate software. . . . the artworks comprise a series of 3D digitally printed drawings which are a visual and poetic expression of sound. The drawings were made using a haptic tool with Freeform® software and were printed in starch using a ZCorp digital printer. The works were inspired by a specific shoreline location and the physical experience of being there.' Essentially, Treadaway is using the stylus (haptic tool) in a similar manner to the engraver's burin, to create a digital representation of her emotional and sensory response to sounds and imagery as a starting point for the creation of her printed artefacts. I leave it to the viewer to consider whether the technology leaches all emotion and free gesture from the process. In assessing the outcome of Treadaway's investigations I feel an absence of spontaneity in the works. Examining the printed objects, there is nothing to compare with the gestural quality of one of the drawings included in her collection. The overall impression is one of work in progress, albeit challenging in terms of the application of technology to creativity. Bell's installation is a very different experience for the viewer. It is a coherent body of work that allows the creation of an overall presentation and encourages the viewer to react to an assemblage of pieces or to individual items. The numerous pieces fill an entire gallery, some 10 metres by 4 metres, with each item suspended from the dark ceiling, together with hanging panels of white fabric and a small number of diaphanous 'sheets' created in a similar manner to the smaller units. Most individual pieces are in the form of tubes, usually of square cross-section. As a body, it is easy to interpret the work as a realisation of an underwater forest of kelp or floating fragments of detritus in breaking waves. At an individual level, each items reflects the vision and manipulative skill of the artist. Like so many snowflakes, each object is distinct and has a unique form. In assembling the material used in this installation, Bell has applied her knowledge and experience of fabrics and filaments, colour and form, to create a body of work which gains from the added value of the inclusive installation. The viewer finds, within the gallery space, natural vantage points that favour calm contemplation of individual pieces and their relationships within the greater work. The use of shadow, provided through the artificial lighting, extends the work beyond the confines of the gallery walls although the presence of natural light from the large gallery windows diminishes these effects. Movement within the installation occurs when viewers are within the space, their body heat and movement disturbing the lightweight artefacts that Bell has created. It is hoped that the material in this installation will be retained as a body of work to be displayed on a long term basis within a suitable venue. If this aspiration is achieved, it would be sensible to consider carefully the environmental conditions that will apply. Consideration of how Martin Boyce realises his installations might result in adjustments to the overall effect. Although the explanatory material suggests that the two artists have journeyed together, it is clear that they have diverged during that journey and reached very different destinations. Both artists have created different forms of theatre; I have to assert that I am more at ease in Bell’s amphitheatre than Treadaway’s clinical analysis and presentation. To return to Shakespeare’s Tempest, here are ‘Spirits to enforce, art to enchant’; a diverse and intriguing representation of shorelines by two very different artists and personalities. The Shorelines exhibition was shown at the Maclaurin Art Gallery, Ayr from 13th November - 23rd December 2011. A Symposium linked to the theme of the exhibition was held at the gallery on 15th November, 2011. It is understood that the proceedings of this symposium will be published. Reference: Embodied Interactions, Cathy Treadaway, Reader in Creative Practice, University of Wales Institute Cardiff. in ACM-W CIS Newsletter: Celebrating, Informing, & Supporting Women in Computing, Volume 3, Issue 2, Summer 2011 MB 23/1/2012
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Ayrshire Arts Network

gallery
Shorelines. Alison Bell's installation at the Maclaurin Art Gallery, November 2012. Photograph ©SAC

Shadow
Shorelines (detail). Alison Bell's installation at the Maclaurin Art Gallery, November 2012. Photograph ©Alison Bell

Arran
Alison F Bell. Digital Image of Rock Pool on shoreline, Arran 2006. (Illustration from the Shoreline catalogue.) ©Alison F Bell

For further information on Alison Bell, please follow this LINK. This link will open in a new window which must be closed after viewing

Top

For further information on related projects mentioned in this review, please follow this LINK

Top

Shorelines Exhibition at the Maclaurin Art Gallery - Cathy Treadaway and Alison F Bell

Seascapes have been a recurring theme in the visual arts, particularly in the Celtic Fringe of the British Isles. The energy and peculiar light of the maritime environment has been represented by many artists over the years, notably in the works of Turner and Mactaggart; atmospheric works that reflect the power and energy of the marine environment. Similarly, many of Shakespeare's plays use the device of the castaway character on an unfamiliar shoreline, notably in The Tempest, where Caliban confides that "the isle is full of noises."

What is less common, is a painstaking examination of the interface between the atmosphere, the land and the sea in a work of visual art. This is what Cathy Treadaway and Alison F Bell, each in their own way, have attempted in this exhibition.

