The Masters Show 2018

A work-in-progress

Progress of my study into the growing and collecting of plants during World War One and the aftermath that ensued, has been diverse, covering many streams of study. The decision was made half way through my first year to commit my time to specific plants collected during WW1 and also the growing of food on an allotment.
This display at the MA show had two areas and was a work-in-progress exhibition of my current work.
Below is the response made to my time spent working on the allotment.

Allotment Potting Shed

During the second and third semesters of my Masters in Fine Art I have been growing and collecting produce from the allotment.

The culmination of this experience was turned into an exhibition for the Masters Show in September.
A 'potting shed' display with seed packets with previous plant artworks and photographs transferred onto envelopes cascading through a collection of artefacts, collected seeds and herbs; a collection of photographs and art printed onto small wooden panels showing the progress of the allotment over this time; Sage plants that had been propagated from cuttings and were given out to visitors to the show.

potting shed

allotment progress

propagated Sage plants

Foxglove

The second depicts the start of an artwork in response to the foxglove plant. This for a botanical artist would normally be on paper with watercolour or pencil and depict the full plant with various parts in close up.
​Utilising the shape of the flower spike I decided to create an artwork that was different to the norm, using many panels of varied sizes with each depicting a part of the plant in closeup. The installation shows some of the plant materials, photographs, plans, drawings, tools to be used and the blank wooden panels ready to be worked on.

You will probably notice that the work I am producing at the moment is in square aspect...my rational for this is the veer away from the standard ideology format used for botanical or landscape painting. My works produced in the coming months will be the foxglove and also a series of plant paintings, with each in a landscape from where it would be collected. I will also be revisiting sketches from the rose exposition and turning these into paintings. So for this and the other pieces I have made the decision to continue the 'square' for the duration of my MA studies.