Valerie Large

Contest Entry

This piece of relief sculpture was an experiment to see what would happen when joining a number of irregular but similar shapes which would perhaps suggest microbes or particles of some sort and joining them together by randomly selecting them and seeing how they could fit together. Each piece was slightly different in size and shape although roughly the same (as natural forms often are).  The randomly selected shapes were fitted (sewn) together, starting at a central point and working outwards. The slight relief effect of joining the shapes was again unforced and the individual shapes interact with one another and become distorted by their connection.

However the decision to end the piece was an artistic one, it was finished when it looked, but up to this point it relied to a large extent on randomness. 

Artist biography

I live in London (Lyetonstone) and have a studio nearby in Walthamstow with the charitable organisation who provides studios for artists Barbican Arts Group Trust.  In June we have our annual Open Studio show and at the beginning of July I will be exhibiting in the Leytonstone Arts Trail.

I studied at St. Martins School of Art in the 70's and since then I have worked in paper and fibre making sculpture, wall reliefs and installations. My interest lies in the materials, their fragility and properties. Recently I have moved into textile works using canvas and paint and I made wall pieces which combine similar shapes to make a whole often based on natural forms.

Early pieces of my work are in the Tate and Belkin Art Gallery collections.