It is inevitable that the approach of these artists is informed by their previous studies and their specialisms; both have a background in textile design but they have approached this project from different origins and while their individual results mark a considerable achievement, their joint work fails to bridge the gap between the two contributors. With individual installations in separate rooms and a collaborative 'exploration and investigation' in the third room, the exhibition reflects the individual concerns of the two artists but lacks an overall coherence. Like Caliban, this reviewer was confused by the 'strange noise'

Looking back over the past 35 years, one can discern a continuing interest in the interface between land and sea in the programming at the Maclaurin Art Gallery. The joint project with the South West Galleries Association, Western Approaches, explored the response of many artists to the peculiar qualities of light found in the islands and mainland of western Scotland, and its impact on colour. Later, the touring exhibition 'Archipelago' by Alfred Graf and Thomas Joshua Cooper, explored the coastline and islands of the West of Scotland, leading to the acquisition by the Maclaurin Collection of a work by Graf that presents the detritus of the Arran Shoreline in a block of beeswax. Similarly, the ‘Art to Enchant’ installation by Queen Elizabeth College (Darlington) and pupils of Holmston Primary School created a sandy shore with shipwrecks within the gallery space.

So, what might be regarded as the latest exhibition in the series, exploring artist's experience of the littoral environment, is now installed in the Maclaurin Art Gallery, following a showing at the University of Newcastle (New South Wales). This exhibition by artists Alison F Bell and Cathy Treadaway offers two individual interpretations of the shoreline.

'The sea and shoreline,' writes Cathy Treadaway, 'has been a recurring source of inspiration for both artists. This project provides a unique opportunity to reflect on these influences through documentary practice-led research and the generation of collaborative artworks.'

'This exhibition of paintings, prints, photographs and textiles by Alison F. Bell and Cathy Treadaway is an ongoing collaborative research project which investigates creative practice. The exhibits are a response to coastal locations in the British Isles and Australia, the results from two field studies and three artist residencies. The locations at St Just, Cornwall, Lavernock, South Wales, Bora in Scotland, and Newcastle, New South Wales, are linked by a common heritage in the mining of natural resources of coal, tin and precious metals. The artists created both collaborative works and personal pieces of work arising from their shared experiences of these specific places.'

Alison F Bell lived on the Island of Arran for several years and her experience of the varied shorelines underpins her current work. She studied at Glasgow School of Art and Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, gaining a qualification in Textile Design and Printmaking. Her recent exhibitions have been in Taigh Chearsabhagh, North Uist and Newcastle, New South Wales.

Cathy Treadaway is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, has a Master of Arts in ceramics (University of Wales) and a B.A. (Hons.) in textiles and fashion (Loughborough University). Her research interests have been stimulated by her considerable experience working as a freelance surface pattern designer, developing artwork and colour concepts for the ceramic tableware and textile industry. Her recent work includes: investigations using 2 and 3D digital print technology to explore sensory perception; creativity and wellbeing.

The exhibition, which has been developed from their studies, has three interlinked sections, although each section could stand alone. Treadaway has presented a selection of drawings, photographs and three dimensional prints which reflect her current research interests. Bell has created an 'installation' from her sculptural textiles. The third room, intended to bridge the gap between the two artistic responses to the subject contains the collaborative work, a series of prints on fabric, and the text and photographs that define the project and the locations. While Treadaway gives considerable information on her creative process, Bell concentrates on aural and visual stimuli to enhance her installation.

The core of the explanatory room is a series of prints that have evolved, as I understand it, from photographs that been digitally manipulated in Photoshop to obtain a high degree of abstraction and false colour. Each print is presented in the same dimensions and, although shown as groups, appears to have little connection, one with another. The idea of a constant format is an interesting conceit, reminiscent of the ecologist's 'quadrat' technique used when analysing the flora and fauna of a study site. However, in this case, any useful information seems to have been lost in the manipulation which has produced a series of bland prints that lack texture or meaningful substance. There is little energy in these prints and only one appeared to suggest that there might be anything beyond the quadrat boundary.

Writing in an academic paper, Treadaway explains, 'A series of artist’s residencies in coastal locations in England, Scotland, Wales and Australia have been used to generate imagery for a collection of large format digitally printed artworks. These have been created by exchanging layers developed using Photoshop® software. Each layer represents an individual memory of the experience of being in a particular location and the final printed images contain numerous iterations. The layers comprise digital drawing, scanned hand rendered watercolour sketches, stitched fabric and photographs. The beauty of the technology is that it makes it so easy to blend images generated from different source material together. The most difficult part of the creative process is knowing when to stop; images can easily become over complex and difficult to read visually. Memory plays an important role in the discriminating and decision making process. Remembering how it felt to be in the location; the smell, sounds and even taste of the air help to conjure a mood that can be translated through colours and lines into expressive pictures on a computer monitor. These images have been translated digitally onto a variety of substrates including paper, textiles and glass.'

'The collaborative process has been particularly fruitful due to the developing empathy between both of us. This has evolved over time and as a result of the shared experiences of being in the specific locations.'

