CONJUNCTION 08
'Fantastic, Found and Fake'

" 'Local studies' is a series of small artworks, informed by the local colour and patina of surfaces sampled at the venues used to host this distributed exhibition. Kate Lynch's work uses two main strategies; one which excavates the surface of buildings to access surface - as a form of historical sediment, the other involves the production of swatches of paint and print added to buildings, these activities constitute an intimate mapping of the city and more specifically the infrastructure of Conjunction 08 itself."

 

Progress:

The proposed artwork has changed to focus attention on the buildings and venues involved with the 'Conjunction 08' festival. These buildings include the Regent Theatre and Victoria Hall, Bethesda Chapel, The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Airspace Gallery and Staffordshire University. However, I hope to continue the collection and study of historical features and colors and patterns within the buildings of Stoke-on-Trent after the 'Conjunction 08' Art Festival, as an ongoing personal project. 
 

Recorded patterns, Bethesda Chapel

The work for 'Conjunction 08' now deals with the study of colour and pattern and the displacement of these to different sites. One aspect of this is the displacement of colour and pattern from a 'modern' building, to a building with historical features, and Vice-versa. For example, I am currently working on the piece of Artwork that will be exhibited in the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery which involves printing a pattern seen on floor tiles in the Bethesda chapel onto the 'modern' floor tiles in the exhibition space. This will bring elements of character and history into the 'plain', modern, space and will wear away as visitors walk over the floor, reflecting ideas of weathering and ageing. 

Example of print blocks representing pattern found in Bethesda Chapel

 

Example of print blocks representing pattern found in the Regent Theatre

 

 

'Conjunction 08' Proposed artwork:

‘Local studies’ are a series of artworks, representative of colours and patterns seen in the architecture and interiors of local historical buildings. The application of the painted and printed studies directly onto walls adds to the history of these buildings, and the sites become linked by the displacement of the studies to various locations throughout Stoke-on-Trent.

 

                     

Proposed Artwork (Digital mock-up)

 

THE DARTMOOR ARTS PROJECT, JULY 2008

'The Dartmoor Arts project is a source of expertise and inspiration in the arts and a place accessible to emerging artists for contact with established artists of national and international repute.'

The Course involved learning the basic techniques of traditional ‘Cob’ building (using clay subsoil, straw, and water) and ceramics. I used the course to experiment with the sculptural possibilities of cob, having used natural clay to paint onto walls in work such as ‘terra locale’.

 

'Terra Locale', 2008
Natural clay colourwash and natural glaze on gallery wall

I used the cob to create plasterwork which was then stamped into using my own hand-carved print blocks. These print blocks represented wallpaper patterns, salvaged from derelict homes. The application of the pattern onto a ‘new’ wall related to ideas of displacement, and the simplified patterns also related to art history and past design movements. The cob material used to create this piece was ‘recycled’ as it was made from dry cob that had come from a 400 year old wall in a cottage that had fallen down. I simply added water to the mixture and the cob was ready to be re-used. This element of history added further context to the plasterwork. Although the study on the wall was a ‘new feature’, the cob material was antique, and the pattern reflected past design movements. The addition of gold leaf onto the feature added an element of preciousness and contrasted with the coarse cob material.

 

               

Cob plasterwork, 2008
Recycled cob, print block, gold leaf

I also worked on the creation of a sculptural end post for a wall created as a group project. Again, the wall was decorated with a raised area of plasterwork and printed pattern.

 

Kate Lynch, 2008
Working on sculptural end post

Sculptural end post with raised plasterwork, 2008

Cob, recycled cob, print block impression

 

Throughout the week I also experimented with the creation of cob bricks and decorative tiles. Group projects involved making a kiln and bread oven and making clay from raw ‘ball clay’ taken from a local clay pit, sand from a nearby riverbed, and other materials such as animal hair, hemp, flax and straw. Products made from our handmade clays were fired in the completed kiln at the end of the week.

 

2007/2008

Current work deals with the subversion of the conventional gallery space, which undergoes a constant process of renewal and concealment. The work uses architectural interventions such as natural colour washes, natural clay paint, and embedded materials, applied directly onto the surface of the wall .

The work aims to highlight the aesthetic value of the gallery walls, which contain a relevant history and variety of interesting textures that relate to the functions of the space.

 

Kate Lynch, 'Painted History', 2008.
Natural Pigment & natural glaze colour-wash on wall.

 

Kate Lynch, 'Painted History', 2008
Detail of colour-washed wall.