Social Work
Sarah Burnett, Sarah Laing, Jean-Pierre Lapeyre, Ewan Mason,
Lesley McLaren, Marna Rinder, Michelle Souter, Katherine Stewart, Caroline Walker and Kenneth Whyte
2 - 15 December
A fresh and crunchy group show bringing together recent graduates of Scotland’s art schools, conceived and curated by artist Katherine Stewart and Lesley Young of MA Gallery and Museum Studies at University of St Andrews.
Sarah Burnett
Sarah’s work is a direct response to her experiences as a swimmer. Creating work with craft based materials Sarah explores, using her philosophical background, the relations between the consciousness of the waters surface and the sub-conscious depths. Materials are worked by hand through processes of knitting, weaving and sewing into large-scale ‘habitats’ that have extremely tactile surfaces. The audience is encouraged to handle and explore them physically.
Sarah Laing
Sarah’s work manifests itself in small mixed media pieces that have recently included combinations of printmaking and painting techniques onto board. Past influences include literature of the 19th century Romantics, and Sarah cites the origins of her work in the studies of woodland and water. Playing with the audience’s perception of the hidden depths of water or landscape Sarah creates a sense of the alien or supernatural within her work. The audience is guided to a sensation of seeing the unknown within the known.
Jean-Pierre Lapeyre
Jean-Pierre’s work involves looking at what the self-portrait is as well as thinking about the modern working life and its endless nature. Another strong theme running through the work is the relationship between myths and legends within the arts. Recently Jean-Pierre has developed the character ‘Jack the hard worker’ which he will use to explore his themes through performance.
Ewan Manson
Ewan’s work is generated in series of themes and consistencies, referring mainly to the materials used to construct art. Collecting and arranging plays a prominent role in Ewan’s work. This can involve accumulating objects for their beauty or amassing huge amounts of components which are then assembled into intricate sculptures. The diverse themes which Ewan is most interested in are: collecting, the power of stored potential, intricate craft based sculptures, bones and anatomy, flowers and wildlife, performance, installation and bookmaking.
Lesley McLaren
Lesley works primarily in photo-based media, using a variety of ‘tools’ including traditional photographic equipment and digital media to initially capture images from which work can be developed. The emphasis within her practice can be found in the physical processes of printing the images onto surfaces which have a direct link to the photographs themselves. Recent works have focused on destruction and decomposition and namely the unique, inherent beauty, which can be captured during the process of decay.
Marna Rinder
Marna’s work aims to express a subtle, or not so subtle, sexuality and sensuality through the medium of sculpture. Replicating the figure in a purely subjective light there is no attempt to convey exact proportions, instead to evoke a sense of beauty while capturing the audience’s desire to view the work. This evocation of dialogue between the sculpture and the audience is key to Marna’s practice which asks the viewer to address their own emotions and ideas. Using modelling clay as her principle medium Marna works passionately to keep figurative sculpture alive and extend the medium.
Michelle Souter
Michelle sees her practice as a means of catharsis and through making work she is in a constant process of seeking new ways to document and represent her emotions and experiences. Examining the relationship she had with her mother as a child, Michelle’s work concentrates on the domestic setting, representations of ‘home’ and the matriarchal figure. Allowing the viewer to access a deep vulnerability is a conscience decision which Michelle compares to a confession, such confessions are extremely intimate. There is, however, a deliberate aim to make the work accessible, beyond those already literate in art world jargon.
Katherine Stewart
Katherine’s work involves the layering of colour, pattern, cuttings, found imagery, drawings as well as written texts. Staying true to a collage ethic Katherine manipulates her media in order to build and create fictional narratives. Finding enjoyment in the sensation of looking at art that she describes as ‘slightly squinty’, Katherine captures and channels a certain neurosis which is, in turn, filtered through her own practice.
Caroline Walker
Caroline’s paintings are formalized fictions concerned with the strange and ambiguous which can arise in the everyday and banal. Exploring the expectations of a faded grandeur and what could have been, the paintings deal with domestic situations and domesticity, investigating the implications of the human form in an emotive setting. The objects in the paintings are used as characters in the absence of the human subject while alluding to a presence which is not confirmed or denied. There is also the suggestion of a narrative within the work which is extended to include the audience, in some cases, who are themselves put in the position of the subject as opposed to a passive voyeur.
Kenneth Whyte
Kenneth works principally in oil paint and acrylic and is interested in the medium for its deferent qualities. The aesthetic of architectural pre-drawing that often has a collage element, is an influence on Kenneth’s work. In turn, this interest came from a fascination with modernism and the failure of its utopian aims. There is a conscious effort to retain ambiguity, not to chastise, and to allow the audience to take possession of the work on their own terms. Kenneth hopes to develop tension and dialogue between the mediums he employs in an effort to articulate the themes explored in his practice.