While the originators may have gained personal satisfaction from the creative process, this reviewer found this work unsettling - a feeling that both baby and bathwater had been lost in the digital processes which are essentially two dimensional, no matter how many layers are used.

The other aspect of the explanatory room was location photographs and explanatory texts supported by sketch book materials. Overall, the colour photographs were bland and failed to give any sense of the locations and the viewer was denied the intimacy claimed by the artists.

Turning to the individual work by Treadaway, one finds a collection of intriguing artefacts; they appear to mimic natural objects such as eroded pebbles or the wave-etched fragments of glass that might be found on any shore. However, these are not natural objects but the result of digital manipulation and three-dimensional printing. In essence, the works are created in a similar manner to a page in a web site where a computer file determines the layout and content according to strict rules that will determine the rendering of the information and the overall design of the page. In these works, a computer file has guided a form of ink jet printer as it builds up the object, layer by layer, each less than one millimetre in depth, to offer (in my view) a bland slab of material with occasional centre of interested in the pitted surface. In most cases, a rectangular or cylindrical form prevails and texture is minimal. This weakness is recognised by the artist who has sintered material onto some of the surfaces to enhance our perception of texture and the colour. In these circumstances there is no place for the happy accident or serendipity. The viewer, while marvelling at the technology can feel cheated because the objects are not ‘real’.

Again, as Treadaway explains, 'as an artist who is interested in physicality and sensory experience, the potential of embedded and embodied technology within artworks is incredibly exciting. However, it is also frustrating without the expertise, time and mental energy to be able to work competently with electronics and manipulate software. . . . the artworks comprise a series of 3D digitally printed drawings which are a visual and poetic expression of sound. The drawings were made using a haptic tool with Freeform® software and were printed in starch using a ZCorp digital printer. The works were inspired by a specific shoreline location and the physical experience of being there.' Essentially, Treadaway is using the stylus (haptic tool) in a similar manner to the engraver's burin, to create a digital representation of her emotional and sensory response to sounds and imagery as a starting point for the creation of her printed artefacts. I leave it to the viewer to consider whether the technology leaches all emotion and free gesture from the process.

In assessing the outcome of Treadaway's investigations I feel an absence of spontaneity in the works. Examining the printed objects, there is nothing to compare with the gestural quality of one of the drawings included in her collection. The overall impression is one of work in progress, albeit challenging in terms of the application of technology to creativity.

Bell's installation is a very different experience for the viewer. It is a coherent body of work that allows the creation of an overall presentation and encourages the viewer to react to an assemblage of pieces or to individual items. The numerous pieces fill an entire gallery, some 10 metres by 4 metres, with each item suspended from the dark ceiling, together with hanging panels of white fabric and a small number of diaphanous 'sheets' created in a similar manner to the smaller units. Most individual pieces are in the form of tubes, usually of square cross-section. As a body, it is easy to interpret the work as a realisation of an underwater forest of kelp or floating fragments of detritus in breaking waves. At an individual level, each items reflects the vision and manipulative skill of the artist. Like so many snowflakes, each object is distinct and has a unique form.

In assembling the material used in this installation, Bell has applied her knowledge and experience of fabrics and filaments, colour and form, to create a body of work which gains from the added value of the inclusive installation. The viewer finds, within the gallery space, natural vantage points that favour calm contemplation of individual pieces and their relationships within the greater work. The use of shadow, provided through the artificial lighting, extends the work beyond the confines of the gallery walls although the presence of natural light from the large gallery windows diminishes these effects. Movement within the installation occurs when viewers are within the space, their body heat and movement disturbing the lightweight artefacts that Bell has created.

It is hoped that the material in this installation will be retained as a body of work to be displayed on a long term basis within a suitable venue. If this aspiration is achieved, it would be sensible to consider carefully the environmental conditions that will apply. Consideration of how Martin Boyce realises his installations might result in adjustments to the overall effect.

Although the explanatory material suggests that the two artists have journeyed together, it is clear that they have diverged during that journey and reached very different destinations. Both artists have created different forms of theatre; I have to assert that I am more at ease in Bell’s amphitheatre than Treadaway’s clinical analysis and presentation.

To return to Shakespeare’s Tempest, here are ‘Spirits to enforce, art to enchant’; a diverse and intriguing representation of shorelines by two very different artists and personalities.

The Shorelines exhibition was shown at the Maclaurin Art Gallery, Ayr from 13th November - 23rd December 2011.

A Symposium linked to the theme of the exhibition was held at the gallery on 15th November, 2011. It is understood that the proceedings of this symposium will be published.

Reference: Embodied Interactions, Cathy Treadaway, Reader in Creative Practice, University of Wales Institute Cardiff. in ACM-W CIS Newsletter: Celebrating, Informing, & Supporting Women in Computing, Volume 3, Issue 2, Summer 2011

MB 23/1/2012

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Ayrshire Arts Network Event Review Updated March 4, 2012