Sunday 30 August 2015

Capturing details of the world

“Photographers found that as they more narrowly cropped reality, magnificent forms appeared.” 

Susan Sontag ‘On photography’.




Above are pictures of:

Street in Chicago, 2013
Metal wall piece - Bath city series, 2014
Metal wall piece - Bath city series, 2014
Flaking paint on wall of Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary, 2012 
Metal wall piece - Bath city series, 2014
Peeling paint on Edinburgh's Leith dockside, 2014
Metal wall piece - Bath city series, 2014
Wall surface, Chicago, 2013
Metal wall piece - Bath city series, 2014
Litchen, Eastern State Penitentiary, 2012






Sunday 23 August 2015

A walk through Industrial Bristol

Last weekend, I took a sunny walk along the harbourside in Bristol with enamel jeweller Jessica Turrell.  The journey took us from Cumberland basin to Centrespace studios, where we both work.  We're working on concurrent projects for a 'Make & Think' research group project with the Univeristy of the West of England.

The highlight for me was exploring the working boat yard; Underfall Yard.  I was in industrial heaven.  Functional details often have a life, or character to them, which, for me, stems from their imagined use. 

 

And of course I found plenty of rusty metal joy at the dockyard.




Industry often works its way in to my own metalwork:



Leith Docks 2014 made for INDUSTRIAL SHIFT solo exhibition at Edinburgh Printmakers

Tinsmith Template Series 2012
Find more industrial work here.

You can see Jessica's photos of our walk on her facebook page.



Monday 17 August 2015

Come and Meet the Makers....





Rebecca Gouldson
Meet the Makers at Contemporary Applied Arts, London


  

I'd love it if you can join me on Thursday, 20 August, 3-5pm for an informal Meet the Makers afternoon at Contemporary Applied Arts Gallery, at 89 Southwark Street.

Refreshments will be served.

  

The event is part of the current New Members Showcase which includes new work and rarely seen pieces by:

Jilly Edwards

Rebecca Gouldson

Akiko Hirai

Tony Laverick

Agalis Manessi

  

Admission is free. If you would like to join me, please email  rsvp@caa.org.uk by Wednesday 19 August.


http://www.caa.org.uk/exhibitions/archive/2015/new-member-showcase/



Friday 14 August 2015

Metal reflecting light in Interiors


I wanted to pay homage this week to Amanda Celeste, who earlier this year wrote a fantastic article about the role of texture and light in interiors, with reference to colour theory.

Her article is particularly poignant for me, working with both texture and light.

"Light-reflective textures such as silk, paints with a sheen, glazed, or glossy finish and as mentioned mirrors and metals bounce light around the room."

Interior from Amanda's article
Interior from Amanda's article
Installation of metal wall pieces by Rebecca Gouldson for Private Client, Park Ave, New York.

"Colours can look brighter, stronger and possibly even lighter when seen on reflective surfaces such as glass, mirror and metals. Our perception of a colour’s temperature can also alter under different lighting, at different times of day and when seen in relation to other colours"



Installation of abstract metal wall pieces by Rebecca Gouldson, Private Client, London; Silver plated gilding metal
 These examples show how metal can reflect light and brighten dull walls.  The metal surfaces transform throughout the day with the changing light, which has the added benefit of creating a different mood and atmoshpere with each change in light.

Installation of abstract metal wall pieces by Rebecca Gouldson, Private Client,Winchester; Silver plated gilding metal




Monday 10 August 2015

Manhole covers; Behind the scenes....

I was really happy last week to see so many people interested in the manhole covers I designed for Denbigh town centre last year.  Many thanks to the Crafts Council for sharing the project on their weekly newsletter.

I thought I'd share some of the processes involved in creating the manhole covers.

The seven, individually designed manhole covers each related to a story about Denbigh and the surrounding area, for example the glove making industry, and local famous Welsh author Kate Roberts.

The process began with visits to the Denbighshire archives in Ruthin, where I studied and photographed hundreds of years worth of Tithe and OS maps.  I then took map symbols and motifs from them, and re-composed them to tell the seven stories.

From my computer based design, a company in Liverpool made deep etched 'patterns', which were used by the foundry in Bury to make an impression in casting sand, which is then used as a mould to pour molten steel into.


On the left; here's a detail of the cast 'manhole' cover.










On the right; the 'pattern' used to make the impression in the sand.




Test Fitting the raw cast cover.


Finally, an enjoyable day spent in Denbigh saw the installation of the seven individual 'manhole' covers.  Tony and Paul joined me at site with all seven cast covers weighing down their car, and the rain just held off for the three hours it took to install.  Before long, local people were walking past and stopping to have a good look.   I was particularly touched when the first of the seven covers was christened by a little present from a pigeon nest above....






A big thank you to Denbighshire County Council, CADW, Emma Wynne, Mererid at Celfwaith and Geoff Wood, as well as the feedback and support from the other Artists I was involved with in the Broomhill lane project; Joss Smith, Ann Catrin Evans, Dyfed Wyn Jones.

See more Public Art Projects here...



Monday 3 August 2015

When metal is functional...

I always travel with a camera; these surfaces are too valuable to leave behind.  Here are some photographs I took on trips to Chicago and California, of metal fulfilling its functional purpose, whilst slowly ageing. 

Sometimes the 'patching up' of these metal surfaces to prevent corrosion create new, unexpected, and undeliberate beauty.





Home

About me

Metal Art

Commissions

Public Art

News

Blog

Press

Contact

Rebecca Gouldson