Installation View
Jean Pierre Lapeyre, Self Portrait as Jack the Hard Worker Exercise, 2006, iron, ironing board, clothes, shoes, jumper, hat, dimensions variable
Katherine Stewart, Pense Series, 2006, felt, canvas, acrylic paint, dimensions variable
Marna Rinder, Seated Figure, 2006, terracotta, 1ft square
Picture credits Steven Crichton
Sarah Burnett, Sarah Laing, Jean-Pierre Lapeyre, Ewan Mason,
Lesley McLaren, Marna Rinder, Michelle Souter, Katherine Stewart, Caroline Walker and Kenneth Whyte
2 - 15 December
A fresh and crunchy group show bringing together recent graduates of Scotland’s art schools, conceived and curated by artist Katherine Stewart and Lesley Young of MA Gallery and Museum Studies at University of St Andrews.
Sarah Burnett
Sarah’s work is a direct response to her experiences as a swimmer. Creating work with craft based materials Sarah explores, using her philosophical background, the relations between the consciousness of the waters surface and the sub-conscious depths. Materials are worked by hand through processes of knitting, weaving and sewing into large-scale ‘habitats’ that have extremely tactile surfaces. The audience is encouraged to handle and explore them physically.
Sarah Laing
Sarah’s work manifests itself in small mixed media pieces that have recently included combinations of printmaking and painting techniques onto board. Past influences include literature of the 19th century Romantics, and Sarah cites the origins of her work in the studies of woodland and water. Playing with the audience’s perception of the hidden depths of water or landscape Sarah creates a sense of the alien or supernatural within her work. The audience is guided to a sensation of seeing the unknown within the known.
Jean-Pierre Lapeyre
Jean-Pierre’s work involves looking at what the self-portrait is as well as thinking about the modern working life and its endless nature. Another strong theme running through the work is the relationship between myths and legends within the arts. Recently Jean-Pierre has developed the character ‘Jack the hard worker’ which he will use to explore his themes through performance.
Ewan Manson
Ewan’s work is generated in series of themes and consistencies, referring mainly to the materials used to construct art. Collecting and arranging plays a prominent role in Ewan’s work. This can involve accumulating objects for their beauty or amassing huge amounts of components which are then assembled into intricate sculptures. The diverse themes which Ewan is most interested in are: collecting, the power of stored potential, intricate craft based sculptures, bones and anatomy, flowers and wildlife, performance, installation and bookmaking.
Lesley McLaren
Lesley works primarily in photo-based media, using a variety of ‘tools’ including traditional photographic equipment and digital media to initially capture images from which work can be developed. The emphasis within her practice can be found in the physical processes of printing the images onto surfaces which have a direct link to the photographs themselves. Recent works have focused on destruction and decomposition and namely the unique, inherent beauty, which can be captured during the process of decay.
Marna Rinder
Marna’s work aims to express a subtle, or not so subtle, sexuality and sensuality through the medium of sculpture. Replicating the figure in a purely subjective light there is no attempt to convey exact proportions, instead to evoke a sense of beauty while capturing the audience’s desire to view the work. This evocation of dialogue between the sculpture and the audience is key to Marna’s practice which asks the viewer to address their own emotions and ideas. Using modelling clay as her principle medium Marna works passionately to keep figurative sculpture alive and extend the medium.
Michelle Souter
Michelle sees her practice as a means of catharsis and through making work she is in a constant process of seeking new ways to document and represent her emotions and experiences. Examining the relationship she had with her mother as a child, Michelle’s work concentrates on the domestic setting, representations of ‘home’ and the matriarchal figure. Allowing the viewer to access a deep vulnerability is a conscience decision which Michelle compares to a confession, such confessions are extremely intimate. There is, however, a deliberate aim to make the work accessible, beyond those already literate in art world jargon.
Katherine Stewart
Katherine’s work involves the layering of colour, pattern, cuttings, found imagery, drawings as well as written texts. Staying true to a collage ethic Katherine manipulates her media in order to build and create fictional narratives. Finding enjoyment in the sensation of looking at art that she describes as ‘slightly squinty’, Katherine captures and channels a certain neurosis which is, in turn, filtered through her own practice.
Caroline Walker
Caroline’s paintings are formalized fictions concerned with the strange and ambiguous which can arise in the everyday and banal. Exploring the expectations of a faded grandeur and what could have been, the paintings deal with domestic situations and domesticity, investigating the implications of the human form in an emotive setting. The objects in the paintings are used as characters in the absence of the human subject while alluding to a presence which is not confirmed or denied. There is also the suggestion of a narrative within the work which is extended to include the audience, in some cases, who are themselves put in the position of the subject as opposed to a passive voyeur.
Kenneth Whyte
Kenneth works principally in oil paint and acrylic and is interested in the medium for its deferent qualities. The aesthetic of architectural pre-drawing that often has a collage element, is an influence on Kenneth’s work. In turn, this interest came from a fascination with modernism and the failure of its utopian aims. There is a conscious effort to retain ambiguity, not to chastise, and to allow the audience to take possession of the work on their own terms. Kenneth hopes to develop tension and dialogue between the mediums he employs in an effort to articulate the themes explored in his practice.
Installation View
Jean Pierre Lapeyre, Self Portrait as Jack the Hard Worker Exercise, 2006, iron, ironing board, clothes, shoes, jumper, hat, dimensions variable
Katherine Stewart, Pense Series, 2006, felt, canvas, acrylic paint, dimensions variable
Marna Rinder, Seated Figure, 2006, terracotta, 1ft square
Picture credits Steven Crichton
